RuhRoh! 2nd Color Tails

[BareKnuckleJigs]

I'm not sure if any of You guys do this, but this "came to me" yesterday.  I've been pondering 2nd-Color Tails, because MUCH of the Inland Saltwater fish we've caught through all the years, were on plastics with a 2nd-Color Tail...Avocado/Neon/Red Tail, Avocado/Red Tail, Chartreuse/Silver Flake/Red Tail, Smoke/Red Tail, Purple/Blue Flake/White Tail, just to name a Few Top Dogs.  I have a few ideas that are slowly coming together, in-amongst all the thinking I've done, concerning this Soft Plastic Thing.  While this idea (this IS now the way I AM going to do my own) isn't suited for "high volume", I think it's extremely sound and will open doors for tons of colors and species-specific imitations.  Dip 'em!  On a bait with a "swim/paddle tail", I'll dip it so the 2nd Color wraps around the Tail, so it's more secure than just the bond from heat...I'm also going to "rough" some surfaces, lightly, so it bonds better.  Carrots' Tails...again, I'll rough-up (with fine sandpaper or scratch pad) the last 1/4"-3/8" because I'm only looking for (personal preference) about a 3/8"-1/2" 2nd-Color Tail.  I figure, use Pearls for the main part of the 2nd Color.  Say Avocado/Neon/Red Tail...I'll use the same Avocado plastic, Red flake or not, and add a moderate amount of Red Pearl, enough to color but to stay somewhat transparent.  Red flake to taste or not.  Dip.  I'd do this with upper-temp plastic, mainly so I don't add too much weight/bulk to the Tail, bonding would just be an added benefit...IMHO.  Oh yeah...the Specks and Flounder are REALLY gonna hate this!

[andrewlamberson]

Spike It colors work amazingly well....and without any additional bulk.

http://www.ispikeit.com/Store/p-17-dip-n-glo-lure-dye-garlic.aspx

[BareKnuckleJigs]

Thank You Andy Sir!  I think the Spike-It is good, but I prefer to be able to adjust my own colors and not be dependent on what Spike-It feels like offering.  If I were to take these same baits, now torn up by fish, and decide to remelt them for another round, I can peel off all/most of the 2nd-color Dip and roll with it.  In my own case of personal preference, I think my main issue with the Spike-It is available colors.  I may be a victim of Common Fisherman Mentality (we care more than the fish do, in most cases), but at the same time, if all things were good enough, we wouldn't be "rollin' our own", we'd be buying them off the shelf...!

[ghostbaits]

While I am all about "rollin' my own", I think you will quickly find that the action the baits impart now will be diminished or completely changed by dipping any of the tails.

On the slash shads, you will loose the shimmy of the bait without a doubt. The pressure of the flat portion of the tail, combined with the weight it currently has, will be changed by adding the plastic weight and by changing the shape of the tail. You will go from a flat surface to a rounded surface.

On the other hand, you just may make something that SLAYS them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'd be doing a lot of testing in the bathtub and the lake prior to dipping to many... We all may be buying yours "off the shelf" soon! 

Jim

[Denny Welch]

Jim brings up an excellent point.  Dipping would add weight where you don't want it.  Maybe you could tinker around with food coloring...let the tails sit in it a while and see if the coloring is picked up by the plastic?  It wouldn't add any weight...same action on the bait.  You could call it the "cupcake" tail.

[BareKnuckleJigs]

Roger on ALL that Fella's!  I'm going to be taking parts of 2 baits and making one, on several different baits.  A few will be taking-on a "swim/paddle" tail.  These particular tails are very wide but thin and kind of sharp-edged, not thick and rounded, so I THINK I should have some room to play with.  The Carrots I'll be dipping are strictly for use on Jigheads or the "Scallops" I occasionally make, not for Wacky and the like.  Once I get things working (IF my materials work for the job), I'll definitely be tank-testing in the Rain Water Troughs for action...one of our troughs are 8' long and right outside my shop door.  If things work well, I'll posts pics of "before and after", with a full report.

[andrewlamberson]

The other option is to WELD tails on....it works pretty slick.

.... Take the green tail off the green one...put it on a black one....take the tail from the black one ...and but it on the green one....take the head of the green one and put it on the black one.....you get the idea!

There are posts that reference Frank's video on welding baits...and that IS the way to do it! Weld a flat piece of metal onto a soldering iron tip so that you have a nice flat surface to slide the baits off of...and then together. Slick!!!!

I recently bought a little butane soldering iron that has a larger flat tip that works well for this in the boat.

"Nothing like the smell of fresh burning plastic in the morning"

[BareKnuckleJigs]

Thanks again, Bro's.  Mr. Denny, while Your idea is sound, BareKnuckleJigs putting out a "Cupcake Tail" would be...uuhhh......uhh...a little Sugar-Britches-ee, and oppositional, for the BKJ NameSake, me thinks.  Or, maybe that would be the pitch...I'd have to come out with an "equal" line of colors to feed that Pony's Mouth...maybe like "Gastank Sugar", "Strawberry Shortcake Shad", "Fancy Pants Minnow", "My Little Shrimp", or the like.  It would be fun naming them though!

[BareKnuckleJigs]

I've pondered welding them, but the time involved keeps me from going there.  From my time building Shrimp Trawls, I have a "hot knife", and I've employed it with some of my recent Mad Scientist Slicing 'n Dicing of Soft Plastic Parts, but I like to keep the strength of the bait as best I can, which is 1 of the aspects that I've settled on dipping...to not be dependent on the bond, especially at such a small point.  One thing I also won't do when I dip the Tails, is dip the entire Tail, just the rear-face and around the edges of the Tail so the plastic "grabs", but not dipping entirely to leave a huge blob.  It'll likely have it's learning curve, but I'll surely post everything here.  Everything I've thought about, has kept me excited.