Does anybody make their own lures?

[SaltyGreek]

Hi all

Has anybody tried making their own lures and soft plastics before?

The thought of making my own soft plastics and other lures has risen again. In the past I have made a crankbait which was my first ever lure, a metal vibe which surprisingly works really well and a spoon type of lure which has since disappeared. I’m now thinking of making some soft plastics soon and maybe even try to sell a few.

[wazatherfisherman]

Hi  SaltyGreek  I started making my own plastics about 5-6 years ago, tried to do it as a small business, but you just can't possibly compete with big companies products price wise. Nevertheless, they are fun to make and use and much cheaper than buying them retail.

I made them in the first place because I couldn't get a couple of specific types I wanted as they weren't on the Aust market. After a year or so of making them, I ended up with about 18 different varieties, including about 6 different worms, several fish designs, crabs and a variety of different squid and occy types.

Pouring the microwaved liquid plastic is relatively simple once you've done it a few times and it's easy to make single colour lures- gets a bit more complicated when pouring more than one colour into your mould, as you can't see into the mould and have about 40 seconds of "useable" pour time before the plastic starts to thicken and needs to cool before re-heating (takes about 4-5 mins to cool and 90 odd seconds to heat)

Initially, it's easier to stick to single colours, if you use minimal colour, you'll get a "see-through" effect and to this you can add glitter/flake/tinsel/holographic foil to add "dimension" or "realism" to the interior of the body.

Powder pigment paints in my experience are easier to work with and rarely "bleed" colours if done properly, although I do also use a couple of liquid colours (a favourite is indigo liquid)

Of course before you can pour anything you need a mould to pour into- plenty of basic types such as paddle-tails, twin tails and some basic flickbait styles are available ready made, but it's pretty easy to make good moulds yourself out of 2 part silicon. The common varieties are either pink or blue silicon and available from moulding and casting supply shops. PM me if you want a couple of retailers who sell it. 

Using silicon is also very easy, with just a few basic tricks to know, and you end up with moulds that are re-usable for hundreds of pours. These moulds allow great exterior detail for your bodies and simple removal of the poured lures.

Another benefit of using silicon for moulding, is that you can let your imagination go wild, you'll soon be looking around your garage and tackle box for items that resemble shapes you're looking for to make lures, then it's a simple matter of mixing the silicon, pouring it into a suitable sized container/tray/box and immersing your object. A pouring entry/funnel can be made from the wide end of a golf tee (use wooden ones!) if you need a funnel at all- most of my moulds I just pour straight in through the top. Setting time is around 90 mins and you then cut a removal slit to get your object out, the resulting cavity is your mould.

If you want more info on this just PM me

Cheers Waza

[SaltyGreek]

3 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi  SaltyGreek  I started making my own plastics about 5-6 years ago, tried to do it as a small business, but you just can't possibly compete with big companies products price wise. Nevertheless, they are fun to make and use and much cheaper than buying them retail.

I made them in the first place because I couldn't get a couple of specific types I wanted as they weren't on the Aust market. After a year or so of making them, I ended up with about 18 different varieties, including about 6 different worms, several fish designs, crabs and a variety of different squid and occy types.

Pouring the microwaved liquid plastic is relatively simple once you've done it a few times and it's easy to make single colour lures- gets a bit more complicated when pouring more than one colour into your mould, as you can't see into the mould and have about 40 seconds of "useable" pour time before the plastic starts to thicken and needs to cool before re-heating (takes about 4-5 mins to cool and 90 odd seconds to heat)

Initially, it's easier to stick to single colours, if you use minimal colour, you'll get a "see-through" effect and to this you can add glitter/flake/tinsel/holographic foil to add "dimension" or "realism" to the interior of the body.

Powder pigment paints in my experience are easier to work with and rarely "bleed" colours if done properly, although I do also use a couple of liquid colours (a favourite is indigo liquid)

Of course before you can pour anything you need a mould to pour into- plenty of basic types such as paddle-tails, twin tails and some basic flickbait styles are available ready made, but it's pretty easy to make good moulds yourself out of 2 part silicon. The common varieties are either pink or blue silicon and available from moulding and casting supply shops. PM me if you want a couple of retailers who sell it. 

Using silicon is also very easy, with just a few basic tricks to know, and you end up with moulds that are re-usable for hundreds of pours. These moulds allow great exterior detail for your bodies and simple removal of the poured lures.

Another benefit of using silicon for moulding, is that you can let your imagination go wild, you'll soon be looking around your garage and tackle box for items that resemble shapes you're looking for to make lures, then it's a simple matter of mixing the silicon, pouring it into a suitable sized container/tray/box and immersing your object. A pouring entry/funnel can be made from the wide end of a golf tee (use wooden ones!) if you need a funnel at all- most of my moulds I just pour straight in through the top. Setting time is around 90 mins and you then cut a removal slit to get your object out, the resulting cavity is your mould.

If you want more info on this just PM me

Cheers Waza

Thanks waza this is great information! I’m planing to mould a squidgies wild prawn because I have 1 left and I don’t think squidgies make them anymore which is unfortunate. They’re a great lure for bream and flathead. I was planning to use silicon molds as it’s seems pretty simple. Good to see other people have the same thoughts as me!

 

[wazatherfisherman]

Hi again, after saying how easy it is to make lures, the one "style" I stopped making (after a few attempts and variations) were prawn styles. Reason? They are a more complicated design, with "flimsy" legs, protruding eyes and feelers. You can buy pretty much "exact" replica's really cheaply on the internet (mostly Chinese) that do the job, like "flicking prawn" or "kicking prawn". Not trying to discourage you making lures, as I said earlier, making them is part of the fun, just prawns are probably hardest to achieve the best results. Start off with something like flick-baits or paddle-tails or worm shapes until you are proficient at both heating/pouring and mixing and you will be more satisfied with your production results. Move on to prawn styles a little down the track.

When starting off, other than the plastic (or "plastisol"- type liquid) and your moulds, you just need "Pyrex" pouring jugs- I use about 6 so you can keep "production " up while waiting for un-poured excess and jug to cool- a couple of stirring sticks- I use a few solid glass rod pieces to stir in additives like glitter etc AFTER heating to pouring temp. If you add before heating, your microwave will "light-up" from the metallic stuff! 

As for colours, the best colours (in my opinion) for

Flathead- (in order) are bright/fluoro orange, gold, silver and clear (with glitter

 Kingfish- same orange (brighter the better) fluoro pink, white and "pearl" white, brown/clear

Bream- dark and light shades of brown, gold, silver and clear (glittered)

No doubt others have 'favourite' colours, but these have worked well over time, Common denominators? Orange, white, pink, brown and clear/glittered- so these are a good collection of start-off colours. Remember if you use "pure pigment" type paints, they won't bleed colours (if heated correctly)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask as there are things I've learned along the way, making them for years.

Cheers Waza

[SaltyGreek]

38 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi again, after saying how easy it is to make lures, the one "style" I stopped making (after a few attempts and variations) were prawn styles. Reason? They are a more complicated design, with "flimsy" legs, protruding eyes and feelers. You can buy pretty much "exact" replica's really cheaply on the internet (mostly Chinese) that do the job, like "flicking prawn" or "kicking prawn". Not trying to discourage you making lures, as I said earlier, making them is part of the fun, just prawns are probably hardest to achieve the best results. Start off with something like flick-baits or paddle-tails or worm shapes until you are proficient at both heating/pouring and mixing and you will be more satisfied with your production results. Move on to prawn styles a little down the track.

When starting off, other than the plastic (or "plastisol"- type liquid) and your moulds, you just need "Pyrex" pouring jugs- I use about 6 so you can keep "production " up while waiting for un-poured excess and jug to cool- a couple of stirring sticks- I use a few solid glass rod pieces to stir in additives like glitter etc AFTER heating to pouring temp. If you add before heating, your microwave will "light-up" from the metallic stuff! 

As for colours, the best colours (in my opinion) for

Flathead- (in order) are bright/fluoro orange, gold, silver and clear (with glitter

 Kingfish- same orange (brighter the better) fluoro pink, white and "pearl" white, brown/clear

Bream- dark and light shades of brown, gold, silver and clear (glittered)

No doubt others have 'favourite' colours, but these have worked well over time, Common denominators? Orange, white, pink, brown and clear/glittered- so these are a good collection of start-off colours. Remember if you use "pure pigment" type paints, they won't bleed colours (if heated correctly)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask as there are things I've learned along the way, making them for years.

Cheers Waza

would this be too hard to mould. I’m planning to take the antennas out and mould the rest. It doesn’t have legs or anything so it shouldn’t be too hard right?  I’m also planning to make some grubs and paddle tail lures as well but the wild prawn is my main priority.

[wazatherfisherman]

G'day again - you can mould that shape pretty easily as like you say- no legs or antenna. I've seen very similar ones home-made that also have antenna, which are sticking out of mould before pouring plastic- not sure of the material, some sort of harder nylon or fibre-like carbon or fibreglass, flexible for 'realism'.

To do this, just insert 2 pieces of wire into the prawn pointing straight ahead and make sure they go all the way to the side of the mould, leaving "insertion holes". This gives you the option of pouring with added antenna or no antenna, as the hot plastic will simply fill the insertion holes forming antenna anyway, albeit short ones- they still 'wiggle' though, giving the impression of "life" from your lure, which is great for really slow moved lures.

The softies company used to sell silicon prawn moulds, but I just looked at their site and they're no longer in their catalogue, so I guess they weren't popular sellers. 

One tip- it's easier to mold hard materials than soft (also you might be breaching copyright laws) if you intend to sell some without altering design, so looking for body shapes in aquarium shops/$2 shops etc can be useful

You can add "texture" to mould surfaces by inserting fine wire mesh or sandpaper (coarse-just spray back of it with clear lacquer to seal paper backing) Small pieces of textured wood files also give a good "scale pattern". I also bought some 'honeycomb' foil from a $2 shop, which I have inserted prior to pouring plastic- gives another 'dimension' to internal cavity- just remember that your hook goes through body!

Cheers Waza

[SaltyGreek]

Thanks for that. Only thing that was worrying me about selling these was the copyright laws but I could change it a bit if I was tom sell them. At this point I will Be making my own supply and maybe sell them to people who request them that I know.  E.g family, friends or other fisherman that I know in person. Hopefully this weekend I can make my first one out of damaged and unusable plastics.

[wazatherfisherman]

Another tip- try to only melt same coloured plastic and same brands together, as they have different melting points- "overcooked" plastic goes really dark brown and isn't really usable. If there is black with colours, cut the black out and use by itself and base colours by themselves.

It's ok to blend colours that are similar eg reds and pinks, but generally, when using recycled lures, add more plastic first to "dilute" your 'melts', then add more powder paint as need be. 

The powder goes a real long way, about half the size of a pea (worth of powder) will colour about 15 lures, so don't use too much- you can always add more when reheating for second pours etc