I’ve seen some teally

nice hand pour stick baits and flukes and ribbon tails and such on a Facebook group I’m in. Guy is knowledgeable of the process and makes some great colors at great prices. I was curious if anyone goes this route vs mass produced baits? Just thinking of supporting small business and saving some money 

I don’t buy them because I make them, but not for sale.

SoCal is the center of the hand pour universe, yes I buy them👍

Tom

7 minutes ago, WRB said:

SoCal is the center of the hand pour universe, yes I buy them👍

Tom

I didn’t know that! I just figured might be a chance to stock up on baits ins. Color I like and can adjust the softness and such. And support small business. 

5 hours ago, Joedodge said:

Just thinking of supporting small business and saving some money 

90% of the time you will be paying 2-3x more instead.

 

Every local and online smaller guy selling soft plastics i could find is charging $8-10 for a pack of 5 plastics using a cheap mold even, and $6 for jigs with no name hooks.

 

I would love to buy and support local tackle makers, but i refuse to.

Ahhh ok. That makes sense. 
 

5” stick baits 10 for $6

5” flukes 10 for $5 

1 hour ago, Joedodge said:

I didn’t know that! I just figured might be a chance to stock up on baits ins. Color I like and can adjust the softness and such. And support small business. 

Hand pour soft plastic worms originated in Burbank by Jim Smith “Smitty” worms and a local market started up. By the early 70’s  every bass tackle shop had several hand pour suppliers. The advantage was multiple color layers and flake combination plus the plastic was soft and floated or was neutral buoyant depending on the salt content.

The Japanese market was developing and hand pours couldn’t keep up with demand so a Robotic hand pour machine was developed by Greg Stumpf creating Roboworm company.
Tom

True hand pour or small operation injection mold pours?   I buy both.

I like the baits from 99 Strikes but they have gotten pricey. They may look good but there are cheaper options.

Hand pours are hit or miss. The few guys that are really good at it and understand lure design in terms of fine tuning plastic hardness/salt content etc can be worth buying from if you want specific stuff. 

 

Almost everyone peddling stuff in my area on FB or outdoor shows is just pouring stupid colors of medium plastisol into whatever flavor-of-the-week mold + a fluke and senko and advertising it as "custom baits". 

 

In general mass produced plastics from good brands are a superior product and much more consistent, especially lure designs that use multiple hardness/salt content plastic on different segments of the bait, which is the key to the effectiveness of many modern plastic lures. 

 

 

 

 

I really like Arizona Custom Baits.  They have good quality injected and open poor baits.  TW used to carry some of their stuff, that's how I found them.  The prices and quality are great.   

I have in the past. Had good luck.

 

Some these guys make nice stuff almost over the top in quality colors.

 

Tech tip it can be addicting

 

In other words. Find buddy or two to split costs on bulk and that way you get lots of samples. 

All the MAGNUM brand baits are poured.

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?start=0&count=20&searchtext=Magnum+baits

 

I've checked out Paul Krew Custom Baits, man those are some beautiful looking baits.

Being on a restricted income and with a ridiculous amount of plastic baits  so far I've been able to resist  for now.

Good looking baits, like the sweet green pumpkin👍

Tom

I make my own open pours. I've made a few of my own molds but also have some swimbait molds from BTS. When I see a mold that I like, I buy a small cavity one to see if I I like it and then buy a larger cavity one if I do. I dolike to play around with blending durometers, salt, floating blends, etc.  I don't sell any, but hand them out to kids that I see fishing, and a couple of buddies who fish a lot. 

I just received some Paul Krew baits. Disappointed. The baits simply do not reflect the colors shown on the site. Darker, look like two colors rather than the three shown, with the absence of the shad -color layer, and just generally sloppy, with the top layer color bleeding to the bottom. Also took a full month to receive, with limited communication. It’s more the stuff I would expect from someone doing this in a garage for his buddies in the local bass club than someone marketing nationally. 

On 3/20/2025 at 6:10 AM, FishTank said:

I like the baits from 99 Strikes but they have gotten pricey. They may look good but there are cheaper options.

I like their old school motor oil color.  the one with the iridescent green hue.    I'll get some for next spring.    the 5" stick bait

I used to work down the street from Smittys in Burbank and still have some of his Castaic Special finesse worms, black, brown and orange.

22 hours ago, Scoop said:

I just received some Paul Krew baits. Disappointed. The baits simply do not reflect the colors shown on the site. Darker, look like two colors rather than the three shown, with the absence of the shad -color layer, and just generally sloppy, with the top layer color bleeding to the bottom. Also took a full month to receive, with limited communication. It’s more the stuff I would expect from someone doing this in a garage for his buddies in the local bass club than someone marketing nationally. 

I've got nothing but love for Paul Krews baits.

Being killing for me for a while now.

A-Jay

Plastics is one bait class I have not realized any advantage of “custom” manufacturers. Where hard baits may have a more appealing action or color by manufacturer, plastics I want consistency over customization. I found what I feel is the best plastic made (Yamamoto) and after putting it up against a lot of cheaper/more expensive/custom/mass produced/hand pours/injection molded, etc….I always come back to Yamamoto.  Just to avoid any broad brush criticisms, I’ll refine my comment to the Senko. 😉

I buy a lot of hand pours, since it’s become harder and harder to find large producers that cater to our western color palette.