BronzeBack

thats what I was trying to copy (closely match) was a crank bait color. Although I have to admit, after seeing your bait, it looks REAL nice.

I hoping someone could point me in the right direction for a formula for a respectable Tennesee shad color for a soft jerkbait. I have tried now for sometime, but they all end up looking like mud to me.

Any suggestions on where to look for these. I am a better painter, than a carver.

Before I got my first boat(a beat up 14 ft jon that I loved like it was a Ranger),I often waded small ponds in cut off jeans and tennis shoes,and I caught a lot of bass.So yes,imo,you can wade and catch bass without spooking them too bad. I would have to agree with the wading for fish. That is how I traverse all the creeks and small streams when I looking for smallies. As long as you don't get too noisy, it's an excellent way to fish. And believe it or not I have on occasion caught a fish that I have spoked when I made a particular loud splash. I was able to see where it went for cover and gave it a few minutes to calm down.

That's when you do what I do, find a deep hole in a creek, relax and present what I made realy slow. Making the Del Mart's Fluke in the winter time is what I use.

Exprimenting is what I love the most. And the fact that I caught fish with something that isn't on the market. Ohh and being able to go right behind someone and catch a fish that wouldn't bite their lure, but it took mine. (yes had that happen to me on Lake Tarpon, for those who live around the Tampa, Florida area.)

Can I ask when you bought the Rod? If it's less than a year old they will replace it for free. I went through that ordeal when my 1 1/2 old son broke my rod (starting him out early)

SenkoSam have you tried lining the mold with a particular glitter befored you poured your worm?

Here is the one thing that I have learned about pouring my own worms, I have yet to duplicate an exact match, I have come pretty close to it and they seem to do as well if not better than whats on the market. As you will find, experimenting is the best part about pouring the baits, I could spend all day pouring colors that I have never seen and then seeing if it works. Hmm how can I get a job doing that? For colorants and glitters try going to MF Manfacturing Co. They have a pretty good selection of stuff and have found out they even supply some of the bigger producers of worms and a major hunting/fishing retail store.

I have used a float tube, in fact that is all I have for a boat, and I absolutly love it. I like being able to get a to a part of a pond/lake where bank fishing is limited to a dock and it's surrounding area. And it's great for night fishing.

Only one thing to say about the glitter from Del's it has a tendacy to sink to the bottom of the pan. You will have to add more glitter to your formula to get what you want. The .008, .035, .040 refers to the size diameter of the glitter. .008 is the finest that I have seen on the market. It's about the size of a salt grain I think. 035 is a good medium sized glitter that is square. I consider this the standard size of glitter that is used from all major manufacture of plastic baits. 040 hex is just what it is. the glitter is hexagon shaped and just a step up in size from 035. Glitter is used to add flash, offset a color, or even darken a bait. Case in point, green glitter mixed with black grape colorant will give you something close to a Junebug. In fact the green glitter is what causes the bait to become darker and giving it the black look.

The only way that I know to reduce the amount of snags with a treble hook is to cut the back hook off. If you take a crank bait and hold it by the lip/body look at the hooks as the hang down. The back hook of the treble is the one that will face AWAY from the bill of the crank bait. Remember, doing this will REDUCE, but not eliminate snags. Anothing thing that has just occured to me is to take a piece of wire, like the ones used for making a jig weedless and solder it close to the part where the eye of the hook is. I think using a light guage wire would be the best thing to use.

Moister in either the colorant or plastic can cause bubbles to appear. I have found this out from pouring my own worms in a extreamly high humidity environment, back porch in Florida, and then moving my pouring operation to an area that had a dehumidifier, my basement in Indiana. Bear this in mind though, there are times that I do like having bubbles in my worms. It can cause the worm to float higher off the bottom, or fall at a slower rate when finess fishing. With either case, those worms can be deadly when drop shotting or on the Carolina rig.

Try a permanet marker, no bake, dries to the touch in seconds, and you can touch them up while in the boat or on the bank.

The only two draw backs to making my own worms that I have found is start up cost, and the price of plastic. With the plastic being made from oil, it is market driven. One day a gallon of plastic can be 50 dollars, and the next 20 dollars. Other than that it's nice to be able to throw a worm that the fish have never seen on a high pressure lake.