Bassinfool

Spike it dip and dye will bleed to other colors once in the bag. I would shoot the mold with the tail color you want and then cut the tail off and shoot the body color like suggested above. That's what I've always done. If that's too much work, or you just want to do it faster, look into buying a designated tail mold.

Try varying your temp. Some of my molds are very particular about what temp the plastic is. Others want to be shot quickly, others slowly. My stick bait mold has to be shot slowly and I hold pressure on the injection for ~15 seconds and then top off the sprue at the end several times to prevent dents.

Green pumpkin blue flake or straight watermelon red.

Such a simple design but I can't tell you how many fish I have caught on a 4.25" slick willy. Definitely one of my favorite baits.

Salt doesn't have a scent. Anise has a licorice smell to it and garlic smells like, well garlic! I have a craw and anise scent I mixed up that I really like. It's all up to you when it comes to scent.

Mine doesn't have ribs. Only other way I could see doing it would be to hand pour the top part of the mold as well as the bottom part. Let them set up a little then close and shoot the chartreuse vein. That's assuming your mold is oriented with the bait being cut in half top/bottom instead of side/side.

Yeah look in the gallery. They don't want picture posts in this thread.

The way I've done sexy shad is a light blue top with a little pearl powder in it and a white pearl bottom. Then I take a q tip dipped in chartreuse and make a small line of chartreuse down the side.

4.2" slick willy from bear is my go to. Also have a 4" hand pour that I use sometimes that I really like.

Baby Bass senko laminate Top Color 1/2 cup plastic 2 T popcorn salt 3/4 T softener 25 drops watermelon (lureworks) 5 drops black melon (lureworks) .035 black flake .008 gold flake Bottom color 1/2 cup plastic 2 T popcorn salt 3/4 T softener 4 drops white pearl powder Use less white for the bottom color maybe 1 drop to start as it is very thick with some pearl powder.

Take that watermelon recipe and add 2-3 drops of lure works watermelon to it. I use .035 black flake, .040 blue flake and .008 blue flake for my watermelon blue

First pic: bait on the left is from bearsbaits.com, bait on the right is from basstackle.com 702 craw Second pic: left is 702 craw, right is 6" finesse worm from bearsbaits.com

Just put some worm oil on them.

Carolina pumpkin colorant should do it

Ispikeit.com for that cheap cheap. Don't see what you want on the site call and talk to Bruce because they probably don't have it listed but do have it to sell.

I'm just going off of what I have experienced first hand and what my friends in fishery studies at Auburn have told me. According to them, a bass is stimulated to feed more so from sight, vibrations felt using the lateral line and hunger. Scent is used sparingly, mainly in dingy or dark water and the use taste is nearly non existent. The majority of a bass' brain that involves the senses are geared toward the lateral line, sight and feel with smell and taste having the fewest number of receptors in the brain. I've always been a proponent of finding fish that are actively feeding or are stimulated to feed through a reaction bite. That fish you pulled out of a bush may have just been in a feeding mood and wasn't willing to let go because it wanted to eat. Whatever the case, to salt your baits or to not salt them is completely up to personal preference. If it helps your confidence like Mark, DO IT! If you don't think it does, don't. It's really that simple.

I use salt as ballast and nothing more. To me, there has been zero proof that salt in baits causes fish to bite or hold onto a bait any longer than a bait with no salt in it. For my personal baits, I rarely add salt with the exception of stick baits.

Make sure you clamp down hard and only push on the injector until you feel resistance. That's some really hot plastic under a lot of pressure, not something you want shooting out onto you that's for sure.

Exactly what gon2long said. It is necessary for certain colors like white and some others that are more apt to turning even under gentle heating conditions. But for your watermelon, green pumpkin, blacks, etc you shouldn't need it as long as you hear gently and keep your plastic stirred.

On darker colors I won't use stabilizer unless I'm really going to do a lot of reheats but for my purples, reds, anything with white in it stabilizer is an absolute must. You can use a spice grinder or coffee grinder to make the kosher salt smaller or even powder it if you desire. The crushing of the salt crystals will produce a white dusty powder which you'll have to compensate for though. I prefer to use Morton's popcorn salt in my baits. They look great by the way! Keep up the good work.

Don't use mineral oil, not good for the plastics or for you to breath.

Popcorn salt

Only other option I could see to maybe try and get some opaqueness without adding salt would be a lot of chameleon colorant and adding a drop of white or two.

5/0

Shake it really well and when you think you've shaken it enough just go ahead and shake it a little more. I have this colorant as well and it requires a lot of drops to get a darker color. The opacity your wanting can be achieved by adding salt like huffy suggested above.