Why I roll my own….

It seems more common than not that when I find a great working crappie plastic or a color pattern that works its either too small some of the time, or too large the some of the time. The tackle industry seems to have this dialed right in so people have to buy two sizes of the same thing in the same color. I’ll use Gulp minnows as an example. I like a chartreuse shad Gulp minnow. I use the 1″ Gulp in this color a lot but there are times when a larger bait would work better, just not the 2 1/2″ ones that are next up the size ladder. A 2″ would be just the ticket MOST of the time. There’s a 2″ Powerbait but I don’t like those for my crappie fishing. A few years ago I found a minnow mold that’s right in-between the two Gulp sizes at 1 7/8″ and I make these baits in the chartreuse shad I like so well. Now I don’t have to play games with the commercial companies.

Using a twin injector the two basic colors are injected into the mold simultaneously . Seen in this picture the 1″ Gulp bait is that on the left of the baits in the center. The others I made. I have used a glitter-clear plastic as a belly. I put these baits in a jar of Gulp juice….they stay right in there until they’re being used and that clear belly color will quickly opaque and very closely look just like the Gulp product. I have no idea if the Gulp juice penetrates the plastic but I know that when Gulp is working these baits will out-perform the same identical bait that has not been soaked. The way the belly color shifts I think the juice does go into the plastic at least to some degree. I’ve also seen the un-treated baits out-do the treated ones so I carry some of both.

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Tom, the pic seems to not be loading. Lets pour some 1 7/8″ when we get together!

Try this Evan. Click on it for a larger image.

Great looking baits Tom. That is so right about sizes of baits I have many tackle boxes to prove it.

These are a couple other options that go into smelt colored Gulp jars with the original baits. The top two are basically the same color except I leave the back color real thin in the top ones for ghost minnows. I just add a chunk of black plastic to this color before re-heating it to get the dark smoke. The cameras filter won’t let it show but there is a purple, or violet I guess its called, hi lite added for surface sheen in the back colors and they resemble a pro blue only purple.

The smelt and chartreuse shad are about the only split colored Gulp I use but I do use the lumiglow white every now and then, I just don’t like it enough to make a white pearl bait. lol

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As always Tom – Great looking baits. I need to get into pouring my own plastic baits some day.

Nice looking baits Tom. What I find amazing how fisheries change over time, one Flowage I fish for Crappies years ago the hot bait was one inch red tube jigs. Now you cannot hardly buy a bite on them, then the hot bait was Bobby Garland plastic shad baits in Chicken color, that died and now the color is what he calls Vegas black with purple and silver sparkle. These baits have killed the Crappies on this Flowage I do not know how many thousands I have caught over the years. One afternoon just for fun we timed how long it would take us to catch a 100 Crappies and we were on a so so bite. Between 2 of us it took us 41 minutes each using one rod.

My point of my ramble is these same baits have only worked so so on other waters. A body of water can be sort of color and lure specific not saying others will not work but hitting the right combination can turn a slow day into lights out day.