I'm new to the site, but certainly not fishing. I've been considering tacklemaking over these winter months, specifically soft plastics. What I am looking to accomplish is quite specific, maybe impossible, maybe just nonsense. I am hoping to get input from a couple of members who have already poured. As well as ideas from fisherman with more experience than myself who may have fished a similar product or seen a simpler solution.

 

I have no access to watercraft, so I am reserved to fishing from shore. The bottom's of several ponds I fish are matted with a soft algae, which has a very mushy consistency. Texas rigged baits (weighted and weightless) produce fish when I am not pulling off globs of the stuff. I know that floating plastics are manufactured and sold, but I don't desire a bait to float, but rather "roll over the hills of algae", so to speak. A plastic that when rigged with a standard 3-0 offset Gamakatsu, it will not dive soo deeply into the algae that it becomes and indiscernible ball of green. Leading me to search for an answer and what I believe to be a possible solution. I was considering pouring my own plastics, but incorporate something, which will allow for the tip to be slightly more buoyant than its trailing body. Thinking that a retrieve (dragged, twitched) would be less likely to dive and able to remain in the strike zone longer. Taking it a step further, I though about the implications for crawfish and mimicking their defensive poses (pincers out and up). Soft plastics have the pincers outstretched and obviously they can move with retrieval, but I envision them rested out and upward while the tail is in contact with the pond floor.

Once again, I have never poured, so I am not aware of any obvious challenges that would face me. My original thought was to incorporate something more buoyant, possibly a small piece of cork or foam within the pour. Maybe it would be possible to pour half, instill the "implant", and pour to completion after it had set?

 

-Matt

Drag a drop shot around. The weight will get the muck and the worm will be just above it.

Probably an easier option and honestly, I hadn't even thought of it. I suppose that I've always thought of drop shot as an above-type technique, sitting on the water. Since I've never fished it from shore or really seen anyone else, I wrote it off. Certainly worth a shot.

Works well. Vary the length of the drop so you can bring it back without too much fouling on the bait. Start at about 12" and see where you go from there.

You could also use a split shot rig or Carolina rig with one of the buoyant plastics rigged however you like, and that would stay above the muck.

 

In the walleye fishing world many use "floating jig heads" which can also be rigged similarly. I throw them sometimes on a modified Carolina rig to make delicate presentations in deep water. The weight can be huge but the jig head is the size of a 1/8oz. as opposed to a 1/2 or 1oz jighead, which is gigantic. 

Over looked by bass fishermen, but standard practice for crappie fishermen....... The slip bobber

A slip bobber adjusted to the correct depth will suspend your bait over the vegitation........ Especially handy if youre fishing from shore, because you can use a vertical presentation as if you were jigging under a boat

Can't help you with pouring your own plastics,
but just wanted to welcome you to the forums!

You'll get answers here.

There are various products you could add to soft plastics to change the buoyancy and options for differing the "mix" from rear to front, but probably your easiest option for exactly what you want it to get a worm air injector and inject some air into the front of your favorite bait. You'll have to experiment with what amount of air does what you want, but it should do what your looking for.  The air injectors are typically used for night crawlers and work better with a softer plastic bait.