The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

Hey guys! I’m new to the forum, but have been reading a lot of posts as well as watched ALL the videos. Also I’m not entirely new to lure making. I’ve been primarily making musky baits out of wood (hand carving or spinning on a lathe), making bucktails, and tying flies for quite some time. After seeing all the cool videos Larry has posted, it got me itching to make some baits out of hard plastic, as well as experimenting with soft plastic as well.
Because I’m primarily a Musky fishing addict, the baits I intend to make are pretty large. But before I started wasting a bunch of materials (silicon, alumisol, alumilite resin, etc) I decided to start small scale, primarily with bass/walleye sized lures to get a “feel” for the process. After some successful experimentation, I’ve came up with a list of questions that I’ve had along the way – I didn’t want to flood the board with all these questions, so I figured just listing them by number would make responses easy:

1) Does adding micro balloons adversely affect the strength of the alumilite resin? For instance, as you increase buoyancy (by adding the micro balloons) is there a negative correlation with the amount added and the strength of the resin/bait?
2) Preference: through wire construction VS figure 8 hook hangers? Obviously application of the lure will help determine the choice, but I’ve noticed from “dissecting” a couple of my favorite baits was a surprise – ones I thought were through wire were actually using figure 8 hook hangers! Both in musky and walleye baits! i.e. rattlin’ rouges and Drifter tackle.
3) How the heck do you make your part GREEN with the alumilite green dye?!?! I’ve tried every quantity down to a toothpick tip of the green dye, and I am still getting a blueish hue, instead of green…
4) Alumifoam: the description of the Alumifoam says it expands 2-3 times its volume. A) When calculating volume to fill your mold, do you calculate it based on the volume you actually measure out, or do you figure the volume of your mold then divide it by 2 (or 3) to account for the expansion? B) What type of mold material should be used when using the Alumifoam? I used the HS3, and my piece actually expanded so much that it blew the sides out of the mold, causing the piece to be the incorrect size/shape.
5) Microballoons: A) If you want to make a soft plastic top water with Alumisol, is there a certain ratio that is recommended? B) The same for Alumilite resin, is there a recommended ratio to make it float?
6) Heat Stabilizer: When using the HS, does this need to be added in a certain quantity as well? Is there a recommended ratio for use?

Sorry for a whole bunch of questions! To end on a good note, attached is a picture of a musky I caught on a homemade wooden lure this past weekend for the WI musky opener. I made this lure ~16 years ago and have caught ~50 fish on it; the lure is a one of a kind and nearing the end of it’s life (I can only fish it for about an hour now, before it gets water logged), which is why I really want to make it out of resin…Anyways, it is not only my biggest musky on this lure, it also beat my previous personal best by ½”. It was 52”x21.5” – released. Thanks in advance for the help!

Those are all great questions, and you sure don't need to be shy or apologize for asking them!
1. You can add so many microballoons to super plastic that it becomes hard to stir and even then it's tough enough that no fish will break it.
On the makelure site you will find a chart (kindly provided by aka anglinarcher) that compares variations in buoyancy of microballoons/resin to popular woods used for lures.
2. Resin will hold a screw eye much better than any wood, but I still use wire through for all my larger lures.
3.If I cant get the green I want straight out of the bottle, I either add yellow or mix my own from yellow and blue.
4. You calculate the volume of foam based on what it will finally expand to. I always use just a bit extra just to make sure, and allow a good escape vent for the excess. For the foams it's best to use one of the stiffer mold materials; mold putty, mold putty 15, quick set, or Plat 55. Which is best or easiest depends on the shape and detail of your master.
For simple shapes I use the mold putty 15,(it allows more working time) then put my mold box in the oven set at 175 degrees so it sets up in a few minutes and is ready to rock. I also use this for making lead molds. For something with more detail the easiest is Quickset. It's thin enough that it doesn't need to be de-gassed and is very easy to work with. It doesn't have the tear strength of the others, but as long as you don't have any real thin spots it hold up fine.The plat 55 is also very stiff when it sets, but is very thick and it's best to have a vacuum pot to de-gas it or you may wind up with an air bubble.
Regardless of the material, you must allow enough of a vent for the excess to escape. When making a minnow lure, like a musky sized AC shiner or Redfin, I leave the entire back end (about dime size) open and pour my mold vertical in a tail up position. I let the foam spill out all around the rear hook hanger (which I hold in place with sewing needles or a pin thru the wire loop), then trim it clean with a scissors or knife before it gets really hard.
5. As you know, alumisol will float on it's own, but not very well. You can put many balloons in it. I've used it up to 50/50 mix. the downside is it will make the lure totally opaque and the balloons make the alumisol a bit stiffer.
6. heat stabilizer is only used in alumisol. you only need to use it if you are heating and reheating your material repeatedly or when you've recycled your material. all you need is like a half teaspoon per pint at the most. the only thing you have to be aware of with the highstrengh silicone is that you MUST use mold release after you've poured the first half of your mold or it will bond to itself and you'll have to get out your fillet knife to separate the two halfs of your mold.
congrats on the big ski! hope this answers your questions.
best
L

A couple of tips with the foam.
1. You can usually make a good educated guess with the first attempt, but once that first one gets done and the sprue cut off, you can weigh it on your scale and know pretty well how much you need for the final product. Then, simply pour a bit more than that when you do the next.

2. You can make do with softer RTV by making the walls of the mold a bit thicker and clamping some thin plywood or other wood boards around the mold when pouring. With a good size vent hole (or holes), this has worked well for me. I now prefer the foams, and I am using them on my own muskie lures.

Hope this helps,
Rocko

Larry and Rocko, thanks for the help! I really appreciate it!

I realized my pictures didnt post on the original post, so hopefully it works this time. Took vacation Thursday and Friday to chase another giant Lake Michigan ski! So when I get back home Monday ill be trying your advice!

http://s251.photobucket.com/user/zarno1 ... ml?filters[user]=62052881&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=2

http://s251.photobucket.com/user/zarno1 ... ml?filters[user]=62052881&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=3

Well, it looks like my 2nd attempt at posting my pics didn't work either...lets see if either of these work...

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg28 ... mage-1.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg28 ... /image.jpg

Nice fish, Zarno! Thanks for sharing!

BEAUTIFUL FISH!!!!!! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!! I'm jealous.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it!