So i finally broke my mistake luck streak and what did it was 1/4oz buzz bait. I seriously tried texas rigged soft plastics but i can get nothing to hit em no matter color or size. So i ordered a 4 pack of 1/4 oz buzz baits off ebay for like 10 bones and have been slaying em all the sudden. These buzz baits are made from the parts you can buy all over the internet. IMHO by the time you add on shipping,(5 bucks for 100 hollow metal beads?), it becomes expensive and maybe just as expensive as buying a 3-5 lure. I think i can do better.... I think i can seriously make a new design or two using all hand crafted parts by me in my spare time as a hobby. I tend to lose my buzzbaits alot. I lost 4 this past week during 2 trips to stupidy really. Like the  spinning reel flipping back during casting and the line snaps or the knot coming undone...just all kinds of bad luck issues and noob mistakes really.

 

Anyway i want to avoid paying $40 for a mold to cast lead. It looks like they are using alum or steel for the molds being sold. I am wonding if there is an alternative material to make mold out of for casting lead? Maybe some type of clay or high temp material thats i can pick up on the cheap and will survive many castings?

 

 

thanks

If you're losing baits due to the bail closing during casting or a knot coming undone you need to do something different with your tackle or techniques first. Either your line is too light or really old if a 1/4oz buzzbait is causing it to break when the bail closes, and a knot should never come undone/untied. Not trying to be a jerk about it, just giving my take on it.

 

You can make a mold out of Plaster of Paris. There's some instructions how to do it if you look them up online. I've done it with jigs but it isn't easy to do. Good thing is, it's fairly inexpensive so if you mess up a couple trying to perfect it, you're not out much. They do break down eventually but you should be able to do a bunch of buzzbaits before it does. 

I use RTV silicone for molds, I tried the plaster of paris but I didn't know I had to wait for a week before using it (moisture and hot lead don't mix), so the RTV gets put in the over at 200 degrees for an hour and a half and then you are good to go.  Here is your other problem, how are you going to melt the lead? Do you have a furnace like a LEE or an RCBS? If not I strongly advise not using a Coleman camp stove and cast iron pot, if you have never melted lead before there are some safety precautions you should take like gloves and safety glasses but the pot on a stove isn't good. The reason is you will need to use a ladle to pour the lead, and that means keeping the stove, with an open flame, close to you while pouring, cast iron pots hold heat but not enough that will keep the lead molten for too long if you remove it from the flame so the oven needs to stay close. What I would do if I were you is to go to Lure Parts Online and buy buzz bait heads already made and then but the components and then put them together yourself, I've been pouring lead for close to 18 years now and one thing I can tell you is trying to go the cheap route ends up in poor quality baits and ends up in a lot of wasted time, if you only want to make some buzz baits to save some coin, buy the heads and components.