Basstackle 631 Swimbait - First Pour

[Fish N Chips]

Or injection rather.  I got my mold in the mail today with the injector, plastic and colorant/glitter.  I got the regular plastic, white and blue and some more silver flake.

 

I must say I really like the MF plastic more than the lurecraft plastic I have been using.  It is much more flexible, did not discolor/yellow on the re-heat and had a great pourable consistancy.  I poured some worms with the extra plastic and found it poured and built up on the top of the mold much better, creating an almost round worm.  The lure craft plastic works well for laminate swimbaits, but I may switch to this plastic when I run out.

 

The mold shot great.  All the details filled in and the tail looks good.  The baits are nice and soft (I did add a few drops of softener).  The colors worked great and I played around with some glitter combos.  I did find I need a bit more plastic to use the injector, but the extra just became other baits.  The mold is just a bit smaller than my bug eye shad mold, but the bait tapers faster and the tail is much thinner.  More of a swim grub.

 

I tossed both baits out into the pool for a run.  Both baits swim well on the fall.  The bug eye shad works well run fast or slow, with more of a body undulation along the bait and a good side to side tail action.  The 631's tail runs amazing, with a very tight body wobble and a great tail undulation, almost a figure 8 pattern.  All the action is in the tail on this bait.  I then jigged both baits.  I have been using the bug eye for rockfish, and vertically jig it quite a bit.  It really does not have much action jigged unless you shake the rod tip.  The 631's tail however was going wild, moving all over with hardly any rod movement.  It will definately be my new jigging bait!  I cut an inch off the head of the 631, making it a 2.5" bait.  I found it still worked prefectly either nose hooked, or on a small jig head.  I was thinking of getting a smaller swimbait mold, but think trimming the baits down will work just fine for smaller presentations.  Until I talk myself into a new mold that is, lol.

 

Overall I am very pleased.  The baits look and run great right out of the mold.  I plan on using it as a swim bait, drop shot, jig and trailer.  As the bug eye and 631 have a difference in action, one will not replace the other as of now.  I think the bug eye is a great swimmer with a very life like body undulation, and the 631 is a great tail action bait and will be better for all around styles, with the ability to be trimmed down.  Especially on swim jigs and vertical jigging.  I often rig the bug eye weedless for fishing grass and kelp, so the hook slot is nice to have.

 

Here are some pictures with the bug eye shad bait for size and shape comparison.  Thanks (especially to Frank for his reviews on the mold)!

 

[MonteSS]

Good lookin baits.

[Jonah]

Does the 631 mold have a hinge or is it held together with bolts and wing nuts?

[Fish N Chips]

Bolts and wing nuts, but it does have alignment pins. I played around with just using a ratchet clamp and it worked great, although it does not balance upright as well with the clamp in place. I put a block of wood on the bench to rest the clamp shaft on.

I like this mold so much I am contemplating getting the 643 (2.5 inch) for drop shot bass and rockfish flies or maybe the 5 or 7.5 inch mold for saltwater use and river stripers. Not sure if the bait style would hold up well to toothy fish though, even my 6 inch fishtrap style pours get chewed by lingcod pretty quick.

[Fish N Chips]

I tried my 631 at the lake today and was very impressed.  I caught bass and even some crappie on it.  I was surprised to catch crappie on such a large bait, but they were pretty large themselves.  The bait action was very good.  I want to play around with rigging them weedless more when fishing around the submerged trees and maybe try them on an alabama rig as well.  I played around with cutting some baits down but it did not seem to matter.  The fish ate the 3.5 inch bait just fine.

[Travis]

I have caught a lot of crappie on 7.5 inch worms, jig and pigs, etc... basically anytime flipping/pitching brush piles with depth to them.  Not a everyday thing but numerous times during the year.

[Fish N Chips]

I have caught a few on spinner baits and rattle traps, but it is rare. I did not expect it on the swimbait as I usually target them with crappie jigs and tubes. He probably though it was quite a meal!

[Slammingjack]

It's kind of funny... That our roads have  gone kind of the same way. Only I took a diff. fork. I started here with soft plastics and open pours. Had a open pour mold from LC 3" swim bait. Had eyes on it. Loved the action but didn't like the look of it. So I poured a few cut the heads off and made a mold out DWP, so I could pour four at a time. Fished it with a jig head and caught a lot more fish that way. Started with LC plastic and tried a few others, ended up with MF 464. Great stuff 50/50 reg, and saltwater plastic. Tough bait with real good action. Stands up to most saltwater fish. Well not Blues they can tear up anything plastic lol. Thing was you went on to injection molds. Me I wanted jig heads in the color and hook size I wanted. So that lead me to pouring jigs and that lead to tying jig and that to tying flies.  Never know what's next. Nice baits BTW

[Saugerman]

That 631 is an awlsome swimbait mold. I have several swimbait molds, and it is one of my favorites.

[Fish N Chips]

I actually started with lead. Weights, flutter jigs, spoons, jig heads from 3/8 to 8 oz. Then due to the cost of saltwater baits I made some POP molds, then started bass plastics as I now had the plastic on hand. I then did some from bondo and household silicon, and went to some from RTV but still use a lot of POP molds as they work well and are cheap and easy. With California's lead ban my unlimited supply is now limited and becoming very hard to get. I decided to move from the lead more into the plastics. So the next transition was injection and I am very happy with the baits.

Injection will never replace the pride of my homemade masters and molds, but I am a twinge of perfectionist and a perfect bait appeals to me, although the fish really do not seem to mind. I am considering selling off most my lead molds and getting more plastic molds, both aluminum and RTV. I still love hand pouring so may get some aluminum hand pour molds or start making more of my own creations. Combine the features I like from baits and see what happens. Frankenstein baits...lol. I was approached by a local buisness a while back to make baits for them, but I do not want to make a job out of it. It is my release from work and I enjoy time in the shop making lures. I keep looking for the perfect bait that outperforms all the others. Really I just need to get out and fish more, LOL.