2marshall8 Posted October 16, 2020 Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 I've added these to the gallery. I ran into some bubble issues as you can see on the tails in a few of the baits. not sure if anyone has advice on why this occurred or not. thanks everyone for your help. Regarding curing, what do each of you do to cure the baits so they maintain their correct shape, and when do you bag em and add scent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadfrog Posted October 16, 2020 Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 I hang them while on the runner. Then leave them about 3 days. Bag with scent . I put the scent in a spray bottle so I can spray the inside of the bag . Makes it easier to get the plastic to go in. I also made some skids I lay the plastics on to slide them in a uniform position into the bag. I put worm oil on those to make them slippery. Just my way and personal preference. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted October 16, 2020 Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 +1 on what toadfrog said. Really the only difference is I lay my baits out on a cookie sheet and remelt all my runners so I have the least amount of waste. Your baits look good though. You will always have a few that aren’t perfect. Maybe a bubble or a void one may dent a little. The large volume producers have the same things happening. Pick up a bag of Zoom and inspect it closely. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2marshall8 Posted October 16, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 2 hours ago, Apdriver said: +1 on what toadfrog said. Really the only difference is I lay my baits out on a cookie sheet and remelt all my runners so I have the least amount of waste. Your baits look good though. You will always have a few that aren’t perfect. Maybe a bubble or a void one may dent a little. The large volume producers have the same things happening. Pick up a bag of Zoom and inspect it closely. Yah, hanging them by the runners makes it easy to cure em but yur right thats a lotta plastic wasted for other baits, so this was another decision I am facing. I've got them on a cookie sheet right now. regarding placing them into the bag, toadfrog, I like your process. Did you find that adding drops into the bag was not as effective at scenting the plastics, and how much extra waste are you incurring when spraying? Also, I've seen companies add salt to bags to keep the baits from sticking, Is worm oil a substitute for this? thanks everyone for the continued advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Posted October 16, 2020 Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 I let cure on wax paper for 24 hours. For uniform packaging I cut a plastic milk jug and spray it with a worm oil and scent mixture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2marshall8 Posted October 16, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Driftwood said: I let cure on wax paper for 24 hours. For uniform packaging I cut a plastic milk jug and spray it with a worm oil and scent mixture. I don't follow how cutting a milk jug would help with uniform packaging into a bag. I guess I don't understand what shape is being made by the milk jug. Are you cutting it in half and using the bottom half or top half and putting the baits with the scent and oil into the top or bottom half, than transferring them to the bag? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted October 16, 2020 Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 If you will slide a thin piece of hard plastic under your baits that you have laid out to cure you can bag them by sliding the baits and thin plastic the baits are now laying on in the mouth of your bag without disturbing the baits much. You will need to lubricate your thin plastic, what ever you use, so it will slide easily under your baits. I use worm oil. I think most guys do. I also use a spatchula and have several with different widths. In the home goods department at Wally World you can find thin plastic cutting surface you can trim to fit your bags. I have thought about using these but my spatchula has a handle. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2marshall8 Posted October 16, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Apdriver said: If you will slide a thin piece of hard plastic under your baits that you have laid out to cure you can bag them by sliding the baits and thin plastic the baits are now laying on in the mouth of your bag without disturbing the baits much. You will need to lubricate your thin plastic, what ever you use, so it will slide easily under your baits. I use worm oil. I think most guys do. I also use a spatchula and have several with different widths. In the home goods department at Wally World you can find thin plastic cutting surface you can trim to fit your bags. I have thought about using these but my spatchula has a handle. this sounds like a lotta work to get them into the bag but I don't have experience like you Ap ;). Couldn't I just spray the bag or add my scent to the bag drop in the baits . and maneuver them around with my hands in the bag until they align properly? or will that not work as simply as I'm saying? Edited October 16, 2020 by 2marshall8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted October 17, 2020 Report Share Posted October 17, 2020 Why sure you can^^^^^I don’t have a lot of experience. There’s guys here that forgot more about tacklecrafting than I’ll ever know. I do know this though. Bagging baits is a chore. Probably the least enjoyable task in soft plastics. Keeping this in mind, anything you can do to shortcut this task is time well spent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2marshall8 Posted October 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Apdriver said: Why sure you can^^^^^I don’t have a lot of experience. There’s guys here that forgot more about tacklecrafting than I’ll ever know. I do know this though. Bagging baits is a chore. Probably the least enjoyable task in soft plastics. Keeping this in mind, anything you can do to shortcut this task is time well spent. ok so the idea is place them on this thin plastic which fits into the size of the bag and which also has worm oil, so after they cure, it's just insert into the bag, tilt the thin plastic upwards and they drop into the bag. yah It is a good idea. As I've been shooting my first molds recently I'm definitely feeling the loss of time and ways to cut time and maximize production. the worms in the original pic above are from a 3 cavity drop shot worm mold which when adding the chartreuse tails put me around 6-12 baits per hour depending on how many bubbling mistakes I run into. How much product are you pushing a week? Edited October 17, 2020 by 2marshall8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted October 17, 2020 Report Share Posted October 17, 2020 11 hours ago, 2marshall8 said: How much product are you pushing a week? I don’t sell. Just a hobby for me. And I don’t bag much anymore. I use those cheap plastic containers with tops that then go into my bass boat lockers. Maybe when I retire, I may get into some small time arrangement with a few mom and pop places just to have something to do and drink coffee, get out of the house, etc. if you want to produce a lot of baits, cavity count is what you have to work on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Driftwood Posted October 17, 2020 Report Share Posted October 17, 2020 Yeah, I was talking about baits that lay flat in the bag.( think jig trailors.) when using the thin plastic to bag with. Now if you are talking about worms, lizards, craws and such.... bagging is a royal pain so we hired a few teenagers to bag for us. We took the bags and baits to them, showed them how and the quantity of each bag and paid them when they finished. Worked real well for us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassmaster Rick Posted October 19, 2020 Report Share Posted October 19, 2020 On 10/16/2020 at 4:15 PM, Apdriver said: If you will slide a thin piece of hard plastic under your baits that you have laid out to cure you can bag them by sliding the baits and thin plastic the baits are now laying on in the mouth of your bag without disturbing the baits much. You will need to lubricate your thin plastic, what ever you use, so it will slide easily under your baits. I use worm oil. I think most guys do. I also use a spatchula and have several with different widths. In the home goods department at Wally World you can find thin plastic cutting surface you can trim to fit your bags. I have thought about using these but my spatchula has a handle. Great tip! I just made me a "slide" for my 6" and 7" bags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2marshall8 Posted November 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2020 regarding curing swimbaits which you can't lay out on a cookie sheet has anyone used mini clothes pins and hung them out? I can use the runner but it's a lotta wasted plastic which I need for additional baits. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Boys Posted November 7, 2020 Report Share Posted November 7, 2020 Lay on the edge of the table with tail hanging just off the edge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2marshall8 Posted November 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2020 On 11/7/2020 at 4:50 PM, Bass-Boys said: Lay on the edge of the table with tail hanging just off the edge. the paddle on the tail will be correct but the bait will still bend right where the tail meets the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted November 9, 2020 Report Share Posted November 9, 2020 I lay mine out and haven’t noticed any issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Boys Posted November 9, 2020 Report Share Posted November 9, 2020 6 hours ago, 2marshall8 said: the paddle on the tail will be correct but the bait will still bend right where the tail meets the table. What I have done. Cut a long pc of card board ,( how ever wide your thin area of tail is 1/2" or so ) and tape it to the edge of table ,this raises the edge of the table up the thickness of the card board . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
