Make Homemade Fish Bait
Making your own soft plastic fishing baits is a great way to have fun, save money, extend your fishing season and catch more fish. Our molds make life-like, fully round 3 dimensional fishing lures that are proven to catch fish! Serious fishermen know that having bait with the right style, size, color and density is crucial to their success. Pouring your own fishing baits make this both affordable and possible.

What you need to make your own soft plastic lures
Safety Goggles Leather Gloves Long sleeve Shirt and Pants
Coloring Molds Injector
C-Clips Stir Sticks Paper Clips, Foil
Non Stick Cooking Spray Soft Plastic (Plastisol) Microwave Oven

Optional worm additives

Scent

Salt

Glitter

Hardener

Worm Oil


Worm Plastic (Plastisol) MIXING and HEATING 
Soft plastic (plastisol) used for making plastic fishing baits is a thick milky white liquid. It must be thoroughly mixed to blend the material that has settled to the bottom of the container. Improperly mixed plastisol will make poor worms and the entire container of plastisol will be wasted. We recommend removing some of the plastic from the container to allow for proper mixing, you can then blend this plastic back in to the container.
The liquid plastic must be heated to a temperature of about 325 degrees F. While there are many methods used to heat plastic, we like using a microwave to heat plastic. Use a microwave safe measuring cup to heat the plastic.
MICROWAVE HEATING INSTRUCTIONS
Fill your measuring cup with about 1/2 cup of mixed liquid plastic. Heat for 1 minute, then stir. Heat for 30 additional seconds and stir again. Repeat until plastic becomes clear and thick (like syrup) Microwaves vary in power, we have found 1-3 minutes is average for this amount of soft plastic.
OTHER HEATING METHODS
If you choose to heat plastisol using the Lee pot or stove top, make sure to constantly stir the plastisol to prevent burning.
Overheating the plastisol will render it unusable. 
Common methods for heating lure plastisol
  • Microwave Oven
  • Lee Melting Pot with special plastisol coil #410504
  • Stovetop
WARNING: The plastisol you will use to make soft plastic fishing lures must be heated to about 325 degrees F. Spilling or splashing hot plastisol can cause serious burns to you and your helpers.
  1. Always wear safety goggles or a face mask to shield against plastisol splatters.
  2. Wear gloves, leather shoes and a long sleeve shirt and pants to protect against burns and plastisol splatters.
  3. Never let water or moisture come in contact with hot plastisol. Moisture will steam violently when it contacts the plastisol and cause splattering.
  4. Use care to prevent burns when handling plastisol, injector and molds.
  5. Work in a well ventilated area.
  6. Keep young children away from your work area.

SOFT PLASTIC WORM MOLDING TIPS
BEFORE USING YOUR WORM MOLDS
Always lubricate surfaces of your molds and injector before use with vegetable oil. This will prevent the fishing bait from sticking in the mold. 
CAUTION!
Carelessness when working with melted plastisol may result in a nasty burn. Be alert! Wear eye protection. A pair of gloves will protect your hands from drips and runs. Remember that during use your mold and injector can become very hot. WATER COMING IN CONTACT WITH MELTED PLASTISOL WILL CAUSE IT TO POP AND SPATTER VIOLENTLY.
SOFT PLASTIC MOLDING TIPS
  • Keep your plastisol well mixed
  • Start your session by making lighter colored baits
  • Plastisol colors can be darkened, they can not be lightened
  • Save and recycle your scrap and used baits. Everything can be re-melted
  • Bait colors will sometimes bleed, so keep different colored scraps separate to recycle
  • Overheated plastisol will burn and become unusable
  • Use vegetable oil to lubricate molds, injectors, cups and pans
  • Plastisol will drip and overflow. This can be easily cleaned up and reused
  • Lines and clouding may show up in the molds and injector. This is a normal result of moisture and has no effect on the mold or injector
  • Soft plastic shrinks as it cools. Make sure the overflow and fill reservoirs are full to the top when you inject the mold. Underfilling will cause hollow bodies
  • To Make A Blood Line (coreshot) - This method requires two injectors. Shoot the body color and leave the mold about 1" short of filling. Immediately shoot the contrasting color to fill the mold. This will make a blood line in the center of your bait.

Download our worm making instruction sheet, Adobe Reader PDF format 1.58MB