Plastic Hardness For Swimbaits

[Bassinfool]

I'm going to get a swim bait mold but I have never made swim baits or fluke style baits before so I need to know what stiffness/firmness of plastic I should use. I use soft mixed with a little medium for all my craws, worms and beaver style baits but I think that would be far too soft to give the swims the correct action.

[Anglinarcher]

It really depends.  On a jointed swimbait that counts on hydrodynamic flutter instead of a paddle tail, soft, even very soft, is just fine.  On a swimbait with a paddle tail or with a side flap like the little fishie syle, stiffer plastic helps.

 

On a side note, even the paddle tail style can be extremely soft if the tail has the correct design.  Kinda of hard to describe it, but ...... it can be very effective.

 

I hate to say it, but buy normal softness and add hardner of softner and once you know what works for that bait style and size, you can then buy that softness next time.

[Basscandy92040]

For my salt water swim baits, I used a mix of 75 hard and 25 soft when I was using LC Plastic.  Now I use LW plastics and i have add a tlbsp of hardner to the same ratio to get desired action....

[patrick reif]

I use soft Calhoun plastic and add softener for a 90/10 mix+/-.  I use the hollow body basstackle mold.

 

The tails are knocked off quickly, but the majority of the baits are fished in water less than 50 degrees.  The added softener helps with action in the colder waters...especially when you have to keep the rod tips dipped in the lake to keep the eyes from icing up.

 

There doesn't seem to be the same body rock at the head as with commercially made swimbaits, but the tail action is right on with an Alabama rig or a plain jighead using a sloooooooooow rooooooooooll.

the additional softener doesn't allow the main body mass to kick the way other mixtures do, but that dog does hunt

 

Freshwater stripers, large mouth, small mouth, and spots are typically being targeted...walleyes and muskies have also fallen.

 

I guess it depends on your target species and zoning in on water temps to really say.  I have been told that I make a better cold water swimbait than can be bought in stores though.  Also, my ghost minnow color is spot on.

My favorite color is the lavender minnow with a purple core shot.  The internal core shot is very thin and has a pretty pink tint...God, that sounded gay.

 

Flukes are something completely different.  I add a truck load of salt or no salt at all depending on what section of the water column I'm fishing and how it's being fished.  Swimbaits get no salt...they get a jighead.

 

The majority of the time, I deadstick a fluke in river current, and want a lot of salt to help carry it down to the bottom.   In fall, a top water fluke can be devastating to smallies feeding in the shallow current. 

 

For a bottom dwelling fluke, I use the recipe for stick baits and incorporate light twitches when I brush the rocks.  For top flukes, no salt, and slowly walk the dog.

 

 Big deference's between the two baits even though the profile may be similar.

 

 

What swim bait mold are you looking at?   How do you want to use it?   That all makes a difference.

[SlowFISH]

Alot will also depend on how "fast" your going to fish it and on what weight hook/head.

 

On the paddle tails I make what I've found is..... use a big weight jighead and retrieve quick - a little harder will work ok and last longer - but if I use light weight jigheads and/or slow retrieve a softer bait is needed.  Since I try to keep stuff simple I just buy "medium" plastic and go from there..... lot less hassel.

 

            J.

[MonteSS]

As I said in the other thread, Medium plastic and do-it HD additive works great. Strong durable bait that is soft and great action.

 

...Bill

[Bassinfool]

Thanks for the answers everyone, I can't get the search function to work on my phone for some reason but I appreciate the quick answers.