Getting Started

Morning Folks,

I have a quick question. I have been toying with making my own soft plastic's for a while. I am on a fairly tight budget and need some advice. I was wondering which mold you would start with if you could only get one at a time. Take it in mind I am fishing fairly clear water in my area, and am jig fishing mostly...Ones I had in mind are from Jacobs, and from Do-it. From Jacobs would be the Crappie Dancer ! 1/2 " or the 2", Shad Body Stinger Tail 1 1/2", or the Grub body Stinger Tail 2". From Do-It I am looking at the Small Fry 1.75", Crappie Carrot 1.75" and the 3" smooth tube.

I have Zero experience and just starting with the plastic's. I have the microwave, and Pyrex cups already. Just trying to do this one step at a time as I can. Main prey would be Crappie of coarse, as well as other Panfish.

Any and all help, as well as productive criticism's are welcome. Thank you for your time.

I have molds from Do-it and Jacobs. The mold I have from Jacobs (2" paddle tail) pours flawlessly every time. I never have any dents or incomplete pours with it. I have 2 molds from Do-It (3" K-grub and 3" craw) The 3" craw mold is awesome but the 3" K-grub is annoying. The grub mold will often not fill one of the grub cavities completely and the baits frequently dent. After talking to a number of people, it seems its a design flaw in the mold. The gates to the bait aren't large enough, causing that area to freeze first and causing the baits to dent. Simple fix with a Dremel but still annoying.

I have a few molds from Basstackle.com (2" stinger grub, 3" jerk bait, and 4" stick bait) and they are really nice molds and very affordable, stinger grub mold was $49 but they have one for $39 too. I usually have the mold I order in 3 days after ordering. They sell a lot of different crappie/panfish molds.

Just keep in mind, making soft plastics is not necessarily a cheap hobby. You got the molds but you also need an injector, plastisol, colorant, glitter. I got my 4oz. injector from Ebay for $40 and I think its pretty good. It doesn't have the locking tip but if you pay attention its not an issue. Plastic, colorant, and glitter can all be bought from various websites such as M-F Manufacturing, MF, Hand poured soft plastic supplies for fishing worms , AMERICA'S LARGEST SELECTION OF LURE BUILDING SUPPLIES! , and Lure Making Supplies among others.

Also, don't use your microwave that you cook food with. I got a cheap microwave from a used appliance store for $10

Thanks for replying BuckeyeFishing...Yes Sir, I understand the Cost of hobbies. I also dabble in tying jigs. It's costly too. Though supplies seem to last a bit longer than one might expect. The microwave I have is a second one from when my wife and I got together as we each already had one, as well as toaster ovens.
Thank you for the heads up on Basstackle.com having crappie molds or at least some that can be used for such. As far as everything else I plan on getting what I can as I can, like get a mold or two, then injector, then maybe 1/2 a gallon to 1 gallon of plastisol with a couple colors and maybe two glitters to start and add to as I can. Same as I do with tying materials. I must admit it can get very expensive very fast. Thank you for the info. Eric.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jamesdean

Thanks for replying BuckeyeFishing...Yes Sir, I understand the Cost of hobbies. I also dabble in tying jigs. It's costly too. Though supplies seem to last a bit longer than one might expect. The microwave I have is a second one from when my wife and I got together as we each already had one, as well as toaster ovens.
Thank you for the heads up on Basstackle.com having crappie molds or at least some that can be used for such. As far as everything else I plan on getting what I can as I can, like get a mold or two, then injector, then maybe 1/2 a gallon to 1 gallon of plastisol with a couple colors and maybe two glitters to start and add to as I can. Same as I do with tying materials. I must admit it can get very expensive very fast. Thank you for the info. Eric.

---

One mistake I made was I bought too little plastisol on my first purchase. I only bought a quart and it was $20 when I could have bought a gallon for $30. Pouring plastic baits is addictive, like making any lure, and I blew through a quart in no time. A gallon is the way to go and I just mix it up once a week to keep it from settling out too bad.

The colorant you buy will last a pretty long time. 2oz. of MF colorant will color a whole gallon of plastisol. If you make small 4oz and 8oz batches, you will only need a couple drops of colorant per batch. Also, Colorant likes to settle, i add 2 small stainless steel nuts to my bottle to help mix them up easier.

Same with 2 oz. glitter jars, most of the time you will use an 1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp per batch, if you are making smaller batches.

Yes Sir the biggest expense is Getting what you need to get started, i.e. mold/s gal. of plastisol, and other odds and ends...By the way, where did you find a gallon of plastisol for $30.00, and how long ago?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jamesdean

Yes Sir the biggest expense is Getting what you need to get started, i.e. mold/s gal. of plastisol, and other odds and ends...By the way, where did you find a gallon of plastisol for $30.00, and how long ago?

---

I bought a gallon from Bait Plastics, think their price is $25 + shipping. Its a pretty good plastic but has a pretty strong smell to it when melting. Because of the smell of Bait Plastics brand, I just recently bought a gallon from Dead on Plastix for $30 + shipping to give them a try. Dead on Plastix is actually cheaper when factoring in shipping, think it was $42 total and had it in 3 days. There are a lot of good reviews about Dead on Plastix but I haven't got to use it yet personally, just finished my other gallon Thursday night. I got their medium formula, they call it swim bait/jerk bait formula.

Home — Dead On Plastix Index - Dead On Plastix

Thanks, I will give them a shout...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BuckeyeFishing

I bought a gallon from Bait Plastics, think their price is $25 + shipping. Its a pretty good plastic but has a pretty strong smell to it when melting. Because of the smell of Bait Plastics brand, I just recently bought a gallon from Dead on Plastix for $30 + shipping to give them a try. Dead on Plastix is actually cheaper when factoring in shipping, think it was $42 total and had it in 3 days. There are a lot of good reviews about Dead on Plastix but I haven't got to use it yet personally, just finished my other gallon Thursday night. I got their medium formula, they call it swim bait/jerk bait formula.

Home — Dead On Plastix Index - Dead On Plastix

---

Who is the manufacturer of the plastic .

Dead On Plastic's sells their own brand of plastisol from what I'm seeing on their site this morning

Dead on no longer uses Bait Plastics. Unclear if new stuff is made in house or somewhere else. Definitely different than previous stuff they had.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DrNip

Dead on no longer uses Bait Plastics. Unclear if new stuff is made in house or somewhere else. Definitely different than previous stuff they had.

---

I think I’ll stick with m-f

I have the 1.75 Crappie Carrot and love it - it was THE best bait I was tossing in the fall for larger fish. Clear with silver and a little blue flake was on fire.

Check out the Pin tail Shad mold from Lurecraft - that is a catcher extraordinaire. If I only had one mold that would be the one for me. It catches fish in every month and the mold pours easy-peasy. I have the Jacobs paddle tail mold and it is another easy one to shoot and is a fish catcher.

I have used MF plastic for years and like it a lot - same as Snake River above. Lurecraft makes some good stuff too. Both offer great customer service.

My best advise is to heat your plastic moderately - scorched plastic is not what you want. Slow and steady wins the race so resist the urge to over -nuke it -- frequent stirring for me please.

Good luck!

Thank you for the info Shmang...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shmang

My best advise is to heat your plastic moderately - scorched plastic is not what you want. Slow and steady wins the race so resist the urge to over -nuke it -- frequent stirring for me please.

Good luck!

---

This is good advice! When I first start to heat my plastic I go 1 minute at a time, once it starts to turn I go 30 seconds at a time. I stir and check temperature and then heat as necessary based on temperature. I have never scorched plastic and from what I have read, I don't want to either. I know what burnt plastic smells like and I don't want my work area smelling like that!

I do believe that Dead On is making their own now. I have been tempted to try M-Fs Super Soft for stick baits. Soft formulas worry me though, I worry about durability.

I looked on Lurecraft website and don't see a Pin tail Shad Mold... But did see a 1 7/8" Pintail Crappie Minnow and a 3.75" Split Tail Shad. You got a picture of this Pin Tail Shad Mold?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shmang

I have the 1.75 Crappie Carrot and love it - it was THE best bait I was tossing in the fall for larger fish. Clear with silver and a little blue flake was on fire.

Check out the Pin tail Shad mold from Lurecraft - that is a catcher extraordinaire. If I only had one mold that would be the one for me. It catches fish in every month and the mold pours easy-peasy. I have the Jacobs paddle tail mold and it is another easy one to shoot and is a fish catcher.

I have used MF plastic for years and like it a lot - same as Snake River above. Lurecraft makes some good stuff too. Both offer great customer service.

My best advise is to heat your plastic moderately - scorched plastic is not what you want. Slow and steady wins the race so resist the urge to over -nuke it -- frequent stirring for me please.

Good luck!

---

Team: My error and apologies - it is indeed the "1 7/8 Pintail Crappie Minnow" on the Lurecraft site - sorry for the confusion.

Hey BamaMan and Jamesdean - If you care to please PM your address and I will get two baits to you for your review. I think having one in hand can help you a smidgen more than just looking at the web page. It really is a catcher for both numbers and size. I love my other molds mentioned but day in and out that Pintail rocks.

Take care,
Shmang

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shmang

Team: My error and apologies - it is indeed the "1 7/8 Pintail Crappie Minnow" on the Lurecraft site - sorry for the confusion.

Hey BamaMan and Jamesdean - If you care to please PM your address and I will get two baits to you for your review. I think having one in hand can help you a smidgen more than just looking at the web page. It really is a catcher for both numbers and size. I love my other molds mentioned but day in and out that Pintail rocks.

Take care,
Shmang

---

PM sent[emoji1]

Sent from my SM-G892A using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Have some time on my hands with not a lot to do, so I started looking on line for soft plastic's color recipe's so I would have a starting point as well as an idea of what colors I would need. I found some in the forum Texas Fishing Forum. Thought it would be a good Idea, as well as keeping a record of what I actually mix up. My laptop wont send any of them to my printer program so it looks like a whole lot of writing. Using college rule paper and writting on both sides I'm on page 19 using notebook paper, and only 3/4 of a page in the computer copied...AAAAAARRRGH!!!! Writes cramp....Break time....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shmang

Check out the Pin tail Shad mold from Lurecraft - that is a catcher extraordinaire. If I only had one mold that would be the one for me. It catches fish in every month and the mold pours easy-peasy.

I have used MF plastic for years and like it a lot - same as Snake River above. Lurecraft makes some good stuff too. Both offer great customer service.


Good luck!

---

PM requesting info on the pintail sent.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jamesdean

Have some time on my hands with not a lot to do, so I started looking on line for soft plastic's color recipe's so I would have a starting point as well as an idea of what colors I would need. I found some in the forum Texas Fishing Forum. Thought it would be a good Idea, as well as keeping a record of what I actually mix up. My laptop wont send any of them to my printer program so it looks like a whole lot of writing. Using college rule paper and writting on both sides I'm on page 19 using notebook paper, and only 3/4 of a page in the computer copied...AAAAAARRRGH!!!! Writes cramp....Break time....

---

Tackle Underground has a whole list of recipes also. Gotta go through a bunch of pages but lots of stuff there. Soft Plastic Cookbook - Soft Plastics - TackleUnderground.com

I write all the things I come up with in a notebook. Its hard to remember what i did without it, especially if some time passes between batches. Also comes in handy if you are tinkering around trying to get a particular color and you start adding a bunch of different colors.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shipahoy41

PM requesting info on the pintail sent.

---

Mike K- molds Are the manufacture of the Pintail. We do have a mold it’s very similar to the Pintail I think I sent you a sample I enclosed a picture .Attachment 332368

yep Buckeye Fishing, that's where I am now, tackle underground soft plastic color recipe's. I googled up soft plastic fishing lue color recipes and going Upto 26 pages of recip's at 4 to 5 a page...and haven't gotten off page 4 on underground, after doing TFF...keeps me busy for sure. Can't wait to get me a mold or two, as I think this is going to get me hooked...

Like all recipes, they are a guide and can be adjusted to fit your taste. A lot of times I find a recipe I like but don't have the exact colors or same sized glitter they use. I just use what I have and have come up with some pretty sweet colors. Thats what I enjoy the most, coming up with my own variations. If I wanted the exact color Zoom, Yum, or Berkley made, I would just buy their lures.

Buckeye Fishing, My sentiments exactly...but thank you for the reminder. One reason most of get started in the first place, in my opinion is we can't get the colors we want, in the style bait we want to fish. Either the manufacturers don't produce it, or the stores don't carry it...

Buckeye Fishing, I wound up with 37 pages of recipe's and am getting a three ring binder to put them in after they go in protectors. I will be working on a copy able form for working up new colors, or for a recipe I might be working on and changing a bit. I will be making baits or myself mostly to start and see where it goes. Just a hobby mostly. Been thinking of a POP mold or two and pouring a few just to get my feet wet in the hobby till I can afford to get some aluminum molds...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snake River

Mike K- molds Are the manufacture of the Pintail. We do have a mold it’s very similar to the Pintail I think I sent you a sample I enclosed a picture .Attachment 332368

---

OK. Thanks. I thought you called it another name.

Mike