Floating

[MonteSS]

So I got some white Microballons. Added two heaping tablespoons to 4 oz plastic. Needed ALOT of black to counteract the white MB.

I poured 6" round trick worms and even with a light wire 1/0 EWG hook it sank slowly.

So no good as a true floating worm but the tail does stand up on a shackey head, texas, or drop shot.

...Bill

[J lure]

I'm having the same issue, there has to be a better product or even better way.

[Bass-Boys]

good luck on floating any bait w/ a hook in it..

I have had the same issues in the past..

as far as I know you have done the best you can..

[Bass-Boys]

meaning --

half plastic & half floater bubbles ?

a 50/50 mix ?

[Richard Prager]

I don't remember the exact amount, but I ended up using 4 times the recommended amount of micro spheres and it still wouldn't float a 4" frog with a 5/0 hook. Besides that, that stuff is very dangerous and a PIA to use. It is almost lighter than air. No fans, no moving air, no sneezing.......reminds me of an old Woody Allen movie You should be wearing a respirator when using it. They are glass spheres which you don't want to inhale. Never tried the liquid stuff but any worm will want to float toward the surface is you don't use salt.

[Painter1]

Does anyone know where to get micro-bubbles in a color other than white?

[carolinamike]

I think that one reason micro bubbles don't work well is because of heat expansion. If your plastic gets too hot I personly think that the bubbles burst. In those micro hollow spheres that air has to expand and go somewhere. The softer the plastic the better it floats. I've used lure craft's super soft to make a 10" finese worm and it would float a 2/0 gamagatsu hook with no bubbles at all, when the water tension would break it would sink very very slowly.

[Painter1]

Has anyone tried floating foam, like the "pills" that are used to make floating snells?

[pieterbez]

You can try the Floating Foam from Caney Creek Molds

http://www.caneycreekmolds.com/Miscellaneous_c_49.html

[Saugerman]

I have, .You have to have a pretty meaty worm though, I only used it in the tail of a 6 1/4 trick worm. I beleive it would make a worm stiff ,if used in the whole worm.

[Bass-Boys]

Saugerman,

did it float to the surface w/ a hook in it?

neat stuff,, but i do not think it will work in a finesse mold, it will be to fat..

if I read it rite, its $ 1.00 per foot + shipping.

Looks like he used 2 pc. @ apx. 1.5 " long each in the toad.

so i am guessing he put 30 cents worth in 1 bait..

what do you guys think ??

Edited August 1, 2012 by Bass-Boys

[Saugerman]

I used a piece about 1 inch long,back next to the tail,it stood the tail up high.But it is to big for a little finesse worm. It is as you said, a little pricey

[Bass4Me]

^{Try and think out of the box guys. Can the foan br trimmed or cut n half. What about melting it too?}

[Bass-Boys]

i think you could cut the foam the long way with a razor blade.

mite work.

[nova]

How about a mold that you can set a length of coat hanger in. After you pour the worm just pull the hanger out. There's your floatation. Nothing softer than air; lol. Just leave enough solid worm at the head to allow for the hook.

www.novalures.com

[Bass-Boys]

Hmm??

maybe ?

[nova]

^{I can't take credit for that idea. That was done back in the early 90's. Can't remember the company though. They worked quite well. They were designed for the carolina rig.}

^{They would float even better if you close off the open end.}

^{www.novalures.com}

[Bass4Me]

Manns bait company made some 6 in or 8 in worms with a hollow chamber in them. That was back in the late 80's/90-91 time frame.

[nova]

Manns bait company made some 6 in or 8 in worms with a hollow chamber in them. That was back in the late 80's/90-91 time frame.

There you go. I knew someone would remember them.

www.novalures.com

[nova]

I was going to ask about the popper worm. I haven't seen one, but it was described to me is a big fat floating worm with a cup around the middle that sprayed water everywhere when it was jerked.

Obviously Siezmic has got the floating figured out with their "High Floater" frogs too.

Anyway, some people have obviously gotten the floating palstic figured out.

The temperature causing the ballons to pop makes sense I suppose... I'll have to do some experiments with running the plastic right on the edge of too cold to shoot and see. Porbably have to keep it in a hot cup rather than remicrowaving it to see how it does.

Popper worm is very easy to pour. Take a stick mold(not injection) pour the bait filling the spru to the top. Do not top off the spru and as the plastic cools and contracts it will form the popper mouth. And that's the name of that tune; lol.

Oh yah; no salt.

www.novalures.com

[Bass4Me]

We need someone from the forum to infultrate Zoom Bait Co and get the secret they use for their floating worms. If possible......... bring back a couple thousand gallons of the floating plastic and divide it out amoungst us, lol.

I've read the forums about those glass bubbles. Does lurecraft sell that for floating plastics? If I have too, I'll buy some white floating worms from Zoom and melt them down to help make my own floating snakes. I know it's desperate, BUT - For now, I do not care about saving money to get my snakes made. At lease until I find a good and safe product to use for making floating plastic baits.

[carolinamike]

It may sound simple, but since you're doing a white bait, why dont you just incorperate air into your plastic? If you stir and fold you should get air bubbles in your plastisol, just be sure to keep in mind all saftey precautions. Some people get alot of micro bubbles using Lure Works's plastisol when heated in a microwave, you can always keep some on hand just to do floating worms.

[Smallie]

Riverside Baits made baits with air pockets to float them. They had the Air Fry and a lizard. Maybe there were more.

[carolinamike]

Yeah Smallie I remember those. I think they had a big ribbon tail worm too. They also had plastic rattles that were made to fit into the hollow chambers. There's been several companies over the years to try hollow chambers. Mann's as mentioned above, Stanly came out with the Sidewinder a few years back and the Hag's Tornado, which seems to be holding on the longest as far as the air chamber goes. I'm pretty sure the Tornado's been in production for going on 5 years now. Most hollow chamber baits are hard to produce in large quantities, or let me say slow to produce in large quantities. Some baits even take two people working one machine just to make production.

[Bass4Me]

I remember the Riverside Air series. But I want to make floating snakes, Solid bodied baits and 2 colors on some of them, I mentioned melting Zooms white floating worms to get the needed bouancy without adding them micro bubbles everyone claims are difficult to use, but I'll add the necessary colors to make a few different colored snakes. I'm going to be making them about 15-18 inches long. I read somewhere that making the top half of the snake using floating plastic and normal plastic for the belly will work best. Pour the belly pourion of the mold, let cool abit - then pour the top part with floating plastic. I think if I use more regular plastic on the belly - it will allow the snake to float upright like a live snake.

Of course all proto types will be made with 1 colored worms to prevent any waste of plastic.

Larry Dahlburg from the "In Fishermen and The Hunt for Big Fish TV series", did an experiment with the micro bubbles. It was a 50/50 mix with softener added to help eliminate stiffness. He said it would float a 7/0 hook.