Making your own soft plastic fishing baits is a great way to have fun, save money, extend your fishing season and catch more fish. All of our molds make life-like, fully round 3 dimensional fishing lures that are proven to catch fish! Serious fishermen know that having a bait with the right style, size, color and density is crucial to their success. Pouring your own fishing baits make this affordable and possible.
View our video showing the proper methods for making soft plastic baits. *Make Your Own Soft Plastic Baits Video*
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. Work in a well ventilated area.
Always wear safety glasses or a face mask to shield against plastisol spatters. Wear gloves, leather shoes and long sleeve shirt and pants to protect against burns and spatters.
Never let water or moisture come in contact with heated soft plastic. Moisture will turn to steam violently when it contacts hot plastisol and cause splattering.
DO NOT allow small children in your work area or permit them to handle your baits. Hot plastisol and children don't mix. Children could confuse your baits with food. Soft plastic baits are not for human consumption.
Soft plastic (plastisol) used for making plastic fishing baits is a thick milky white liquid. It must be throughly 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 plastisol from the container to allow for proper mixing. You can then blend this material back into the container.
The liquid plastisol 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 oven. Use a microwave safe measuring cup to to heat the plastisol.
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.
If you choose to heat plastisol using a stove top or a Lee soft plastic melting pot, make sure to constantly stir the plastisol to prevent burning.
Keep your plastisol well mixed during your pouring session.
Start your session by making lighter colored baits first.
Save and recycle your scrap and used baits.
Overheated plastic will burn and become unusable.
Bait colors will sometimes bleed, so keep different colored scraps separate to recycle.
Use vegetable oil to lubricate molds, cups and pans.
Plastisol will drip and overflow. This can easily be cleaned up and reused.
Lines and clouding may show up in the molds. This is a normal result of moisture and has no effect on the mold.
Plastisol shrinks as it cools. Make sure the overflow and fill reservoirs are full to the top when you inject the mold. Underfilling causes hollow bodies.
Twisting the plunger to remove it from the mold can cause the plunger to fail. Pull the plunger straight out of the mold as soon as the plastisol becomes solid (About 30 seconds).
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