im not talking about being fished...im talking if you bought them and put them up for 5 years are they still going to perform the same? this was asked at a local tackle shop yesterday and the owner couldnt answer...if you can answer this please include standard power bait...i know gulp doesnt last haha

    I think that plastics like the Strike King Rage Tail series will last a very long time because the come in hard cases and they won't deform.  Other stuff like Zoom's plastics may not produce the same action because being put up for 5 years, the baits will most likely deform and they will never produce the same action again.

    By "deforming" I mean that maybe one of the tails on a bait might get folded and when you open the package again and take it out you will never get it unfolded.

    As for the plastics breaking down and becoming real mushy I don't think that will happen to often.  But if you keep them in a bag that has just a little condensation they will break down quicker because of the water.

Depending on the brand and how they are stored, indefinitely.

I have a variety of GYCB soft plastics that were purchased in

1997. My dad gave me his tackle box a few years ago. Among

the collectibles is an unopened bag of Creme Worms which appear

to be in pristine condition. They might be 50 years old or more.

http://www.cremelure.com/about_us.cfm

8-)

I have a big Zip-Loc bag full of berkley power worms that my dad bought at least 10 years ago

Dock Master, Zoom plastics will not dry out and deform. Their pliability is related to temperature. I have partially used packages of some Zoom baits that are 10+ years old and they have the same consistancy as new ones.

My wife had hanging on her rod a walmart renegade worm for 2 years, took it and caught fish without changing it.

Long shank hook and no smell, so much for technology..lol

Dock Master, Zoom plastics will not dry out and deform. Their pliability is related to temperature. I have partially used packages of some Zoom baits that are 10+ years old and they have the same consistancy as new ones.

    If you go back and read my post you will see about half way down that by deforming I meant that one of the tails on the bait might get folded in the bag.  I never sad anything about "drying out" as you mentioned.

im not talking about being fished...im talking if you bought them and put them up for 5 years are they still going to perform the same?

I have bags of Culprit 7.5 inch curlytail worms and Mann 's 6 inch Augertail worms I purchased in the late 80's and they are as fresh as the day I bought them.

I have a bag of "Fliptails" that are over 35 years old and they're just like new.

The bulk of todays standard soft plastics are a polysol base which is a petroleum product. There are different types of plastisizers that are used in the plastisol but even those are very similar in nature and shelf life or longevity is comparable as well. With this said, many of us have picked up old bags of softy's and noticed that they are more oiley than they were a year or two earlier. That is because the base oil that they are composed of is leaching or oozing from the mixture. As these baits are formed from heated liquid state, this leaching process would be accelerated if the baits were stored in a hot environment or in direct sunlight for extended periods of time.

Of course, the texture or durometer hardness of any plastic will change as this leaching occurs, which will definitely change the received action, if that bait was designed to produce a particular action and not just have a certain appearance. The action change can be minimal to extreme depending on the amount of texture change. If stored in sealed bags, cool place and in low light conditions, they should last for a long, long time.

For baits that are deformed or bent out of shape in the bag, placing them in the sun on a flat surface and allowing them to heat up will allow you to reform then let cool. A faster process for reforming is to place them in extremely hot water (near boil) for a couple of minutes then into cool water, this should take them to original shape. The plastic will be much softer for a day or two after this process but will firm back to original texture in time.

Hope that helps...

Big O

www.ragetail.com

Dude I have some Mann's Jelly worms, Fliptail worms, Yum Yum worms and Mr Twister worms bought back in the late 70s that I still use today.

If you are lucky, not very long, as the fish will have eaten them all before they have much age at all.

I had a bunch of soft plastics (various brands) that sat in my tackle box in the garage for the three years I was in Alaska. When I finally used them again, they were all at least four years old and I couldn't tell any difference from when they were brand new.

Most of my "old" stuff is Power Worms from the early/mid 90's. Some of the bags are still sealed.

Factory baits last a long,long time.

I can't say the same for the smaller homemade bait companies.Some reason the ones i got from last year are starting to break down,get slimy and stink to high heaven(not the good kind of stink).  Don't get me wrong,they are awesome baits when i first got them,i just wish i used them the same year i brought them.Instead of throwing them in inventory pile.