Nifty blue

[ctom]

Here's a nice blue for those who use blues a lot. Its called Indigo. I found it at another site and decided to try it. Its a powerful color....4 drops to about 4 ounces to get this. I added some deep blue and a purple glitter to this as well as Do-It's blue hi lite. The throat patch is tomato from Do-It and the belly color id a hodge-podge of clears that I doctored with some black glitter and a little pearl.

 

This bait is the 3.5" super fry

I suppose I should fess up and tell ya'll that the belly color was hand poured to about 2/3 of the belly cavity and that the black line is actually a heavier smoke and is almost transparent...not as heavy as a blck line and light can move thru it a little. The smoke line was hand poured to almost fill the belly cavity. When hand pouring the belly cavity one has to take care to leave a wee bit of wiggle room so that the tail and top fill with the top color. Be sure to check the gate to be certain its open after pouring the belly too.

[ctom]

Here's another fun one.



This one is a watermelon green with a shot of .015 green glitter as the top color. The belly starts with an orange gill splash, then a line of heavier smoke towards the rear. Next a thin milky clear with some black flake goes in until the belly cavity is about 1/2 full. This gets topped off with a thin pearl  with heavier amount of black flake. You can see the seperation between the two transparent pearl colors real well in the middle bait. The green is shot in to make the back last. All of the belly colors are hand poured.

I used a full-body clear cover dip on all of these, eyes or not. Same with that blue critter.

Its so darned hot out in the garage I don't like being out there but that's where the goods are so I tough it for an hour then come in the house and kick back in some cool for an hour. Then re-peat. Ma's gone all weekend so I have to make good on the quiet. lol.

[Denny Welch]

Tom...How long do you let one color sit before adding another on top of it?  How long is too long or is that even an issue?  Good looking colors, by the way.

[pjmcla]

Both are really nice looking baits.  I am a big fan of blue; but I think I like the green minnow better.  Both are excellent though.

[ctom]

Denny.....

I move right along when I am doing this hand laminating. I have all of my colors lined up and hot so when I add the next color  in the line-up to the mold there is little down time. In the case of the blue bait, that orange went in the mold at about 330. The pearl went in the mold and over the orange at about 340. The smoke hit the pearl at about 340 and the blue topped things off at 360. What I hope to attain in the end is a layered bait that has welds throughout the process. I do top-coat with a clear dip loaded with stabilizer and heated to 360 degrees and I keep it that hot until all of the baits have gotten the full body dip, eyes or not.

Even in a warm garage shop I see enough cooling between colors that I don't get any washing between them so I see no reason to allow a color to harden or set. I move right along with the whole process. In fact, the baits are trimmeed from the runners while they are still quite warm and the eyes go right on. They are still warm when they hit the cover dip.

[ctom]

I'll add here that I tried the same blue color shot using a solid black seperating color and the blue got muted real bad using it. I know the picture shows that line as black but it is actually a nice smoke. Light moves thru it real well and that is what ramps up the brilliance of this color. Standing alone this Indigo color is absolutely gorgeous. It needs nothing to allow it justice. Its a conventional color but it is potent. 4 ounces of this will go a loooooong ways.

[MO QWACK]

That blue really  POPS one of my go to colors is blue and white, when every color gives em lock jaw role blue and white come though

[Botanophilia]

Tom, both look great.  Might have to add that blue eventually.  How many drops of watermelon did you use in the green bait and is it x2 or conventional?

[ctom]

The watermelon was done in a 4 ounce batch and was made using about 1/2 of what most would use to get a thicker green. In the 4 ounces I'm thinking it was about 4 drops, maybe 5 of conventional mf colorrant.

[Botanophilia]

Thanks Tom, I will give it a try eventually when I get more plastic.  I have the MF watermelon, it takes quite a few drops to get a good standard watermelon color for me; somewhere around 50 or 60 drops.

[ctom]

I just checked my mf recipe for watermelon green in a 4 ounce batch and its 20 drops. Keep in mind that I lean towards more transparent colors though. Without any color thru the center to stop light, the green really cleans up and just shines. Had I laminated a thin black center color that green would be much much less brilliant.

[CrabbyBass]

Nifty indeed!  Both lures are dynamite!  As always, great job!

[crappiedave]

Very nice!!!!

[Bass in the hood]

I have been injecting baits for less then a year I have learned a lot from from this site. But I have not done a hand pour and injection on the same bait. I do use a dual injector to make some laminates. Your baits are great thanks for sharing some details.