Artificial All The Way Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 I am looking to make some Squid skirts to use as teasers while Fluke fishing. The material of the ones I buy is very stiff and kind of hard. Nothing like the soft plastics I pour with. I use 500 for all my big saltwater baits and it is no where near the hardness of the squid skirts. Anyone know what this material is? Thanks Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squigster Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 Buy some hardener from LC and try adding to the 500 and see if you can get the same consistency. It may be a whole different type of material though like a vinyl or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial All The Way Posted July 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 Thanks. Just got some hardner and will give it a shot. I think it is something diff. Wondering what that is and if I can get it and use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial All The Way Posted July 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 Added some hardener and it came out better. Still would like to know what the material is. Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squigster Posted July 14, 2009 Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 I'm no saltwater guy but when I think of a teaser I think of a hollow tube with tails cut in it. It may be a piece of vinyl rolled in a tube and bonded together and then the tails are cut. Post a pic and maybe someone can help you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial All The Way Posted July 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 (edited) Just did a quick search and heres a link to some. Many places sell them. They are injected . Same as soft plastic but harder. Some have a bead in the head for the line to slide on and give color glow. Squid Skirts States "Sea Striker squid skirts are made of soft vinyl". Can you melt and use vinyl as we do soft platics? Edited July 14, 2009 by Artificial All The Way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojon Posted July 14, 2009 Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 Sorry to sound dumb,but do the fish hit the teaser,or a lure trailing after it?You may try a bunch more hardner in the 500 plastic,and double dip the head at a sharp angle.You will need to watch your temp while melting in the microwave.It gets amber(too hot) pretty quick.I like the head of my larger tubes to be a harder plastic than the tail filements.More action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial All The Way Posted July 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 I run a line through the teaser and add a hook. Then tip the hook with fish strips. Fluke suck the entire thing down. I use this on a 3 way with a 2-11 oz jig tipped with more strips. The teaser can slide freely on the line. Caught 22 Fluke as the sun set last night using my first squid tubes Thanks to you Ron. Now if our dam limit size was under 19.5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSC Posted July 14, 2009 Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 Years ago the first plastic we got a hold of was Vinyl ... came as a liquid as platisol and cooked in the mold to cure it out .. tossed the Alum molds into water to cool it. (I used a gas stove ... started it on the surface but found that after a certain point that if I stuck it in the oven at 350 I got a better product) It is not reusable !!!!!!!!! Some of the older worms and some grubs were made with this and you could do all kinds of color work with it. Came in different degrees of hardness .. Do not know where you can get it now (have not searched for it) ... the last I remember seeing (never bought any from them) was from Herters. My Worth JSC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 It's time to go outside the Box! Make a Box using 1/8" high material of any sort, balsa is fine. Mix Walmart silicone with water and a latex colorant (ask the nice man at the paint counter for some in the colors you want) Squeeze some Silicone out on a flat surface, add colorant until you get the desired shade, add a few drops of water, fill the box, and place a Flat, smooth object over it, "squishing it down as I do with the Squish Molds, and in 5 minutes you'll have your skirt material which will be a lot more durable than any Plastisol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial All The Way Posted July 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Thanks JSC. Looks like I am going to keep playing with hardeners. Not a material I can easily work with. Thanks Husky. I have tested using silicones. Not the texture I want and much harder to work with than soft plastics. I need to dip rods in the material to make these tubes. Not a mold. There is tube molds out there but I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSC Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Since you are dipping ... just make several coats to thicken it up .. of course with hardner added. Should work. Good Luck JSC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial All The Way Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Ran home to make several quick half cups of diff hardness using LC 500 plus diff amounts of LC hardener. Man I'm glad vinyl wasn't an option. The 500 with hardner is better than the vinyl ones IMO. Waaaayyy more action for sure even with the hardened plastic. I started with 1 tsp to a half cup of 500 and up from there to 50 50 in seven diff half cup batches. I made 2 6" Squid teaser lures from each of the 7 batches. I start in my pool first but in the water and with fish is where all my lures go to test. If they don't cut it on the proving grounds I don't need them in my boxes. So me and one of my sons jumped in the boat and tried to get on some Fluke before dark. We caught several small fluke (13-18") and a crap load of Sea Robbins up to 5lbs. Big suckers. The lures made from the 2 table spoons to half cup are what I will tweak a little more. But for now it looks and feels great. Nice and strong and still has great action. The teaser were on 3 ways in 22' of water with only a 2oz weight and not tipped with anything at all. Normally I would tip them with large blue fish strips to get big fluke. But since I was testing the lures and not the fishing grounds. The lure was used naked no oils or anything else just jigging and they still caught fish. To me this means they work. Now to play with size, shapes, and colors to see what produces most and largest fish. Thanks for all the help guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
