empire247

most of the tube molds i have used do not work very well with hand pouring, even with pre heating the mold and pouring very hot it is hard to get all the cavities to fill. your best bet would be buying the tube mold of your choice and then using a hand injector to fill each cavity rather than hand pouring or with a del mold just tell him you want a tube mold in hand injection and he will make it for you for same price. ( he will make any of his 2 piece molds a hand injection mold if you ask when ordering) brett

i have one of the del's toad mold and its probly the closest you can get to a zoom horny toad, here is a link...http://www.del-mart.com/shop/product.php?productid=16437&cat=304&page=1 also if you order one of these molds make sure you get it in a hand injection mold (same price) as the regular mold you would have to pour the legs first them close the mold and pour the body brett

here is a link to a guy that sells on ebay molds http://www.jacobsbaits.com/index.html brett

dinsane, im not sure if they still offer runners but i know ozark tackle does here is a link http://www.ozarktackle.com/regrinds.html brett

i just got the hand injector from del this week and so far i have been able to use it with no problems on del's , bob's and basstackle molds and molds from k molds, since this is the only injector i have used i cant really say how it compares to others but i havent had any problems using it on my hand pour molds. brett

mineral oil will turn your plastic hard as a rock after it soaks in

i have found that you can get a few extra pours before you have to let the mold cool down by setting the hot mold on top of a cold mold as the cold mold will pull some of the heat away from the hot mold and give you a few extra pours.

what size is the craw chunk mold? is it the medium or large ( 3 or 4 cavity)? thanks brett

lurecraft is in indiana..www.lurecraft.com bear baits is in louisiana...www.bearsbaits.com ozark tackle is missouri.....http://www.ozarktackle.com mf is in texas.....http://www.fishingworld.com/M-F-Manufacturing/ barlows is in texas...http://www.barlowstackle.com/ janns netcraft is in ohio (sells lurecraft plastic and colors)...http://www.jannsnetcraft.com

jigman, there is 2 types of coloring for soft plastics, dyes and pigments. all dyes will bleed, pigments wont, call up whoever you buy from your coloring from and ask which one it is. if its pigment it wont bleed. for chartruse i use lurecraft and i had a problem with it bleeding then i asked them and they told me to use thier green chartruse cause its pigment and just cut back on the number of drops per once. 4 oz plastic 4 drops LC green chartruse chartruse that wont bleed im not sure which ones of thier colors are pigments but im sure they would tell you if asked, theyn have several blues and im sure at least one should be a pigment. hope that helps brett

ok guys here is how i figure out my pricing for soft plastics. i base my selling price by the gallon not by the bait . so here is a breakdown of a selling price for 4" senkos . 1 gallon of plastic = 400 4" stixs (actully i get a about 420 per gallon) 400 stixs @ 10 per bag = 40 bags per gallon of plastic 1 gallon of plastic = 23.54 (i buy by 5 gallon @ 110.00 plus 7% tax = 117.70, i live close to lurecraft so i drive there and dont have to pay shipping) 2 oz of glitter per gallon = 3.75 (this is way over estamated its more like about 1/3 that amount ) 1 oz of coloring per gallon = 3.35 (based off of 2 oz will color i gallon solid and most of my colors are tranlucent when i pour) 1 pint of softner per gallon = 9.00 2 quarts of salt per gallon = 0.50 (i buy non iodized salt ) 40 bags = 2.00 ( 4 mil bags ) 40 labels = 1.20 (this includes ink from printer ) ok this gives me a total of 43.34 per gallon to make 40 bags of 4" stix which breaks down to $1.08 per bag to make. i sell to 2 stores, my price to them is 2.85 per bag which gives me a $1.77 profit = 164% mark-up i sugjest to my stores to mark thier price up 50 - 70% = they sell my baits for 4.72 - 4.99 per bag (still way under 7$ a bag for yamamoto) i also wont compete with my stores when selling ( they know this as well ) so when i sell to an individual my selling price now becomes 5.00 per bag which = $3.92 profit or 363% mark-up (still under 7$ a bag for yammies) breaking that down i have 43.34 invested into 1 gallon of plastic and sold it for $114.00 = 163% mark-up (70.66 profit) i can average about 100 stixs poured per hour with my current set up (im not very fast) = 4 hours to pour 1 gallon bagging and labeling and printing = 1 hour now i did not include scent (which roughly figures out to about 1$ per gallon ) nor did i figure out how much electricity i use to make the baits and also i did not figure out my labor or my gas to go get materials (3 to 4 times per year), drop off baits to stores. i will figure it out like this, my electric bill averaged about 85 to 90$ per month before i started this hobby, i pour about 3 times a week and my electric bill now averages about 100 to 105 per month ( i blame this on the microwave, radio and the exhaust fan) now take 70.66 minus 20$ for electric minus 1$ for scent minus another 20$ for gas and that leaves $29.66 per gallon divided by 5 hours of labor = $5.92 per hour i average about 5 gallons per month pouring, my electric bill jumped only 20$ per month max so i over estimated that and also it only takes about 1/4 tank of gas to go to lurecraft and back home ($8 per trip x 4 = 32$ per year). i check my stores inventory 1 time per month which takes another 1/4 tank of gas per round trip ($8 x 12 = $96 per year) so lets stay with that 29.66 per gallon profit and times that by 5 gallons per month = 148.30 per month the prices change acording to what bait i pour as i have used this formula for all the baits i pour, some baits are more and some are less but stix are probly my biggest seller so i used this one for example.. now before some you guys rip my post to shreads on what i didnt figure in on my price or what i under estimated or any spelling errors i will answer some of my own questions for you.... 1. why did i get into this hobby? cause i wanted to make my favorite baits in colors that are discontinued and also so i had a fishing hobby during the winter when i couldnt go cause of the ice ( i dont ice fish) 2. am i going to be the next yamamoto or zoom? NO, i dont have a few extra million dollars to invest to compete at that volume level plus it no longer would become a hobby and it would become my day job 3. am i going to get rich with this hobby? NO, see quetion #2 for details 4. does this hobby pay my bills? NO, that is what my day job is for 5. when i sell baits do i take out a percentage of the profit to cover my gas and electric and labor? NOPE , all the money i make from the baits i sell usally goes into dels, bobs, lurecrafts or somebody from ebays pocket. 6. is my wife happy that i buy molds and plastic supplies from the money i get from selling baits rather than our checking account? YES 7. how many bags of yamamoto, zoom or any other soft plastic company have i bought this year? 1 , 2 weeks ago i bought a bag of 3" rage tail craws(9 in a pack) from bass pro shops for 6.99 8. how many 3" rage tail craws do i have today? thanks to the mold making tips and advice from guys that post on here i now have a few hundred in my favorite colors 9. how many more bags of 3" rage tail craws will i buy in the future? NONE 10. do i sell 3" rage tail craws? NOPE personal use only 11. where did i learn how to pour and make molds? TU, its all here you just have to take the time and read and you will find what your looking for. 12. would i recomend this hobby ? YES for a hobby its great 13. would i recomend this hobby as a business? NOT REALLY, unless you would be able to invest in injection machines where you could mass produce, in my opinion i would think the only way to really make money at this would be in volume. 14. do i have fun and enjoy my hobby of pouring my baits? YES VERY MUCH SNOOTERFISH, i am by no means an expert on here, as there are some really talented guys on here (check the gallery) and have been pouring way longer and have way more experiance than i do. my advice to you is that if you are wanting to try this out buy a starter kit from del-mart , bears , or lurecraft. as far as what starter mold, color or glitter you should start out with should be your own decision. buy molds of baits you like to use and buy colors and glitter that you like as well. pouring your own baits and catching fish on them is a great reward for your hobby and after you learn the ropes of pouring you can take the next step and sell some of you work and hopefully pay for some or maybe all of your hobby. but....if your thinking of getting into this hobby for the sole reason of becoming the next yamamoto or zoom then skip the starter kit and call up zorn molds and order a bunch of injection machines, buy a building, hire workers, sales reps, sponsor a pro fisherman, hire lawyers,accountants, get incorperated...im not saying that a small guy cant make it to the big time in the fishing industry, im saying that in order to get that big you need to have to have alot of money to compete at that level. if you dont belive me then your next post should ask the question " how many guys on here pour baits as thier only souce of income?" i only know of 2 on here out of over 11 thousand members (im sure there is more ) and i would be willing to bet its less than 1% (100 members). so if you want to have great hobby and have fun i say you go for it ,after you build up your supplies (colors, glitters, molds, ect, ect) your cost will go way down on making baits. plan on spending about 500$ in the first few months buying supplies then after that the cost is really down to buying molds and plastic. so read the forum, ask questions, learn all you can and enjoy yourself. these guys are the best at what they do and will help you learn faster and save alot of time and money on trial and error. have fun brett

you can also use vaseline to add your scent to. heat the vaseline until it becomes liquid then add your scent then let cool back down until it becomes solid again. although you might want to check your state laws to be sure you can use it since it is petroluim based and you dont want the EPA knocking on your door to give you a fine for poluting the water. but im guessing beeswax would work about the same and im sure it alot safer for the enviorment brett

green pumpkin with purple and gold flake green pumpkin with purple and moss green flake (match zooms watermelon candy trick worm) green pumpkin with orange and black flake those 3 colors will do good on the great lakes for gobies or tubes also try blue with orange and silver flake brett

i have used both the 500 and the 502 green, the "green" plastic is a little "tacky" after it sets up for the first day or so but after that it seems ok. if it were "alot" cheaper than the regular i would use it all the time but since it is not much cheaper i prefer to stay with the normal plastic. as far as heating time and set up time it seems the same brett