Good Morning Everyone,

 

For most of my life I have primarily fly fished, but the past few years I have been doing more and more gear fishing and less and less fly fishing. The one thing I always enjoyed about fly fishing was creating your own flies/patterns, something that is thus far missing from my gear fishing endeavors... 

 

I would like to start making my own soft plastic baits, figured the most logical thing for me to start with would be tubes as I fish them often.

 

Something like a 2.75" or 3" tube would be ideal to start with, but I know absolutely nothing about this so was hoping someone could point me in the right direction for the best source to get a mold from, etc... 

 

Thank you very much for your time in advance!

You can either dip rods in soft plastic to make tubes or inject them using molds. Angling AI out of Michigan makes really nice tube molds-some that you have to cut the tails, some that inject the bait and the tails are already formed. 

 

I have the molds you need to cut, and cutting tubes is a pain-but when I started there were no precut tube molds available...

 

What I like about the AI mold is that you can slightly recess the rod and get a hard head tube, which is great for Texas rigging. 

 

There's a ton more I could say, but this is a good start. If you have any questions, ask away. 

 

 

Congratulations on thinking about taking the plunge into plastic bait making.  It is a whole different world than what you may be used to.  I’ve been doing it for a long time and like PourMyOwn will be glad to try to answer any questions you may have.

 

I assume that you have no experience with this hobby.  If not then I suggest that you find out what you need besides a mold.

 

If you move forward with it check out what molds are available and the prices.  I have 4 tube molds that I haven’t used in a while.  I might part with them if you are serious.

 

3 hours ago, PourMyOwn said:

You can either dip rods in soft plastic to make tubes or inject them using molds. Angling AI out of Michigan makes really nice tube molds-some that you have to cut the tails, some that inject the bait and the tails are already formed. 

 

I have the molds you need to cut, and cutting tubes is a pain-but when I started there were no precut tube molds available...

 

What I like about the AI mold is that you can slightly recess the rod and get a hard head tube, which is great for Texas rigging. 

 

There's a ton more I could say, but this is a good start. If you have any questions, ask away. 

 

 

 

Doesn't seem like they have a mold in the size I would like, I will contact them and see, would be cool to deal with a Michigan company, thank you! Not having to cut the tails would be sweet! 

@Goby keep me posted. I think I have all of the Angling AI tube molds. I have used the 4" double dippers and cut them down for a fatter finesse tube, so there's options.

3 hours ago, Jig Man said:

Congratulations on thinking about taking the plunge into plastic bait making.  It is a whole different world than what you may be used to.  I’ve been doing it for a long time and like PourMyOwn will be glad to try to answer any questions you may have.

 

I assume that you have no experience with this hobby.  If not then I suggest that you find out what you need besides a mold.

 

If you move forward with it check out what molds are available and the prices.  I have 4 tube molds that I haven’t used in a while.  I might part with them if you are serious.

 

 

I have watched a pile of YouTube videos of guys mixing and pouring plastics, but other than that, zero experience. 

 

Not looking to do bulk or anything so seems like a cheap microwave, some glass measuring cups, something cheap and metal to mix with like a butter knife and the materials/molds and you can start from there. 

 

 

Check out doitmolds.com for tube molds.  @PourMyOwn said anglingai.com has tube molds plus the tube cutter

Thus far, Doit seems to be the only option, AI only offers a tiny 1.8" and 4" tubes with the splines so you don't need to cut.

 

From what I can tell though, the Doit option is much more like the thinner diameter Gitzit style tubes and not exactly what I am going for. 

 

In a perfect World, whatever mold that Poor Boys uses for their 3" tubes would be ideal! 

 

The search continues... 

Fat guys fishing, do-it, ultra molds, print a lure are some to check out. I’ve only dipped them but suck at it at the moment.

Best advice I can give is if you are going to use injection make sure to get an injector with a locking tip. First one I bought didn't and it is dangerous IMO.

 

Allen 

Fat guys fishing has a lot of size options for tubes with a spline so you do not have to cut tails.  They shoot 10 at a time too.  Expensive mold to start out with but worth it if you use a lot of tubes.  Much nicer than 1 cavity molds.