danthefisherman Posted July 18, 2019 Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 It seems I had to add even more projects to my plate for a bit of variety haha. I've been wanting to start pouring my own soft baits for awhile now, so I decided to start small with this finesse 5" paddle tail. The bait is meant to mimic any small baitfish with its generic minnow profile...smelt, threadfin, you name it. I designed it to be fished on a 4/0 Owner Beast Hook but extended the hook slots to accommodate others as well, including being rigged on a jig head or as a trailer for big bladed jigs and such. It has relatively simple detailing compared to what I'm used to, but I will also be adding a full set of polycarbonate fins before molding it. Making something so small is definitely out of my comfort zone, and I've already learned a lot through the carving process. It's so easy to cut off too much wood with such a small bait so much concentration and precision is crucial. Next up is cleaning up the master as much as I can and figuring out how to best mold and pour the thing. David R, bigbass45, chrisramirez and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliBassin Posted July 18, 2019 Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 That’s sick!! Let me know when they come into production. danthefisherman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogervang Posted July 18, 2019 Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 That came out really good man! For sure anyone can catch some fish on it. danthefisherman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefchris Posted July 18, 2019 Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 dude you have a like a million projects going, makes me feel less bad about all my half completed baits kicking around. bait looks killer man ive been tossing that black/gunmetal soft bait i grabbed from you with the blade mod, but no love yet, actually no love for softbaits at all lately danthefisherman and DoomDiver 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted July 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, CaliBassin said: That’s sick!! Let me know when they come into production. I'll be posting updates as I go, thanks! 3 hours ago, Rogervang said: That came out really good man! For sure anyone can catch some fish on it. Thanks Roger! That's the hope...this will be a good follow up bait for those finicky followers 46 minutes ago, chefchris said: dude you have a like a million projects going, makes me feel less bad about all my half completed baits kicking around. bait looks killer man ive been tossing that black/gunmetal soft bait i grabbed from you with the blade mod, but no love yet, actually no love for softbaits at all lately Haha I know something must be wrong with me...I must have a bad case of the bait builder's disease. Glad you're keeping the bait wet, Dave will be pleased. Go gettem! Edited July 18, 2019 by danthefisherman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogervang Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 Those will be killer for the spotted bass we have around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted July 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 25 minutes ago, Rogervang said: Those will be killer for the spotted bass we have around here. I haven't been fishing for spots as much as I should be, but that's exactly what I was thinking! My pb spot came off of a little swimbait of similar design that I found on the shoreline of New Melones. I was stoked, but after letting her go and watching her swim back down to the bottom I couldn't help thinking, "Man I wish I caught her on a bait I made" haha CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogervang Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 O for sure you'll catch your new pb on your bait soon man. Just gotta put in time. danthefisherman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted July 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 Making progress! Here's a look with all the fins installed...what do you all think, should I change anything up a bit? My main concern is the base of the tail isn't thin enough to produce a good kick, but the actual boot tail is also fairly large and should catch a lot of water. I've also snapped the tail off twice already because it's so thin and fragile so I might not be able to thin it down any more anyways. DoomDiver and CaliBassin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoomDiver Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 1 hour ago, danthefisherman said: Making progress! Here's a look with all the fins installed...what do you all think, should I change anything up a bit? My main concern is the base of the tail isn't thin enough to produce a good kick, but the actual boot tail is also fairly large and should catch a lot of water. I've also snapped the tail off twice already because it's so thin and fragile so I might not be able to thin it down any more anyways. I think it looks good! It's tough to tell from this angle but I think the boot tail is big enough while the length is thin enough to support it but have good action. I've never made a soft plastic but I'm guessing that the fins on tip and bottom will stabilize the body which will cause less roll and all the action will be in the tail instead of the whole body moving. Just something to think about. danthefisherman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted July 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2019 Finished my initial mold and poured up the first prototype in an aqua blue color. It swims better than I expected after cutting off the top tag end of the tail which is too bad because I really liked the look. Hoping to make an injection mold eventually because it's a pain trying to fill in the thin areas with a straight pour. This was the only decent pour out of four tries. Without the top of the tail and with the offset eyes I noticed it bears a close resemblance to a mini magdraft freestyle which was totally unintended believe me haha. I'm excited to play around with more colors and add this bait to the arsenal! 20190723_154236.mp4 azsouth, DoomDiver, CaliBassin and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliBassin Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 1 hour ago, danthefisherman said: Finished my initial mold and poured up the first prototype in an aqua blue color. It swims better than I expected after cutting off the top tag end of the tail which is too bad because I really liked the look. Hoping to make an injection mold eventually because it's a pain trying to fill in the thin areas with a straight pour. This was the only decent pour out of four tries. Without the top of the tail and with the offset eyes I noticed it bears a close resemblance to a mini magdraft freestyle which was totally unintended believe me haha. I'm excited to play around with more colors and add this bait to the arsenal! 20190723_154236.mp4 Looks like a spark shad! Sweet bait!! danthefisherman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoomDiver Posted July 25, 2019 Report Share Posted July 25, 2019 Looks really good. I'm sure you'll play around with it a lot but I would be curious to see what would happen if you trimmed off some of the meat right at the base of the tail and if removing the underspin blade would change the action. I just feel like you could get SO much more kick out of the boot tail if it was more flat where it caught the water instead of tapering off like it does. danthefisherman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted July 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2019 5 hours ago, DoomDiver said: Looks really good. I'm sure you'll play around with it a lot but I would be curious to see what would happen if you trimmed off some of the meat right at the base of the tail and if removing the underspin blade would change the action. I just feel like you could get SO much more kick out of the boot tail if it was more flat where it caught the water instead of tapering off like it does. Thanks for the input! Yes, cutting material from the base of the tail helps give it a wider kick at slower speeds. It just weakens the tail and is harder to pour without an injection mold is all. Personally I like having the option to have a more subtle tail kick and just pinching a bit of plastic off if I need more action in the water. As for the hooks, I tried a 4/0 Owner Beast the other day and it's definitely more stable with less side to side shimmy. Other than that I don't notice any difference from the Flashy Swimmer. DoomDiver 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogervang Posted July 26, 2019 Report Share Posted July 26, 2019 Hell yeah man, that thing is awesome! I like it just the way it swim. DoomDiver 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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