I'll be honest, I have no idea what the temp of the plastic has been. I saw a video or instructions somewhere that said heat it in the microwave until it just starts to smoke so that's what I did. With that said, the baits are slightly softer than I'm used to in commercial tube bodies but I wouldn't say they are tacky or sticky. All the colorants I used were from lurecraft so I'm not sure if those bleed or not. I did a few color variations, all with the chartreuse tail. Those with a flourescent orange body didn't seem to change much and others with a bright red didn't seem to fade. The Bubble gum bodies are the only ones that seemed to change. Bob, along with other solutions, suggested cutting the body off the dipping rod (leaving the tail) and the redipping just the body portion of the bait in the desired body color. I will try that also if I can't solve the problem otherwise but would prefer to avoid the extra work of doing this if I don't have to. Thank you all for the suggestions so far! This is already seeming like a great hobby despite the minor setback with this one bait.