POV_Fishin

I've honestly played around quite a bit with PolySol. I've tried to burn it (learning the limits) and I didn't notice any signs before I gave up at around 395° F. I've reheated and reheated with no scorching. When it comes to shooting I honestly found it more forgiving on temp range. If your tip is hot it'll shoot certain molds at 300 maybe lower. The things that PolySol gives you in terms of performance are amazing. But those attributes do sacrifice in a few places. Cleaning up PolySol isn't as fast as for example Do-it Essential clear. It leaves a greasy film on Pyrex. If you stir too fast you'll have issues with bubbles (that's a problem with everything). Baits require some curing time with PolySol. What I've found to be the best route is lay the baits out flat in a bag with a light coating of your favorite scented worm, then lay them in the freezer for about an hour. Then keep them at room temperature for a couple of days before you fish them. Other plastisols require a cure time but I find it extremely crucial on PolySol. There's a lot of offerings out there. I use PolySol because they're close, well priced and the quality is hard to beat. There may be better available, but PolySol gives me attributes I find important in my baits. Regardless of brand you need to know what you want from your plastisol before you get too brand concerned. Buy a qt of regular or medium from a bunch of manufacturer's. Make the same color and test.

Well let's get some information and see if we can help you a little more. What temp are you shooting at? Any salt? What plastisol are you using? Does this happen when the mold is cold? Have you cleaned the mold thoroughly? Are you keeping the mold topped off until it's set up?

Contact PolySol and see if you can get a sample. I was more than satisfied with the product, and at $100 for 5 gallons it's affordable.

I've used medium in the past and even hard, just messing around. Honestly it depends on how you rig it on whether the hardness plays a role. Oddly enough I found the softer stick baits lasted longer. By the way, if you're selling them don't label or advertise them as Senkos unless you're comfortable with getting a cease and desist from Gary Yamamoto as he owns the trademark for the name 'Senko'.

My days off are Wednesday and Thursdays. I wouldn't mind driving out your way for a day. I myself have been playing with new color batches trying to load up for spring.

Not sure if this would be helpful, but in the past I've made a second mold slightly larger than the first. I made my layered bait then placed it in the second mold and poured clear cooked plastisol over it. Not sure if it's be enough to hold something that large together. Any thoughts?

Thank you very much! Bass tackle pretty easy to deal with? I love the look of that swimbait.

I'm trying to narrow it down to a couple of molds. I'm looking for a swim bait similar to a kietec swing impact in a 4 inch and if possible 2 inch. I'm also looking for a finesse Worms that runs 7 ish inches. Any recommendations? Anything with laminate plates or tip molds for the worm would be ideal.

I definitely agree with this statement. Funny thing is that I prefer the stiffer stick baits for wack rigging (lot more wobble). But almost every other application I prefer the more floppy softer stick baits. That's the beauty of this hobby. You can specifically make baits for certain styles and situations. There's no right or wrong way, so long as you're catching fish.

Please elaborate on this. By figuring the mold in endlessly you'll always be ahead because you're charging for a 1 time cost. If you produce enough baits to use 2 gallons of plastisol you've paid for a mold you don't have because the cost was figured in initially. So that $50 cost you figured in is actually profit, or wiggle room to buy another mold to increase production. Which in turn lowers your cost by decreasing time invested. So in no way at all is it irresponsible to do as I directed.

You need a few things to have an accurate price. Add the cost of your molds, plastisol, colorants, glitter, additives and anything else involved. Sum that up and make a test run of a pint or whatever you can afford to do. You need to know how many of the specific baits you can make per gallon of plastisol. So for an example my mold cost $50 and I bought 3 colors at $4.00 a piece, 3 glitters at $4 a piece and a $70 gallon of plastisol. (Fictional numbers for the sake of demonstration). 50+12+12+70=$144 So let's say you're able to make 25 stick baits out of 1 cup of plastisol. There are 16 cups in a gallon. So 16×25=400 stick baits. So you divide total cost $144/400 stick baits. Each bait cost you $.36. This is your break even cost. Please understand that you won't make a dime until you find out three key factors. What's your time worth? What is the cost of packaging? How many baits per hour can you make? A good number to go by is 40% increase on your break even cost. Obviously the mold is a one-time expense. The reason I believe that you should keep including it on the cost is simple. You pay one off and have it built in to add more molds without having prices go up and down. Back to the numbers. So we know each bait cost you $.36 a piece. So a bag of 10 cost you $3.60. Add the price of packaging and your 40% you'll be looking at $5.04 per bag. Remember the more you buy the lower larger runs cost. Set a price that allows an increase of stock, without breaking the bank. Feel free to ask more questions.

Cheap bags. There's three places that I get bags from because I don't see any difference between them. Lurepartsonline, Do-It and Jannsnetcraft. It's a nice thick bag that seals really well.

There's a mold that I'd love to get from them. But it's going to take more good news over time to get me over the years of problems I've found.

Sharp edge's tend to be what causes the arching. Good example is an injector tip. Won't spark. Crinkled surfaces are what you're looking to avoid. Dulling the surface of the epoxy is a good recommendation to avoid this though.

He's got a mold I'd love to have, but it's difficult for me to throw a few hundred dollars at a gamble. I can deal with slow as we talked about, but not poor customer service. I almost pulled the trigger on it until I started researching and got cold feet. I may still try because he's the only one that makes the mold. But that's probably not happening soon.