Canga~

I have that same mold (2 cavity) and the action is awesome. I want to get the angling ai 3.4” ecto craw too just haven’t gotten around to it yet. the claws do tend to rip off pretty easily, I shot some in a hard ( with a little softener in it) plastic to see how they look but haven’t tried them yet since it’s still frozen here!

I also would not cook indoors, as said above the fumes are not good for you and depending on what plastic you got this sycamore flat out stink! get yourself a forced air heater. I got a 60k btu Master branded propane model from tractor supply and it works great, I pour in my garage with the door and window open and the 60k on 1 or 2 (out of 3) keeps me nice and toasty, as well as making a nice way to heat up you molds while your plastic is cooking, just hold the mold in front of the heater for 30 seconds or so and it’s good to go!

Basstackle also has a 2.75” stubby stick, I think it’s essentially the same as the Ned worm and for 6 cavities is around 70 I think. i got the doit midwest finesse mold and it’s nice, shoots good, laminates easily. I also have a 3.5” carrot and 3” skinny carrot mold from doit, and they make a great Ned bait as well.

If you already bought hard soft and medium plastic you shouldn’t need hardener or softener unless you want the finished products harder or softer than what you have, those are personal preference. heat stabilizer helps prevent scorching the plastic if you get it too hot, also helps with color retention. I would say the average or medium size glitter is .035 or .040 depending where you get it. I prefer small glitter in most baits (.008 and .015) but that’s just me. .062 would be your large.

what about the 2" hellgrammite mold from basstackle? its not exact, but its pretty close (based on pics, i dont know the dimensions of either) http://www.basstackle.com/2_Hellgrammite_p/563-kj-2.htm or the hellgy mold from do-it, https://store.do-itmolds.com/225-3-Hellgy_p_1159.html

I use a silicone baking mat on top of my work bench, use the anchor cups and have not had a problem. The silicone makes a nice barrier against the cold wood on the bench. I have been shooting in my garage in Wisconsin, I do have a 60k btu propane forced air heater and it does a good job making it comfortable to pour baits with the door and window open when it’s in then 20’s outside (I don’t go out if it’s colder than that!). I also hold my molds in front of the heater while my plastic is heating to warm them up, works good.

Yeah i put a 1/0 in one of the tubes and it came out just where you would want it, which is great because I have 2500 1/0 matzuos!

I love a 3” Senko, one of my best producing baits, I usually rig it on a jig head (Ned style before the Ned rig was a thing heh) and it catches both numbers of fish and big fish too. I haven’t gotten a 3” mold yet because I have a ton of them already. When I do get one it will be a basstackle, I have the 2” (an underrated smallie bait too) and 4” molds from them already and they are great.

the tube in that pic that is placed on the side is a berkely 2.5" power tube for size comparison, they are a fairly chunky for a 2.75" but not overly. i just got the mold in december, so i havent thrown them yet, i will be getting the doit tapered tub jig mold soon, probably a 1/0 or 2/0 matzuo sickle hook.

the color is the pic is lureworks green pumpkin with a little bit of carolina pumpkin in it (dont recall the exact recipe). i have been trying to get close to zman's "green pumpkin goby" but havent gotten there yet.

I just recently got a 4” Senko mold, I too looked at all the mentioned brands, as well as baitjunkys, probably some others too. I went with the basstackle mold, only used it a couple time but it’s a great mold. Super easy to shoot, no dents in any of the baits, haven’t dual injected it yet, but can’t imagine it will be difficult in that regard. i looked at the bts and do-it molds too, but went basstackle based on the molds I have from them, and bts doesn’t have a pic of the side inject mold ( though I’m sure that one is great too) and have heard of some denting issues with the do-it mold (I have a few of their molds as well and they are great too)

Was just browsing on the angling ai site, looks like he has a new 2.75” slender tube mold, might be something to look at too

I also heard they went out of business, I bought some from killer_jigs on eBay, and he had some left the last I looked, but they were the bronze, not black nickel. I bought 2000 1/0 and 1000 1 and I think 200 2/0. Wish I had gotten more 2/0 as I’m making my own tubes now so will need a tube jig mold too! (I just checked and he has 100 packs of black nickel in most sizes and 1000 in bronze and red in some sizes)

1. i use a microwave and just reheat when i need to, using a 6oz injector i can usually do a bigger mold a couple of times before i need to cut up my injector plugs and sprues and remelt. im sure a griddle or something similar will help keep the plastic at a shootable temp but i havent gotten that far yet! 2. i havent used a doit injector (wanted a locking pin or threaded nozzle) so i started with lurecrafts injector (i think its a delmart) and its not bad but its TIGHT, even well lubricated. then i got a basstackle dual injector, and now i just use one of those when i do single colors, they are very nice injectors, and the locking pin is awesome. 3. i dont insulate my injector, might help but i dont think its nessicary. 4. bubbles were a huge issues for me with the doit plastic, as said you will get some bubbles on remelts, but with better plastics you wont get as many. 5. preheating the molds will help as well, i didnt do it in the summer, but now that its COLD here, i hold them in front of my forced air heater while the plastic is cooking, gets the molds nice and warm for the first shoot, then they usually stay warm for the following shoots. 6. plastic brand will make a big difference, there are a lot of good ones out there, baitjunkys (calhoun), bait plastics, mf, dead on, lureworks, lurecraft, etc... i will be trying dead on when i get through the 3 gallons of bait plastics i have left, i like the bait plastics bj200, but just want to see what else is out there!

Before I got a dual injector I made a pb&j with some tinfoil as a laminate plate, the brown was doit pumpkinseed with a couple drops of white for opacity, plus it lightened it slightly, the purple was a mix of a bunch of stuff because i didn’t have a purple I liked then. i will be making it again soon, will probably be using the same brown (though I might experiment some there too) and straight lureworks purple, maybe a bit of black grape to darken it

I prefer the shoot and cut style, I just like the end product a little better, just my preference though, as the shot skirts look good too, I just like the randomness of the cut skirts. i have the angling ai 2.75 double dipper and their tail cutter, the mold is awesome, and the tail cutter works great. Also being a 5 cavity mold, you can make a bunch in short order, I bought 2 sets of extra rods but I think 1 extra would be plenty, shoot, pull them out, shoot again and pull the first ones off the rods while the 2nd is cooking, rinse repeat!

This is the 2.75” double dipper, the one placed differently on the side is a 2.5” Berkley power tube. They look much better with the tails salted, but gives you an idea. Also these were cut with the angling ai tail cutter. It’s an awesome mold, super easy to shoot, love it!

i ordered some baitjunkys from them in the begining of august, and again in september, and there was a definate difference in the plastics. but they were up front that they couldnt get the baitjunkys from the supplier, and that the new blend was their own stuff, said to be similar to baitjunkys.

Yeah it does separate pretty quickly, haven’t noticed any hard pack yet, but I mix it about twice a week or so.

I have used about a gallon of the “bj blend” and I like it. When I placed my order for 6 gallons (5 original baitjunkys medium and 1 hard) they called me and said they couldn’t get the baitjunkys from the supplier and they were working on a new blend, that was very similar to it. So I had them send a sample along with my gallon of hard baitjunkys. I figured I would make white with it to see how it held up, after 6 reheats you couldn’t tell the difference between the original heat and the last reheat. I also haven’t noticed it being oily at all, all of the baits I have made with it since October are dry still. i might try another plastic when I run out of the stuff I have left, but it’s good stuff IMO.

i have a couple molds from angling ai (2.75" double dipper tube, 2.75" little hammer swimbait) along with a c-block and tube cutter. all of his stuff is exceptional quality and josh has some great customer service. you will have to wait for your molds, but like others have said, its worth it, he makes some great stuff.

worlds worst fishing just made a (pretty long) video on getting started, its pretty good, gives you an idea of what you will need, as well as some instruction on how to do it. i personally started with injection, its more expensive to start but i prefer it over hand pouring. ill probably forget something but the list for hand injection includes (no particular order): 1. an injector, and some injector lubricant (worm oil, or basstackle sells injector oil). should probably order a set of replacement o-rings from the place you get the injector, just to avoid having to order them later, shipping adds up! 2. molds, you (or his) choice, something he will use alot. 3. plastisol 4. colorants/ pearls 5. glitter 6. additives (i suggest some heat stabilizer and softener to start, maybe some scent) 7. pyrex/anchor measuing cups, i use the 2 and 4 cup anchors. 8. a thermometer, either a quick read or infrared, i use some Weber grill thermometers from walmart, work great. 9. utensils. something to stir with, can use butter knives, the thermometer, i use a couple frosting knives for decorating cakes! small set of measuring spoons for pearls and glitter. also a pair of scissors to cut the scraps up, can also be used to cut the baits from the sprues (not necessary) 10. a microwave (or presto pot) something to heat the plastisol with, micro is pretty easy to start. 11. safety. gloves, a respirator, long sleeves, pants, closed shoes. 12. space to work, dont want to do this in your house, it can stink (depends on the plastic you use, some smell more than others) a 72" workbench is about the smallest i would want, mine is 60" and there isnt enough room sometimes. 13. some cheap cookie sheets, and bowls. this is what i put my injector on while im pouring so the plastic doesnt get everywhere, as well as my stirring utensil, also on a different sheet i put my baits to cure. the bowls is where i put my scrap plastic, just between pours/remelts. 14. clamps. 6" bar clamps work great for holding multiple mods together. irwin makes a good one, walmart (hyper tough) is a decent alternative and MUCH cheaper, this is what i use and have not had any problems. im sure i am forgetting something, but that will get you started. a word of warning, this hobby can get expensive. you can get started for not too much, but you will be buying molds, more colors, more glitter, more plastic, etc etc etc very soon! i started with 2 molds, bought another 2 a week later and now after 6 months i have 12 with another on the way, have probably 30+ colors, 30+ glitters, at least 10 pearls/hi-lights, 8 pyrex cups, it goes on and on!

I made some junebug with the doit moss green glitter (I know it supposed to be emerald!) and it looked awesome at first, but you could see the color change after the first reheat, luckily I was using a couple big molds and only reheated a couple times, but it was pretty bad. I bought emerald and moss green from lureworks but haven’t gotten around to use it yet.

i started with the doit essentials, and IMO it was not very good, like you said, bubbles, yellowing, had issues with both no matter what i did, it would yellow before 350. i switched to baitjunkys and it is much better (but you cant get it anymore!) and now use the BJ200 blend from baitplastics, and that too is much better, it does seperate, but mix it weekly (or so) and you will be good to go. i havent had any issues with yellowing, or bubbles with either baitjunks or BJ200. i will probably try the deadon stuff at some point, gotta get through the 6 gallons i got from baitplastics first!

I have had problems with doit glitter bleeding some as well, I am trying lureworks, but i haven’t been pouring much lately as i pour in my garage and it’s not heated and I’m in Wisconsin! doit x2 colorants are good, but lureworks is good as well, and a little cheaper. Way more variety as well. Make sure to use some heat stabilizer, has really helped me with the reheats (doesn’t help with glitter bleed in my experience) as for recipes with just red and/or black glitter... watermelon red, black neon, green pumpkin, pumpkinseed, chartreuse pepper. Those are about all I make that has only red or black, many others out there.