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Making Silicone Swimbaits

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So I want to try making some swimbaits out of silicone, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about doing this. For all my last swimbaits (all made of hard resin) I've used silicone molds, but since silicone will stick together, I need to make the mold out of something else.

I'm trying to make something somewhat like Realprey swimbaits, for reference.

Thanks!

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Any hard mold material should serve your purpose; P0P, Durhams or something similar should work. A smear of a mold release just to be safe.

 

The problem you will have is the density of the silicone being heavier than water, in other words it WILL sink, and you will still need to add ballast weight to keep the bait upright. You could try making a hollow bait and/or adding micro-balloons, but I have never tried this. I have thought about trying this idea though. Good luck :)

 

Dave

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Thanks guys, I was thinking Plaster of Paris might work too so I'll probably start with some of that, if I still have any in my basement.

Vodkaman - interesting about the density, I was under the impression that a "raw" hunk of silicone would float. Granted, I want it to sink , but I'll have to figure out a way to get the weight inside prior to pouring I guess.

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I've only used silicone to make molds, not baits, so this is just a wild ass guess.

I am a big believer in trapped air as a flotation device.  I've used air chambers to slow the fall of some of my swimbaits.

If you're using a caulking gun silicone, like GE 100% silicone, and an open top fill mold, you will have time to put some kind of flotation stuff into the top of the bait as you fill the mold.  I'm thinking of something like ping pong balls, only smaller.  Maybe you can get something like that from a craft store.

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Perhaps the following link could be useful: https://www.youtube.com/user/CatchSeaFish/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=1

All their soft baits should be made in silicone: 

Shape of bait is of course the winning key: i.e. a thin profile, before a paddle tail, can give the right movement, but on my mind the silicone, even if with a real low ShA, cannot be compared with the flexability of plastisol.

Bye

 

Cami

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Cost. I can get a tube of 100% silicone for about $1 on sale at my local hardware store. I use this to make all my molds, so I know how to use it, but I want to make baits out of it too if I can.

I found some plaster of Paris yesterday and made my first mold just to do some tests. If this works I think I should be able to make 5-8 inch soft trout and perch swimbaits (very similar to hudds or realpreys) for about 20 cents each.

Also, silicone swimbaits swimsuits are very durable. I use a lot of Realprey swimbaits and they work very well, so I'm confident that silicone is effective as a material for these.

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I think it is more about the 'feel' when a fish attacks. If the bait has a softer feel, the predator is likely to hold on longer.

Dave

That's one thing I have often wondered about. Most things fish eat are NOT soft at all in comparison to soft plastic lures. By I would imagine that a softshell crawdad would be much more appealing to a fish although I have no idea how they would know this before striking the bait? I have noticed that softshell crabs get eaten almost immediately when sheepshead fishing even if you were getting no bites on regular crabs so there must be some way they can tell. Even fish are not soft and squishy like our lures. I dunno, good point to bring up man!

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That's one thing I have often wondered about. Most things fish eat are NOT soft at all in comparison to soft plastic lures. By I would imagine that a softshell crawdad would be much more appealing to a fish although I have no idea how they would know this before striking the bait? I have noticed that softshell crabs get eaten almost immediately when sheepshead fishing even if you were getting no bites on regular crabs so there must be some way they can tell. Even fish are not soft and squishy like our lures. I dunno, good point to bring up man!

 

I'm guessing a molting crawdad smells different, because it has more of it's soft flesh exposed, and it is in the process of hardening it's outer layer.

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Unless I'm mistaken crawfish turn a different color when molting. This would definitely be a visual clue.

Ben

The softshell mudcrabs I use for sheepshead bait are also a lighter color and the legs are almost white in comparison to the hard shell crabs. Didn't really think about that until you mentioned it! So there may be visual and scent clues to let the fish know! Good conversation for sure! Edited by FATFLATTIE
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I believe it is smell. 60yrs ago i use ro use softshell crawfish for trout all summer when we could find them. One time i was tired and just threw my line out with a softshell on it and let it rest on the bottom at a tailout of a hole. I watched two sea run cutthroat come swimming up river moving in a sigsag pattern and they were searching for my crawfish the closer they got to my bait they started swimming directly to were my bait was laying in water. One of them took my bait and i caught the fish. These two trout came upstream fifty yds or more. Softshell crawfish is so much better than peeled crawfish tail, no comparison, like someone mentioned before about softshell crab working so well for sheephead. It is same for black drum soft shell out perform hardshell 10 to 1. We use to turn rocks over and catch softshell rock crab under the rocks. This was in florida mid 50's

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