BigBendFishing.Net

I've made my own egg sinkers and jigheads for many years but have just recently gotten into pouring my own soft plastic lures and could use some pointers from those who are experienced at it.. Made a couple of batches of swim baits that very closely resemble bass assassins then added glitter for a scale effect, glow and menhaden oil for scent and gave them their first trial run last Friday... The trout loved em so much my fishing buddy begged for one.
Anyone else making their own molds and pouring their own baits?

I make my own lead. I have considered plastics for years, but never have.

I'm finding it's a lot easier, faster and safer than working with molten lead.. and I can melt my used and worn out baits into new ones and change their shapes, sizes and colors. Hoping others that have tried it will chime in with tricks and techniques.

What are you using for a mold?,and where do you get them(molds)? Do the colors of the old baits remain the same,-do they blend? I guess I need to know more just like you, but I have not tried yet.

wacissaguy wrote:What are you using for a mold?,and where do you get them(molds)? Do the colors of the old baits remain the same,-do they blend? I guess I need to know more just like you, but I have not tried yet.

I made my first mold using fiberglass. That was a bit messy but the mold works.. It's much easier, cheaper and quicker using plaster of paris. Costs less than $4 and there's enough in the carton to make at least two molds of 6 to 8 baits each. Just mix it with water and set the lures you want to make in the mixture . You can remove the lures in a few hours when the mixture has hardened then melt some old lures (or some soft plastic liquid) and pour into the molds. They're dry enough to remove in about 3 minutes.
You can buy injector molds and injectors and make them that way but I haven't done that since they aren't cheap and pouring them by hand is working well.
I've found the colors of the old baits do remain the same but they do blend if you mix them together. I'm melting the colors separately and when making two color lures, I just pour one color and the next either for the tail or upper part of the lure on top of the first while the plastic is still hot.
Melting the plastic has been the trickiest part for me. Originally I used a hot plate and tin cups.. That works but you have to stir the plastic a lot to keep it from burning on the bottom so yesterday I put a cup of lures in the wife's microwave and that worked great.. no burning at all... so picked up a cheap one for lure making at Walmart.
I've also found that adding a scent attractant like menhaden oil gives the clear, white and glow lures a slight brownish tint..
It's kinda fun and a way to pass a rainy day. Hoping to hear from others since I'm sure there are other and better ways and I'd like to know if anyone uses the injectors.

I believe you can buy molds at www.barlowstackle.com I have used them for fly tying supplies and other lure making components.

Juan - your story reminds me of a buddy and I when we were kids. My folks were at work and we came up with a worm mold and some plastic from Bass Pro. While cooking up a batch of plastic on my Mom's stove, we got distracted by some sandwich making and burned the entire run. It turned a burnt brown color and smelled terrible, but boy did we catch the bass on those worms.

I believe it! I'm convinced fish will eat almost anything. I burnt a batch too but I just poured it any way and it made a dark brown bait so I dipped the tail in green dye and they look pretty good. I can remember a friend catching a limit of big bass on a store bought lure that looks like a miniature Budweiser can with treble hooks. I'm modifying these I'm making and instead of the "normal" tail on a swim bait, I'm making a split tail over it. I'm not sure if they're working so well because of the extra tail action or because of the menhaden oil infused in them or just because the trout have never seen anything so ugly.

I don't anymore, but when I did I got a lot of my stuff from janns net craft. (jannsnetcraft.com)

Lol. Juan - Those Budweiser can lures are probably still available at Busch Gardens in Tampa if you've been looking for one ever since....

Steve Stinson wrote:Lol. Juan - Those Budweiser can lures are probably still available at Busch Gardens in Tampa if you've been looking for one ever since....

Ebay seems to have a few also.
https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_sacat=0 ... shing+lure