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!