Making soft baits

Questions about Saltwater Fishing

Making soft baits

Postby IgnatiussB » Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:43 pm

I recently purchased a soft bait kit from Alumilite and created some pretty cool lures and watch all your videos. The problem I've encountered is that the baits will not swim and I cannot figure out why. The baits lay on their side and have no action when hooked. I mix Alumisol Soft Plastic with Alumisol Softner and pour it into my mold and when I try to swim it has no swimming action. I wondered if I applied microballoons, if it would make a difference? Please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you,
IgnatiussB
IgnatiussB
IgnatiussB
 
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Re: Making soft baits

Postby Mike - Alumilite » Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:08 pm

What types of baits are they ... swimbaits with a paddle tail? ... worms? ... grubs? ... whiggley style? If you can post a pic, that would help us. An easy way to post a pic is to load it onto the Lure Makers Gallery on makelure.com.

I'm shooting in the dark but often times, if its a paddle ... the degree of deflection, the symmetry, the web to the paddle, and/or the stiffness often play a roll into them swimming correctly or not. If its a worm or grub, its often a ratio of the stiffness to the deflection of the tail and whether it has the flex it needs to drag and be able to straighten out behind the grub to swim. Whiggley's are often an account of getting them soft enough to really dance rather than dart. If they are too thick when designed, this may affect that as well but if you can get the thicker baits soft enough, they work really well!

Post a pic here or to MakeLure.com's gallery and we'll see if we can help you out more specifically.

Mike
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Re: Making soft baits

Postby IgnatiussB » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:21 pm

Okay, I posted a picture of them on makelure.com
IgnatiussB
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Location: Lincoln RI

Re: Making soft baits

Postby Mike - Alumilite » Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:46 pm

I posted them up on the site? Which one are you have problems with? All of them? Not sure of the all the details like the hardness, thicknesses, etc but here is some general insight that I have learned regarding these types of lure through my experience.

Can't really tell the top one if its a walk the dog style or a Pop R or perhaps even a weight bondy style bait (jig) from the picture?
The second one looks pretty thick and would have to be really soft with weight in the front to make it dance.
Third one looks okay but you may want to add one more cut out area before the tail.
Fourth one ... the tail is wild card ... it could actually be working against you. The way to tell is to try burning it and see if it starts dancing. If you have to burn it to make it swim, the tail might be too webbed, too stiff, or too thick. The other thing you could try to do is reduce the thickness of the center wall in the V groove in the middle of the bait. The thinner than is the more flexible it is and the less effort it will take to make it shimmy back and forth.
5th one should work well depending on speed compared to the hardness.

Mike
Mike - Alumilite
 
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