DIY Swimbait

Rock hopper, the RTV mold is fine.  Its the plastisol that is toxic.  You have to heat it to activate and harden, and reheat it each time you pour your baits which creates fumes.  Some brands are better than others, but all smoke and smell.

Ahhhh, got it. Thanks!

+1 on using a separate microwave. I picked one up for $5 from Craigslist. Plaster of Paris works great and very cheap. Just seal with an epoxy for easy release. This is a great Hobie for reusing old, worn, broken swimbaits/worms for RF/Lings.

Awesome looking swimbaits. I've been playing around with making some too. My son had this ridiculous big swimbait i told him would probably catch nothing and he caught a 35" ling or so on it so I figured I needed to make us some really big baits. I made a wood bait with a grinder and a 2x4 then a mold using some old tubes of 100% RTv silicon I had laying around. It took a long time to dry though. I got some plastic regrinds which is left overs from a company making worms and baits but at least they are already colored and pretty cheap. Good for some practice. We have just been experimenting with the mixing and heating. Lure craft also sells a lot of molds for baits of all different size and shapes.

Lurecraft sells a stabilizer for use when using plastisol scraps from used baits.  I think it helps the plastic melt more evenly without burning.  I always add a little to the melt jar when using scraps and they come out as good as the virgin material.
I have a mold my son carved that makes a bait similar to a Big Hammer but it's difficult to get the flat tail portion filled and they usually come out with a portion of the square tail missing.  They seem to work OK.  The Lurecraft Fish Trap molds work really well.

Martin

Really cool post! I'm enjoying learning how guys do this stuff... but more and more I think I'll just buy mine from the guys that are doing it rather than try and make some myself. 

Hi, If you add a little water to the tubed silicone it will dry faster.

I have been playing with pouring my own baits as well. 
Remelts and POP molds are a great way to get going on the cheap. But be warned it is addictive. 
 
here's a few. the first picture is poured with clean plastisol, the others are all remelts tinted with ground up crayons.


slugs
dabs
remelts

 

Very creative dabs. I like how you put that red ribbed section to to grab the lead head. I also like the darker color of that Hogy eel (slug). Don't let them catch you pouring and selling those, I use to pro-staff for them, there bait designs are patented.

Is it possible to leave a hollow pocket in the body so we can inject the bait scent? 

haha, yea I heard it really doesn't work. Be careful some baits catch more fisherman than fish! 

I have experimented with a hollow cavity  but not had much success.  Procure seems to stay on long enough to do the trick without a cavity.

Just pro-cure them in a zip-lock baggie before hand and let them marinate for a while before using them.

Just pro-cure them in a zip-lock baggie before hand and let them marinate for a while before using them.

Maybe I'll try to "marinate" them with the fish sauce (only 99 cents a bottle) 

I've been thinking of cutting a sponge in small pieces, soaking them in sent, and putting little pieces on my hooks. I thought maybe it would last longer that way.

Nice, I like those dabs.  I made some dabs but never did that well on them.  Nice little blue and pearl swimbait!

Swimbaits have become my confidence baits.  I started making some injection baits and while the cost is much higher, the results are great.  7.5 inch swim baits, 4 inch basstrix style swim bait,  and 3.5 inch swim baits and a new 702 3.75 crawdad which should be here Saturday, it is supposed to have amazing action with swimming claws for swim jigs and texas rigging.  The 7.5 inch bait takes about 2 oz of plastic, almost more than my injector can handle!  I have a lot of molds but need to find them all, some are misplaced in a box somewhere, LOL.  I have been doing more bass fishing lures and playing more with plastic types (soft, medium, saltwater, ect.), and colors/glitter combos.  With lead getting harder to get, I have switched from leadheads and jigs, to more plastic lures.

I also got a few new cans of water putty/POP to start making some of my own molds again.  I have a few new masters I want to cast and try out.  I may try some POP injection molds too!  I am liking this thread!  We need our own tackle making forum.






My new purchase.

I put these knife jigs together several years ago and still have a few left in my quiver. I picked up the butter knives at the local Goodwill store for .25 each. The project turned out to be a lot more involved than planned since the stainless was so hard that I burned up more than a few drill bits. I finally decided to take them to a machine shop to get the drilling completed. I also had them cut the blades off the handle and then I took care of grinding the edges. I think the blade ends could easily be crafted into some kind of flasher and attached to swivel off the rings. I crafted the rings out of old bike spokes and bent them around a screwdriver shaft to round them out and then soldered them together...that was a project to be sure....it was all a labor of love though and I still get a lot of satisfaction when I catch a nice ling or rf on one of the knife jigs. Enjoying all of the ingenuity on this thread!