dampeoples

On the paint, not the bait, Marty made these, so I know they're right on

Not sure if you can inject a silicone mold, as it would be tough to keep it sealed while injecting vs. simply pouring. Then again, BW might be talking about a hard platic bait, didn't think to ask about that!

In the $200+ range for something like a 6" worm in 5-6 cavity, where the stock molds at Bob's or Del's are 1/2 that or so, and Lurecraft's design/built at one time was $80, not sure what it is now. It mainly depends on the complexity of the bait, too, as I've gotten molds from him that were more, and some that were less

If you can get a 100 cavity mold for $400, you shoulda jumped on it Speak to Shawn Collins at shawncollinscustoms.com, he's got a 3D scanner if you have a sample, and can draw it up for you if not. It's gonna be expensive, even more so if you have him draw it. He specializes in lead molds, but will do plastic, even though they are more time consuming.

Sweet man, good luck with it!

From the Barlow's catalog: The only hooks that come in 2/0 (as you stated above) are: Standard Eye: Owner 5304, 4/0 wire Dia. .055 Daiichi 4633 4/0 dia. .051 Mustad 32786 4/0 dia. .058 Flat Eye: Mustad 32796 4/0 dia. .058 Gamakatsu 5941 4/0 dia. .062 If you go to 3/0, you can use the Owner 5317 4/0 dia. .060 or Gamakatsu 291 4/0 dia. .060 Good luck with your search, I left out some of the smaller diameter hooks from the page, you seem to be looking for heavy duty.

The mold I pointed out will accept the Owner (5304,5317) hook you mentioned, as well as a few more (they list one Daiichi and 3 or 4 Gamakatsu models), Barlow's has already done the fit testing. I'll pour some footballs for you to test out, if you'd like, just send some hooks over.

Chris, Barlow's carries the most complete selection of hooks that i know of, look them up on the web, get a catalog, or even call and speak to Bill, his catalog lists the wire diameter and all of the hooks, so you know what you're getting up front. As far as the mold, if you're looking at a football jig mold that takes 60* hooks, check the recommended hooks wire size vs. the hooks you are wanting to use to see how compatible they are. Do-It even has a multi-hook jig mold that takes them in flat eye as well as regular, and a lot of different hooks. I have this mold, and have used both the 60* 32798 and 32796 in Mustad, both are 4/0 flat eye hooks, the 96 significantly larger. Here is a link to the mold page, with a listing of hooks that they know that fit the mold, not sure if it's the complete list or not. I'd try it for you, but I'm a Mustad man myself, don't have any other brand If you can't find one of these to work, and are willing to spend the money, Shawn Collins will make you any mold you want to take any hook you want. Good luck, let me know if I can help you any more.

Hello Mr. Wells, Pouring Plastic Making Molds Pouring Supplies That'll get you started, at the end of each article are links to related articles

Take a look at the TAP Plastics site, under tutorials they have a video on squish molds

The difference is in how well they turn. If you're burning a bait, there's not much difference, IMO, but if you want to finesse it, or have it flutter nicely on the fall, a ball bearing is a must.

I'd like to inject my answers On the collars, I get some from Lurecraft that are made differently, and do not rot like the others, a little tougher to get on too, but that's a good thing! On the rubber, which is what 90% of my personal jigs are, I just wire tie them, it's quick and easy, and it ain't going anywhere. I've tied them with thread as well, it's aggravating to do, to me at least, so I only do it every now and again. I don't subscribe to the weedguard trim theory, so no, I don't trim mine, I use the softer guards, a non-wicking glue to secure them, and they work fine. I've heard all sorts of arguments, but shortening them to me is silly, as it's decreasing the effectiveness of the guard, and, when installed, it takes hardly any pressure to flex them. I suppose the argument could go the other way, where it's too easy to flex, but they make stiffer guards if you want to go that route. I have not tried those other hooks, I use Mustad for everything from trebles to trailer hooks.

I assume you mean soft plastic? First, check the tutorial by Senkosam on this site Then, decide what you want to do about a mold, make it or buy it (Senkosam covers that) Then, decide who you want to get plastic from, Senkosam covers that too, he's good about that (I recommend Lurecraft or M-F plastic, tried the rest, they all stink, literally and figuratively) Then, following Senkosam's instructions, pour some, but first, pay extra close attention to the safety precautions, and actually follow them Then, send me a bag for the effort of typing this THEN go fish If you're talking about wire baits, I've seen some pretty cool looking tied mouse/rat buzzbaits, but would have no clue to start.

You can expect lots of cutthroat competition, lots of people will work for free to 'make a sale!!'. You'll need to find a market, and stick with it, selling spinnerbaits for $2 won't get you far, Wal-Mart has them for $1, etc. Basically, find something you like to do, do it differently than everyone else, and go for it. There are tons and tons of online tackle vendors, and most have some sort of 'pro-staff' that pound forum after forum with their baits, which goes largely ignored, IMO. I'd say focus on your local business, let the internet be a side bonus. Most of these guys are looking for a deal, let the one's that work for free cater to these guys, put more effort into the guys locally

Terminator holds a patent or something on this, so nobody makes them, nobody offers the frames, etc, and bending Ti requires heat to make it stay, so the home guy doesn't have the ability to do it. Frames like this used to be available at one time, but they too, have disappeared. I've recently seen a Strike King blade that boasted Ti wire, but it mentioned it being tapered, this might be a way to go around this for a large company such as them, but once again, fairly impossible for the small time guy. If you notice, nobody sells these frames but them. Patents and such have a time limit, so it'll come back around some day, I suppose, but be sure that at $7/pop Terminator is working on the next big thing to make everyone want that

That's kind of harsh, driving a car is nasty and you'll kill yourself. It's like anything else, just take some precaution and you'll be fine. First, plastic is heated to roughly 300*, you'll need an open area with plenty of ventilation, an exhaust fan if you're inside, and wear the proper safety gear, which includes: Long pants, long sleeves, gloves, a respirator of some sort, any used for painting will work. Since the plastic is so hot, taking your time, and practicing safety first, and you'll never get burned. The morons that get in a hurry and spill it on themselves will, however, get burned (me included, until I took my own advice!!) As far as the family thing, it's a great thing to do, you guys can first make your baits, then go out and catch fish on them. Can't think of a better thing to do Heck, if you get into making your own molds, you can even design your own baits to fish with. Not sure how much research you've done into the plastic/material needed, I think Senkosam has a tutorial on this site somewhere to get you started. Good luck, and above all, have fun!

I'm that other 10% I use Dick Nite Lurecoat, it's a solvent based clear, so it's gonna smell, but it has none of the disadvantages of Devcon, such as self-leveling and dry time, but I still use D2T from time to time.

Most of my molds are Collins molds, you won't find a nicer mold out there, but just to let you know, they're 5-6 times more than a comparable Do-It mold. Quality vs. quantity

it's beautiful!

I thought about photo finishing, but by the time I found a pic, resized, checked, resized, etc,etc, i could have one painted by hand, heh. They look good, though! Save up, get a good airbrush (if all you can afford is a mediocre one, keep saving!!), then practice, practice, practice, and you'll have baits that look better than photo finishing in no time

Ah, that's entirely different First thing I would look into is the packaging, I've heard of a place called Johnson Bag Company that sells bags in every size imaginable, then look into getting your information printed on these bags, I have not researched this at all, unfortunately. The service is out there, though, Zoom gets their bags printed somewhere! One place to start might be an office supply shop with a printing service, such as Staples. Good luck! We were just talking about El Salto the other day, pennies are being saved as well as pinched, maybe soon

I'm not sure what you're asking, so I'll guess. If you want to make lures, and add your name to them, well, rock on man, if you're painting stuff, sign it, get a transfer to add it, etc. Soft plastics molds can be created with your name on them, and a slogan (but oh boy is it expensive!!) If you want to buy something off the shelf, and change it, the easiest I can think of is a spinnerbait, hagens will make blades with just about anything you want on them. If you want to find someone to add this stuff, it would be easier if you gave some more detail. Such as if you want soft plastics with your company name or logo on them, or spinnerbaits with a blade with the same, crankbaits with your logo, etc. Then you're getting into expense, custom molds are just that, custom, it might be realtively cheap, say, an existing worm with your name cut in the tail would be a minimal cost compared to an entirely new worm with a name, or heck, even without a name, as the bait will have to be explained, drawn, cut, tested, cut again, etc. I think there was a thread here a few months ago where a fellow was getting married or retiring or something, and had some baits made up with a logo or something on them, you could check with him for cost ideas, but his were not meant to be fished with, so you would need to add hook expense, etc. I can ramble on guessing, but can get you a better answer if I know what you're looking for

Gonna try to get these wet in the next day or two.

The more I look, the more I HATE the spots, I don't normally use stencils on stuff, and did on these. I got results that look like I used a shortcut! Either way, back to the drawing board on that, but here they are cleared: Can't wait to get these wet, Marty!

Looking good man!