I searched and searched, but still have a question

[Marty]

Hi guys, incredible site. I love flathead catfishing. But, we have some restrictive live bait laws. I would like to make some big plastic baits that imitate a couple of the favored forage fishes(drum,carp,shad) our flatheads eat. My first instinct is to make a mold from some of those forage fishes. Would a 2 piece plaster mold make sense to start with? Is there a better way to create the prototype?

Thank you

[shaggy]

IMO, a one piece mold would give you a good shape, i'm not sure how clear the water is where you fish? If the water is dirty there like it is here on the Ohio, a good dark colored bait with a lot of scent on it that resembles a bait fish would be fine. If you are fishing clear water where you would need a lot of detail, a two piece mold wold give you a better looking bait. Hope this helps.

[Marty]

thank you for taking the time to reply shaggy. Our water clarity ranges from swimming pool clear to almost muddy. My first challenge is just to figure out how to get a basic fish shape or blank. Then how to get the right action, then how to get a hook, or hooks into it. Common sense would say to just buy some of those big plastic offshore trolling baits,and adjust from there. But, the creativity of doing it myself is pretty appealing to me.

Any additional advice or posts anyone can steer me towards.

[maximusgunn]

Marty

Lure Craft has a new bluegill mold out looks exactly like a bluegill. They sent me a sample pour. Looks good. You can use diferent coloring and glitter to get it to look like shad or whatever. It is 4-1/4" long order #5x832

They also have shad style swim baits of diferent sizes from 4" up to 7" +

[earthworm77]

Try this, carve a basic blank out of wood and then detail it with a dremel. Add fins made out of soft plastic last and then make your mold. I'm toying with a 4.5" shad style bait that I made this way, so far it seems to be pretty good.

[robbor]

OK flatheads huh. First from what I have heard they prefer live bait. Secondly almost every big cat fisherman I know of bends the rules, espicall on bait. Call it what you want, live bait, cut bait,bluegill, crappie,shad, drum you name it and legal or not it works and that is what they use. Catfish are supposed to have the best sense of smell and you dont hear of guys catching cats often on plastics. I would say if you had really good catfishing spots you will only have marginal luck at best with plastics on cats. You will have better luck with crawdads or anything else you can legally use. And bigger is almost always better when it comes to cats. If you are set on plastics get your self some mold making rtv and mold a real bluegill then when you mix your plastic try putting some bait in a blender and adding it to the plastic.

[acklac7]

Funny your pouring plastics for flatheads...I caught 2 on artificials last year while fishing for Saugeye (one on a jig, the other on a crank)...Know about 4 other people who caught them on accident last year too...As robbor said they prefer live bait...So why wouldn't they hit a jig?.

I had some similar thoughts about pouring a big plastic swim for flatheads. Actually I got the idea from an In-Fisherman article a few years back entitled "artificals for flatheads" or something like that. As I recall they used big chub-immitating soft plastics worked slowly in current...They said it took some practice but they did catch a number of big,big flatty's on jigs.

The only issue that arrizes with big soft plastics is your tackle...You would probably need a heavy action 7ft rod...And maybe 3/4+ ounce jig head to accurately work a 6-7" soft plastic, especially in deeper water w/current. Even then a 3/4 jig and a 7" swimbait weighs a ton...Probably would take some adapted skill to work it correctly.

[Marty]

I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I have a pretty definite plan in mind. I have stout enough equipment. My main thing is I need to learn how to make a mold of a fish. Right now after reading posts on here for three days, my best guess is to do the same thing as if I were making a worm mold, only use a fish, or a carving. (I vote fish)

[robbor]

Ok, the castaic lure company used to make a bluegill, more realistic than any other bluegill(not super huge though). You take that then you cut off the tail and glue on the tail to an optima or osprey swimbait and you got your lure of the gods. There are tons of thoer trout immitations that are close enough to a shad also. If you trim the sides of the tail down super thin you could probable get it to flap with very little current and you can almost limb line the thing. Its all about getting the lure in front of a cat and as you know they like to burry up, and often are not very aggressive. Make a 2 part plaster mold, they are very easy and cheap

[robbor]

http://www.calfishing.com/reviews/bluegill/316_bluegill/index.html

[CrawChuck]

Hi...my first post of advice ...If I was going to make a mold from a real fish this is what I would do. First you want a dead fish since they don't like being stuck in plaster. Seriously, when you find a suitable fish it's pretty easy to make the mold a two piece but a little messy on the first mold.

If you want the minute details use a fine brush to apply a very fine film of paste wax to the fish. Make your mold like the instructions here say and pour it with a stiff plastic to get your master. Do all your add-ons/changes to the master to use in making your production molds.

As for hooking up a large bait for catfish. I found good success with a large frog lure by sticking a toothpick sideways through the head about one-half inch back from the nose and using a Strike King Lightning Strike weedless hook stuck in behind the toothpick. Catch alot of fish on one lure that way. Bass always hit the frog at the head and always got a good hookup. Don't know about catfish. I am happy to offer any advice I might be able to!

[Marty]

I'm on track now.