Stupid question for the croud

[baj435]

Guys i have been pourin sticks about a 6 weeks now, and i have a texture question. When i pour my baits with salt they have memory. By this i mean if you squeeze the bait flat it stays that way. I must be doing something wrong or not adding enough of something don't exactly know.

Hope somebody can tell me why. Below is what i am doing.

Making black sticks with glitter this is my reciept:

12 cup Ozark plastic

18 cup Del's softner

1 Cap of Del's Stabalizer

3 table spoons Del's Salt

100 drops Del's Black

1 teaspoon Ozark glitter

Ingediants are add in that order. I am pouring from about 330 to 360 degrees. Try to pour mostly at around 330 to keep the glitter suspended longer. Color comes out great but the texture is a little off.

[Delw]

I am betting though your baits are really soft? if they are try backing off the softener about 1/16 of a cup.

normal starter is

1 cup plastic

1/2 cup salt

1/4 cup softener

if you broke that down it would be

1/2 cup plastic

1/4 cup salt

1/8 cup softener

softener is used mainly to make the baits soft ie counter react the salt.

Adjust your formula so the salt and the softener are the same proportions

ie

1/8 cup salt , 1/16 cup softener softener should be about 1/2 of what the salt is.

now that being said all plastics are sightly different in firmness so if you have a super soft plastic your softener used will be even less

Delw

[baj435]

Thanks Del i will go put anouther batch on righ now with out any softner and and then with 1/16 as you sugessted. Will update the results.

thanks again,

Brent

[bssmstr]

ozark's plastic is super soft anyway. probably don't need any softner.

[nova]

The other side of it might be that you are not letting the baits "cure" overnight before you squeeze them. This will give the plastic time to set up completely.

www.novalures.com

[bassinbad]

ya dont need em to cure just let em cool...you pour any stiks and after ya break em outta the mold they are still warm..if ya squuez em obviously they will stik that way..chill em...let them sit for like 90 seconds or so in the mold ..break em out ..cut em..then leave em on like sheet metal or glass .glass pref. or granite ..then them biatches will cool and ya wontr have to worry.softner will come into play also. addd too much and ya get soup.too little and its a stiffy.... ..do some R&D with small amounts and you will find the truth!!! sin out!

[baj435]

Ok guys, just got through with the test. Belive it or not i get the about the same result with all the pours with original formula, with 1/16, and with no sofner.

True Nova i have not let these sit over night yet, but some have been setting for thirty min or so now. I do not have this problem when i pour with very little or no salt just when i am pouring sinkers.

When i pour with no salt i don't add any thing but stabalizer and sticks turn out perfect.

I will let this batch sit over night and update in the morning as to how they really turned out, but i have a strange feeling the result will be about the same.

Thanks for the help guys, lord knows i need all of it that i can get.

talk to you in the morning

Brent

[nova]

What kind of salt are you adding?

www.novalures.com

[One Sock]

Me thinks it might be his salt too. I never have that problem. i only use supersoft, no softner, stabilizer and a great popcorn salt, my biggest problem is either adding too much flake or not enough when developing color combos, but that usually only hap[pens once

[baj435]

The true verdict after 9 and half hours is in and same results squeeze and the bait does not spring back.

Nova i use Del's salt.

I tried some reheats with some non salted factory plastic and added my 3 table spoons for sinkers and got the same result as well. it is funny that it is the salt others use Del's salt and i have not heard of any complaints, but yawl may be right. i quess i could have got a bad batch if there is such a thing.

Sock you say popcorn salt. do you buy it localy or do you order it. next question do you grind it or use as is.

Thanks again guys for helping me try and solve this problem. I am open to any thing.

P.S Sock i think you need to start a swerly school of pouring

Brent

[nova]

I use pickling salt or some call it canning salt and I flour it.

Are you cooking your plastic long enough? Are you baits "sticky" after they are poured?

www.novalures.com

[baj435]

i think i am cooking long enough. They are not sticky when i pull them out. I did have the sticky problem when i firdt started and i looked up some past threads on that sub. The two answers were mix the plastic longer and make shure it was cooked long enough. turns out the mixing was the trick in my case.

i only have one mold and it takes me a while to pour baits. i leave the baits in the mold usely for at least a min or two. i also pour plastic into the mold real slow.

don't know if any of that helps or not

Brent

[One Sock]

I am simply amazed at how many different things people do in order to make sticks. from flouring salt, mixing with drills, adding this and that. That;s fine if that's what you do and you like it. i'm not trying to put anyone down for their techniques, i just want to undrstand a little more about why they go through all that.

I use MF supersoft for all my sticks, (yes tried calhouns and others). I keep 4 ounce bottles of plastic and just hand shake them a bit throw it in a cup ...add salt and color and heat. stir and heat again add flake and pour. With having 7 stick molds now. I waste very little and the baits are really consistent...

The key is consistency, I weigh all my sticks to ensure they weigh around 0.03 grams per stick. this is as close in weight as you will get to GY's sticks. texture depends on salt, flake and plastic you use. Mine are as soft if not softer than GY's but have the same fall rate and bit more wiggle. Do not stick with one manufacturer for your supplies of salt, flake and color experiment and find out what suits you best, I have tried em all and have to say I have had good results with many of them and then tried a differnt manufacturer for the same color and come up with even better results. so don't settle until you find what is absoulutely the best for you

[baj435]

Sock i am not into manufacturing or selling baits. I was just tired of paying 60 and 70 cents per bait. this fishing habit i have ( which resembles a drug habit according to the wife) is expensive enough as it is with gas at 3 dollors a gallon and all the maint. that goes into your boat. since the Senko came out i have found that it is real hard for me to put it down and go back to the old faithfulls. on the lake i fish the most 20 to 30 fish turned into 50 to 60 with the stick. this is my motovation. i started this to try and save money, but never thought this stuff would be this much fun.

with that said, i read threads for about five days before i purchased any thing. i have colors from three diferant manufacures, plastic from one, glitter from two, and salt from one (so far this may change depending on the outcome of this thread). I saw where folks had tried this and that before me and i tried to not repeat those mistakes.

[One Sock]

Sock i am not into manufacturing or selling baits. I was just tired of paying 60 and 70 cents per bait. this fishing habit i have ( which resembles a drug habit according to the wife) is expensive enough as it is with gas at 3 dollors a gallon and all the maint. that goes into your boat. since the Senko came out i have found that it is real hard for me to put it down and go back to the old faithfulls. on the lake i fish the most 20 to 30 fish turned into 50 to 60 with the stick. this is my motovation. i started this to try and save money, but never thought this stuff would be this much fun.

with that said, i read threads for about five days before i purchased any thing. i have colors from three diferant manufacures, plastic from one, glitter from two, and salt from one (so far this may change depending on the outcome of this thread). I saw where folks had tried this and that before me and i tried to not repeat those mistakes.

LOL my wife says the same thing about me, I started too out of frustration with limited color selection at local stores and price, the business end came after fishing them in local and not so local tournaments. I'm not trying to get rich or anything as the market for plastics is a tough one to be in. The great part of selling though is your cost per personal baits becomes even cheaper as you use the money from sales for product. My last order yesterday paid for two new frog molds and 5 gallons of plastic. I am seriously thinking of reselling the popcorn salt to others soon. If I do, I'll send you some to try out

[saint308]

Sock: .03 grams per stick? Is that a typo? Saint.

[One Sock]

Sock: .03 grams per stick? Is that a typo? Saint.

HMM maybe it was 3.0 grams, now I have to go check..lol

[David Reid]

.03g Sounds pretty good to me. If only it were so we could all get rich. ie. .03 = 33.3 per g, a bit over 1500 per lb, or 3300 per kg. Instead we have to settle for around 150 per lb or less less what you damage and give away etc etc.

Even if we could sue Sock for misinformation and damages and if the court was stupid enough to award damages we still wouldnt end up with any money. LOL. Yeah obviously while money and the thought that they may be able to save some might be the initial reason people start out to make their own initially there is something else being satisfied here and over the last 6 weeks or so I can quickly see what it is as I have looked at the pictures and read peoples emails. I certainly like the way everyone helps one another and adds their 2c worth.

[One Sock]

.SNIP

Even if we could sue Sock for misinformation and damages and if the court was stupid enough to award damages we still wouldnt end up with any money. LOL. Yeah obviously while money and the thought that they may be able to save some might be the initial reason people start out to make their own initially there is something else being satisfied here and over the last 6 weeks or so I can quickly see what it is as I have looked at the pictures and read peoples emails. I certainly like the way everyone helps one another and adds their 2c worth.

LOL, I think it might have something to do we the creative side in people. I know for me my drawing skills are the same that they were in first grade, I still draw stick people and your "basic house with the triangle roof.

I think it allows people like me to express some sort of creativity, There is also an extreme satisfaction in making your own baits and catching fish on them and seeing others catch fish too!!

So I'll share this also, went to a small local park lake here(more of a pond) it has a fair number of 1-2 lb bass and some bigger ones. I was testing the perch swirl out and casting from the bank to the edge of weedbeds and letting it fall, I immediately picked up 2 bass and had 2 little girls around 11 years old whopping and hollering about the fish. The mom and dad came over and i showed the girls how to hold the bass, they did a fine job, I snapped a few photos and handed them some worms and hooks( they were fishing bobbers) their dad hooked them up and they proceeded to cast outside the weedline. A few casts later one of the girls hooks a small 1 lb bass. she was ecstatic as were her parents who offered to pay for the handful of worms. I handed them a card instead and told them to send me some pictures next time. Well they proceeded to fish and each girl caught a few more fish including a very big crappie, as I was leaving I handed the kids some frogs, sticks and a variety of other baits I was testing, you couldn't beat the smiles off their faces with a stick. so it's rare moments like this that sometimes make all the effort and time spent well worth it. i emailed the pic's to the parents of the kids. fantastic day fishing

[Jrr]

HMM maybe it was 3.0 grams, now I have to go check..lol

Boom Boom Boom ROLF:lol:

[baj435]

ok guys back on the original subject.

I want out and bought a few small containers of mortins popcorn salt. Made baits last night and this is the update. Popcorn salt seems to be a little finer then Del's salt so i had to use a little more to achive the same sink rate, but the out come is the same press on sticks and they stay that way for quite some time.

Any other sugestion besides the salt issue?

thanks

Brent

[wannabefishing]

okay, i kinda skimmed this thread, but i'm just curious how long you're waiting before squeezing the baits? they usually take 24hrs to set up.... just curious

[baj435]

i have been waiting over night, but it does not mater i can pick up baits i made a week ago and get the same result. don't know if they are to soft if they are suposed to act like they are acting or if i am doing something a little different or what.

[Predator Bass Baits]

It might be that your using ozark plastic and dels softner, I do not think the mixing of 2 different manufactures stuff works, try it with out the softner and less salt just to see if it squishes.

[wannabefishing]

i use MF plastic and have used Dels and LC's softener, currently using Dels, with no issues... never tried Ozark anything tho, so maybe?

Have you poured just straight plastic, no salt/softener? try it and see what happens.... then try plastisol and softener, if straight plastisol works okay, but no salt .... you should then know what the culprit is...