*** New Release *** 3.5" Super Fry

[Jason]

http://www.caneycreekmolds.com/35-Super-Fry-10-Cavity_p_329.html

The Super Fry is definitely a multi-species bait (fish slayer).  It has hands down performed exceptionally for us over the last 2 weeks.  From bedding Bass to Crappie it has caught fish when traditional baits haven't.  Based on shared characteristics of other baits we've designed, my gut is this bait is going to be a show stopper for Small Mouth and Walleye as well.

The 3.5" Super Fry has a triangular shaped stinger tail that tapers to a fine point.  The body is 1.5" long, 5/16" wide and 1/2" at the belly.  The triangular shaped tail is 5/16" wide, 1/4" thick and tapers to a point.  The stinger tail provides an extremely enticing action with no rod movement.  Overall the bait has a surprisingly nice glide to it - almost like a small jerk bait.

10 Cavity Mold

[pjmcla]

Hooray! 
Now the next question begging to be answered  --  Is there a Laminate plate for it coming soon?   .   
At 3.5 inches and 0.5" in the belly on a 5/16ths width; it is a much bigger bait than the previous Fries.  Larger profile than the 3" skinny carrot. 

[Obie]

Great looking bait jason What size eyes did u use and did u just hand pour the back?

[Perca]

Any chance of a video with the bait in action, still hard to tell from the proportions 

[mradamh]

Very nice Jason...

[Jason]

We will make a lami plate soon.

The eyes are the 6MM.

I will get caught up on the videos as time permits.  There are a lot of reviews and several on here that can comment on the effectiveness of the smaller ones.  The reviews can be found here: http://www.caneycreekmolds.com/Crappie-Pan-Fish-Molds_c_25.html.


Jason

[Denny Welch]

I think Tom is the one who hand pours the heads of the smaller baits by using a tea spoon.  It seems like that would be easier and faster than using a lami plate.  I'm curious what you guys think.

[Jason]

I think Tom is the one who hand pours the heads of the smaller baits by using a tea spoon.  It seems like that would be easier and faster than using a lami plate.  I'm curious what you guys think.

The same principals apply as if you were comparing hand pouring to injection.  It may vary by individual, but I can't hand pour 10 cavities as fast as I can inject them, especially if it is a single injection into 10 -12 cavities.  With the lami plate all you do is clamp it on, inject it, put a finger on each side of the runner and pull the runner out (like a zipper).  Then close the mold and inject again.  You get a perfect laminate with almost no rejects.

I would summarize the options like this:

Blending block - fastest, little waste, moderate level of skill

Lami Plate - faster than hand pour, no waste, same level of skill as regular injecting

Hand pour - slowest, no waste, some skill

With that said, if I can hand pour a laminate without slopping plastic on the sides that's what I normally do.  I find the lami plates very useful on very small baits, carrots because of the taper in the tail, wutz-its (hook slot and tail), etc.


Feel free to disagree or share your personal experience.

Jason

[Jason]

JR hand poured the bait above and injected it  I would say for me I would probably had pour them as well.  It is a descent size oval back - pretty simple to pour (almost the same as the 3.5" Swim Shad if you have it).  If I had 10 molds and was making 100 at a time I would use one of the other options as it would be faster from a production perspective.

Jason

[andrewlamberson]

I vote for the lami plate...for the top of the body.

No matter how hard I try...I don't get consistent results hand pouring. CToms spoon trick gives me the best results...especially if the plastic is really hot so it flows and evens out nicely. 

Since I make my baits for me...and I want them to look as good as possible (I'm a very fussy customer!)....I use the lamination plates.

I'm working....working....wo rking ....on the "hand pour skills"..... but maybe it's just a total lack of ability! The only bait that I can hand pour and be happy with the results are the 6" Flippin stick and the small Freedom Fry!!! Although I did get some nice MadDad 3SC's the other night that looked pretty darn good. I think the secret is in HOT plastic...and no scotch!

[pjmcla]

Denny & Jason are assuming you have some hand eye skills left.  Some of us "Old Geezers" do good to hold a cup of coffee without spilling any  .  My hand pouring days are sadly in the past.  I like the clean baits made via the Laminate plate better than the sometime wrap-arounds you get with a dual injector.  Also, the plate method has a lower stress level for me. 

[andrewlamberson]

Agree 100%....I have ZERO artistic ability....so the Lami plates are an absolute necessity for me!!!

[ctom]

I'll weigh in on this a little.

I hand pour the back for two reasons. First, I don't do so many split colors of this type that I need to invest in any extra equipment. Second, and to me most importantly, is that the hand pour leave a slight rise in the plastic similar to any hand pour product. When I inject the finish color I get a very uniform bait, but uniquely every one is a bit different because of the inconsistency of the portion being poured by hand. When these come out of the mold the weld is something else, often creating its own "new" color and looking very much like a lateral line. In most instances this is not the case but in some it becomes very distinct....those baits incidentally go straight into my tackle box. In may ways I see these little 'deflections" from perfect as a ploy to induce hits. Nothing in nature is perfect and in fact the furter from perfect something in nature is the more likely it will be a target as food by some element further up the food chain. But it should also be noted that I love the had work as well as the "handi work" along with the fact that I am a sucker for color and how one might work against or for another.

On a very similar note, but not at all a requirement, is my opinion on eye placement. On my large flathead walleye bucktails I hand paint the eyes. There is nothing unitform about how I do them anfd will actually intentionally make eyes that don't match. I think they can be seen by walleyes and by having deviations in the way they appear makes the bait appear as a vulnerable food. If people look closely at the plastics on which I have attached eyes they'll soon see two things. First the eyes are almost always largerer than normal and secondly they are not applied in a very uniform way.

The jist of this post is that the intentional inconsistencies I have listed all play into the outcome of what I do. In my mind's eye a straight line is too much like a store plastic. In and of itself, this is not a bad quality, it just isn't something I embrace. I simply enjoy the uniquenesses created by hand pour in some of the baits I do.

On this bait....I have every intention of ordering one but will have to wait a month or so. I see this guy being one super cold weather/water bait for late October thru January.
 

[Denny Welch]

I learned many years ago that nothing in nature is perfect which pretty much follows Tom's comments.  When tying flies I would usually take a magic marker of different colors and play with my thread.  Bug's heads are usually not all black or brown or green.  They have a multitude of colors.  The same thing applies to other baits...some are cross-eyed, some have bites taken out of their bodies and some have spots where they shouldn't.  I think it would be difficult to mass produce a bait where they all had different imperfections (lami plate).  Like Tom alludes to...hand poured baits are all a little different and those he really screws up on he tosses into his own bait box.  There's an old adage in fly fishing that you should take a new fly and spit on it, roll it in the dirt and step on it a couple times before fishing it.

I hope you have time for a little short story.  I'm nervous about hand pouring because I have this twitch thing going on.  It's involuntary, usually affects my left hand and results in my hand jerking.  Usually, if I'm holding something hard it's not too much of an issue.  There is an issue, however, if I'm holding a liquid.  You get the picture.  Well, it's Sunday afternoon and Rosemary and I are at Costco.  The place is packed.  All of the food cart ladies are there passing out free samples.  I got a small cup of hot soup and picked it up with my left hand.  Murphy's Law took over and the next thing I know my soup is all over the chest of a nice lady standing next to me.  Instincts being what they are, I tried to clean....I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

While I like Tom's theory about imperfections in his baits, I don't know if I should be handling hot plastics in tea spoons.  Perhaps lami plates are the way to go for me.

[ctom]

Are you peeking thru a couple bruises Denny? LOL.

YThe plastic is nothing to dink around with. I earned a couple really major blisters this afternoon. I finished a shoot and was going to call it a day. I took the gloves off then noticed I forgot to set the last bowl of plastic over and away from my immediate work area. The bowl was resting inside a pocket I formed in an old towel to help hold heat and thought I'd just pick it up and set it away using that towel. Well, I bumped something in the way of my projected path and the plastic splashed. My third and little finger took it pretty bad. Lots of blisters. Dumb, dumb, dumb.