Why do you pour?

[kipbass]

Why do you pour/inject? I'll answer my own question.
I live in a small Louisiana town with only a Wally World, and about 10 miles north there's a small bait store. During fishing season both are hit hard and my favorite colors are hard to come by. Also the big W is seasonal, so come August most fishing items disappear for hunting gear. Since making my own baits, I have found I can produce a better bait than the masses as far a durability goes, that's without salt. The baits last longer with a medium formula compared to store bought, the action doesn't suffer either, and I know the color is on hand if I want it. I try to sell a few here and there to coworkers and family just to offset materials to keep me in the game. Maybe I'll expand that when I retire. 

[t-billy]

 Good topic. I started thinking it would be a hobby that I would enjoy and, I would save money. My initial investment would pay for itself with what I saved by making my own baits. The first part is true. I enjoy making my own baits and catching fish with them. The second part....? Yeah right. The investing hasn't stopped yet and is currently showing no signs of stopping.
 I began by making my own hand pour pop molds of my favorite baits. That turned into making both open pour and injection rtv molds. That of course turned into buying cnc injection molds. At first I tried making a lot of different colors and color combinations. Today, I'm back to the basics. There's a reason black,green pumpkin,watermelon,salt and pepper etc. are popular. They catch fish.
 I also thought earlier on I'd sell some baits on ebay to offset the costs of material. I gave up on that. Guys undercut each other so bad it's tough to make enough to justify the time and effort required. That's the case for me anyway. Today, I'm content to make good quality baits for myself and a few friends. One of my buddies fishes our county bassmaster series. He's won some tournaments with my baits, and my other friends like them as well. I'm content with that. Though I must admit, the fact that they get them free might have something to do with why they like them so well. 

[412BaitCo]

Good topic. I started thinking it would be a hobby that I would enjoy and, I would save money. My initial investment would pay for itself with what I saved by making my own baits. The first part is true. I enjoy making my own baits and catching fish with them. The second part....? Yeah right. The investing hasn't stopped yet and is currently showing no signs of stopping.
 I began by making my own hand pour pop molds of my favorite baits. That turned into making both open pour and injection rtv molds. That of course turned into buying cnc injection molds. At first I tried making a lot of different colors and color combinations. Today, I'm back to the basics. There's a reason black,green pumpkin,watermelon,salt and pepper etc. are popular. They catch fish.
 I also thought earlier on I'd sell some baits on ebay to offset the costs of material. I gave up on that. Guys undercut each other so bad it's tough to make enough to justify the time and effort required. That's the case for me anyway. Today, I'm content to make good quality baits for myself and a few friends. One of my buddies fishes our county bassmaster series. He's won some tournaments with my baits, and my other friends like them as well. I'm content with that. Though I must admit, the fact that they get them free might have something to do with why they like them so well. 

I couldn't agree more with most of all of this lol. That investment is a bottomless pit! I think it's just rationalization of most of us haha. I work full time so it doesn't pay to spend all the time it would take to make a living from it. I offset costs here and there through small sales. When all is said and done I have a great time making baits and have met some great friends from it. Oh and nothing feels as good as catching fish on something you made!

[t-billy]

 I should add that while I definitely haven't saved any money, I sure do have a lot more baits than I'd have if I were buying them. If I don't get a grip soon I'm gonna need a bigger boat. My plastic tote has to weigh at least 70lbs. LOL.
 One area I have saved money is making jigs and spinnerbaits. You can buy the components and assemble your own quite a bit cheaper than you can buy factory baits. It also affords you a much bigger selection. Barlows and Lure Parts Online have a huge selection of skirts, jigheads, spinnerbait frames and blades and all the other components to craft your own stuff.
 Last but certainly not least, I enjoy hanging out here. It's fun getting to know people and swapping ideas. It's a great way to learn. There is a fine collection of people here who enjoy helping each other out, swapping ideas and having a little online fun together. Without all the bickering and nonsense that takes place on some of the other forums. Thanks for providing us with that opportunity Jason.                               God bless and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!-----Tim.

[ctom]

lol

There's just something about fishing with something you make with your own hands and mind. AND, there is nothing better than sitting in the boat smoking the crappies on a bait you made that nobody you are fishing with can buy in a store. Its kinda like the feeling a guy would get showing up at a picnic on a hot summer day with the only cooler of beer that had ice. Oh, what a feelin.........

[412BaitCo]

lol

There's just something about fishing with something you make with your own hands and mind. AND, there is nothing better than sitting in the boat smoking the crappies on a bait you made that nobody you are fishing with can buy in a store. Its kinda like the feeling a guy would get showing up at a picnic on a hot summer day with the only cooler of beer that had ice. Oh, what a feelin.........

Amazing analogy! But I'd have to say you might have to guard that cooler pretty well around here lol.

[kipbass]

I have to agree about a certain amount of satisfaction gained when you catch a fish on a personal bait. Making baits it's something i too enjoy doing, i recently began making my own football jigs. I haven't had the opportunity to fish one yet. When i do i expect it to be a slaunch!

[pjmcla]

I have been addicted to fishing and trying to figure them out for fifty plus years.  Started with a birthday gift of an old Heter's fly tying vice and a lead jig head mold to tie crappie jigs in the early 1960's.  This hobby / addiction / vice has provided a great amount of satisfaction and enjoyment throughout my life. 

[BigBoyBaits]

I started to make my own products, I had over 15 notebooks full of designs on baits, it evolved into a fully functioning business. Also I love to make killer colors!

[Justin9j]

I started pouring to save money.  Fish a lot of frogs. Paying over a dollar apiece and only good for one fish sometimes.  So I ordered a creature kit to just get started. And it took off from there. And saving money still waiting on that to happen.     
Oh and I still have not ordered that frog mold that was to start this hobby
7 other molds though.
Plus my grandpa has done jigs spinnerbaits and buzz baits for years.  He told me I needed to learn how to pour plastics so I could do him some trailers.   

[Denny Welch]

I think Tim said it first...you can't beat getting bit on something you made.  I've been tying flies since the early 70's and have my own fly tying room devoted to storing dead animal parts and flies I will never have time to use.  I've been pouring my own jig heads for the last 5 or 6 years.  I've got a couple hundred pounds of lead in the garage waiting to get melted down into a 1/8 ounce jig head.  I've only been pouring plastic for a little over a year.  I've got over 70 different molds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of poured baits. 

Call it an illness if you want, but I call it a hobby.  It sure keeps me off the streets and out of bars and I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

[gone2long]

Yeah I got into it for the hobby and after seeing all the eye candy you guys post and that darn little nano thing is making me heading down the pan fish road, that little thing is awesome looking the way you guys are doing it, I hear it now Cha Ching their goes more money

[superharmonix]

I had a VP job at a financial institution, and spent the last 3 years of it praying for the Lord to show my wife and I if he wanted me there, or somewhere else, and after 3 years of showing us he wanted me there, he said, "leave".  After much prayer and 8 months after that, he led me to pouring soft plastics and jigs, and has blessed me with meeting you all.

Like my attorney, Denny (retainer's in the mail), I have amassed quite the collection of molds and plastics.  I am pretty sure if I melted down all my scrap I could fill a 21 foot Ranger boat mold 10 or 12 times. 

For me it's both my full time "work" and a hobby.  I love catching fish on my own baits, and I love seeing others catching fish on stuff I make even more.

[DobynsTriton]

mine kind of happened on accident. Ever since I got started in the whole ''sponsor deal'' I've had a plastic company backing me. when the 1st one shut down so they could have more time for family I got on with another one & now that company no longer exists. I was lucky enough that the 1st one was a friend that could give me advice on pouring ect so I decided to give it a shot (no pun intended). I've been doing this since late Feb/early March & here I am still doing it. I enjoy having  control over color,color combos & color/flake combos & being able to make a bait exactly colored how i want.I also enjoy helping others with their soft plastic needs/wants. I even tell people sometimes that are 1st time buyers ''I won't sell anything that I wouldn't fish myself'' There's not even a hand full of soft baits that I use that are name brand,I like & prefer fishing my stuff & wackin them on it even when the fishin tough & just sucks.

[ctom]

DobynsTriton brings up being on staff with companies and then having the bottom drop out. I prostaffed Culprit on the crappie tackle side for 11 years and was also on board Mepps/MisterTwister for a number of years. Worked a lot of shows and did a ton of promoting. I guess the benefit to staffing was that I got to get my mitts on new tackle a whole year before it was even announced as a new bait. Some of that tackle was super, some no so super. But in dealing with soft plastics on a professional basis one learns an awful lot about design and the plastic itself. I'm a color nut and crappie baits always tended to be colors of one nature and bass products had colors that were another. The concept of bass and crappies not hitting one color or another didn't wash well me and over time I began crossing the species lines by using the bass stuff for walleyes and sauger. Eventually it became a thing with crappies and bass baits.

I read a lot of the sites, including this one, for quite a while before I made a move to hop on this ride. I owned several molds between Jacobs and Caney before I shot my first baits. In all seriousness, having control over both the color play and plastic quality are the two things that make this work for me. Fishing with some of these baits in colors that are so life-like that they feel like they should wiggle in my palm is one thing but catching fish on them ....well that's truely rewarding.

Something I have noticed about Caney's site here....this is more than a hobby community. Its more than professional people creating things that are not the normal store-shelf products....Caney's site is a family. That's exactly how Jason and his family treat us. Its how everyone treats each other here. And beyond the site, I have met in person one of the family...he's been to my home and I have been to his.

Asking why we shoot plastic is a simple question, but the answer goes real deep for me. Yes its a hobby for me. For some it is business. For all of us its community.