Wait Time

[basscatlildave]

Is there a normal amount of time that the baits need to cure. I made some Senko's playing around and just had to go dunk em in the water. I gave em about 30 minutes from the mold. The fish didn't seem to care at all. 

[Do-It Corp.]

Appears to have been long enough...

[ctom]

Cure time is a matter of personal preference. I make'em and fish'em the same day at times. Some people let the cure a month.  The fish don't know the difference so I say have at whenever you want to. If you lay your baits out to rest when they come from the mold and you arrange them as you want them to look like in the bag you may want to allow a couple days so the "set" takes. As I said, I don't mess much with curing. 

[Slow Burn]

As tom said its personal preference. If you are making them for your use, it only matters what you think. If you are making them to sell to others, curing is probably worth doing for a few days so the baits cure as straight or natural as possible. Pretty fishing lures are made to catch fisherman.  The fish dont care if they are ugly, fadded, have a bubble, dent or kink in them.  I keep the rejects i make for my self and "donate" the pretty ones to my buddies.  Stringers always tend to turn out the same or in my favor 

[RufNec]

As tom said its personal preference. If you are making them for your use, it only matters what you think. If you are making them to sell to others, curing is probably worth doing for a few days so the baits cure as straight or natural as possible. Pretty fishing lures are made to catch fisherman.  The fish dont care if they are ugly, fadded, have a bubble, dent or kink in them.  I keep the rejects i make for my self and "donate" the pretty ones to my buddies.  Stringers always tend to turn out the same or in my favor 

All I fish with are my screw ups!

[BareKnuckleJigs]

Here's my findings and my way, based on my values...

https://youtu.be/HxUuDPNbkJk

Once the baits are shot/poured...
The first hour is critical so lay/hang them quickly after removing them from the mold.

IMO, the most important percentage of the plastic's strength is obtained after 3-5 days of curing.

After about 2.5 weeks of curing, the plastic firms up a noticable amount.
I always aim to cure for 4 WEEKS, but 5 weeks never hurts.

Baits that can be hung, and hang correct to their design, are hung from nails I have driven through lumber boards.

Baits that don't hang true to their design, like curltails, ribbontails, I lay in pans as close to the mold design as I can get them...after the 1st 24 hours of cure, I turn them over and let them cure for about 7 days....then I turn them over again and they'll finish curing for another 3 weeks or so.

I hate crooked baits.  I spend money on the molds I like because I like the design...not a distorted version of a design.
I like my baits to function, perform, as close to their design as I can ensure......that's one of the reasons I have the mold in the first place.

This is just me.
I'm only talkin' about ME, I'm only talkin' 'bout I, I'm only talkin' 'bout NUmber ONNNE, Oh MY ME MY!!!

[Mike J]

I agree with BKJ. If you don't plan on keeping the baits around long go ahead and fish them right away. Nothing wrong with that. It's when you shoot a bunch of baits hoping to have a stockpile for later use that you will want to cure. If you shoot baits and throw them in a bag the next day a month from now when you go grab one out they will probably be bent in what ever position they laid in the bag the last month. I also hate crooked baits so I do what I can to keep them straight

[WALLEYE WACKER]

Nice bass for a farm pond. Longer the better straight bait’s are key.

[Lines]

Looks like you made up some "pig" food. 2 weeks is about the average wait time for me when I sell them. Sometimes less than an hour when using them myself.

[Lamar]

 If you're catching fish like that on them then you're waiting to long. I'd make them right at the ramp.

[ctom]

It may matter if you're selling baits whether they've been cured or not. I don't sell much of any baits and if I do they're small baits, less than 2". Thicker baits like the Senkos , frogs and creatures can stand some resting time and I won't argue that it helps keep them straight. The wax wigglers and Ice Ticklers have super fine tails and those need to be laid straight right out of the mold to be straight later in the box, but an hour in the fridge does it nicely on those. The fry baits like a day of rest but they need little more, unless its quite warm where you're at making the baits. I think a general rule is the thicker the bait or the more volume required to make the bait, the longer the rest time.....if selling them is in the offing or you are persnickety and need perfect baits. But the reality is that baits right out of the mold fish very well.

[BareKnuckleJigs]

If I were OK with crooked baits I'd buy mine out of the stores 🤣🤣🤣

[BareKnuckleJigs]

I've shot 6" Finesse Worms and fished them 1-3 days after I made them and they tore up very easily.  I've fished those same baits 1-2 weeks later to find them much more resilient.

There have been stretches of time where I spent a lot of time observing bait's process of curing, both hanging or laid in their curing positions, and various cure times before and after bagging.

I've watched it extensively due to my preferences, and dislikes, so I do things the way I do them now, and have been for quite a few years.

The firmer/harder the plastic formula, the worse they'll hold distortions.  The softer the plastic formula, the less they'll hold distortions...and I frequently shoot Soft or Soft + Softener (what I call Stupid-Soft) plastic, but I still see the effects of cure times vs. sitting in the bag over time.

My cure-time aim is 4 weeks, but 5-6 weeks does happen sometimes.  Soft or Stupid-Soft Finesse Worms sure look nice when I'm pulling them out of the bag to rig and fish them, after long cure times, and they're still almost identical to the mold cavity that shaped them 👍👍

...and Swimbaits and Frogs and Carrots and Ribbontails and...