Basscrack Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 ive been pouring stiks like crazy since i got my stick mold. im curious to see if any one has ever tried to find or use a sinking additive to make the plastic more dense than water. im using flouring salt now and seems to work well, but it would be nice to have transparent stiks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish_N_Fool Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I have tried many many things from sugar to baking soda, to black sand from gold mining. I got the best results from ground up lead All the results were disappointing though. The lead kinda worked but the only way you can use it is to pour half the bait, add the ground up lead, then pour the other half of the bait. It did sink and catch fish but the salt baits are still far better. The lead baits had a visable silver line in it ,and are way to hard to make to be worth while. If you come up with something I'd love to hear about it, as I would love to make clear sinking baits also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 It is possible the key is to find the correct addtive that would be both user and enviromenally acceptable. The most obvious one would be to look at different salts besides sodium that may be useful. Ideally you would want one that crystallizes into flakes or sheets. Something that would easily displace its weight and remain "afloat" in plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Check to find out which salts are the most dense. I wonder about epsom's salt. It seems fairly clear to look at. I just don't know if it will offend the fish. What about ground glass. I'm sure that somewhere there are "clear" looking minerals that are neutral scent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I would think the problem with ground glass, like most things, would be the millions of facets and imperfections you generate, increasing the the cloudiness effects observed in the baits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsac Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Actually, the problem with glass is that it will make the bait float. Powdered glass has been used as an alternative by some of the other members. It comparable to micro-bubbles. Basically glass spheres that have air in them, causing the bait to float. I honestly don't see how it is possible to put an additive into the plastic without changing the color? All additives will contain some type of color. The trick is to change the chemical makeup of the plastic itself, to enable it to sink on it's own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubeman Posted January 8, 2005 Report Share Posted January 8, 2005 I know this is not going in the direction of the original post, but has any one used tungsten powder besides Del ? I figured it might eliminate the stiffness in the stick baits caused by too much salt. It would also make the bait softer as you would need less to make it sink at the same rate...probably could still add some salt to increase "fish holding on time". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova Posted January 8, 2005 Report Share Posted January 8, 2005 Where would a fellow get that Mike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicBob Posted January 8, 2005 Report Share Posted January 8, 2005 Be sure and check Shimano patent 6,145,239 for infringement if you're going to do anything commercially. It covers adding glass or metal powder to make a lure sink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubeman Posted January 9, 2005 Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Hey Bob, the patent looks pretty technical ! but heres the short version Abstract A soft bait lure includes a lure main body (1) formed with an elastic synthetic resin material to have an outer shape resembling a small fish and particles of glass material (2) that are mixed in a lower half portion of the lure main body (1). The lure main body (1) is formed of an elastic material such as vinyl polychloride, polychloroprene rubber, polyisoprene rubber, or natural rubber, etc. The glass material (2) is mixed in a lower half portion of the lure main body (1). I think we are safe, but thanks for the heads up. Nova, I've yet to get any myself...do a web search for Tungsten powder and you will find that there are many formulations. Most I found were in the US. If you find a good source PM me and we could split on it....were are you located ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
