Must have colors/glitters

[Brent]

The new lab is coming along just great, with the wonderful deal Do It has for the dog days, I will be picking up a new mold, and also adding to my color/ glitter/ highlight's.

What are some of your MUST Have Colors/ Glitter/ Highlight's?

[ctom]

Now there's a loaded question.

Determine where your interests lie. Panfish, bass, salt water, etc. You should know what the basic colors are for your area of interest and the components get built off those preferences.

Me, I like the blues, purples and chartreuse colors but I also have a ton of other colors in the green areas as well as in the browns.  I have all of the changable colors. Black, white, red, orange, blue and green are the basics I have as well as hot pink, fluorescent orange, fluorescent chartreuse and fluorescent green chartreuse. I have every color of hi lite sold on these forums plus some I have picked up for use in paints, but they'll work in plastic too.  I have some of the pearl colors but I'm not big on pearl. Red, green, blue, gold, silver, copper, and a few other weird colors make up my glitter department. Most all of the glitters for plastic I have are either string glitter or .015. I have some micro glitter.....004 for paint use.

[Brent]

My interest is in YOUR favs!!!!!.
While I believe that at time colors do make a big difference, I also believe that ones confidence in a color plays a roll. 

[jl3140]

I use the baby bass and blue colorant ALL the time. And a purple is great too, I have yet to buy any of the purple colorants though. I always mix my own with x2 blue and regular red from CCM/Do-It. I use blue, gold, red, and silver glitter on a regular basis also.

One great color I've been using lately is 1 drop x2 blue with 2 drops red in 4 oz plastic and then adding enough green hi-lite to make it a green color in the light. That color is a killer, and so is just clear plastic with blue hi-lite and blue, gold, and black glitter.

I'd go with all the hi-lites, they're just too cool to pass up!  I've played around with every one of the colors so far.

Josh

[ctom]

While I believe that at time colors do make a big difference, I also believe that ones confidence in a color plays a roll. 

In plastic I can narrow that down to one color but its a combination color of purple of some shade and chartreuse in the tail portion. Purple is a color that can be manipulated in a million ways to look or act in as many different ways.

I seldom use any color stand-alone. My chartreuses are generally hit with a bit of white or a small shot of green or blue. While I have green chartreuse from three makers I have never used the color on its own.

I think if people sit down and look in their tackle and start to sort baits by colors that produce for them and then order basic colorants or those with a specific name to match specific bait colors, they'll be on the right track to get started. Then sit back and study the glitter colors and sizes and order what's found in those good bait colors. Hi lites? Get them all....they're the cheapest element in all of this stuff when you consider how far they go.

One of the most common reasons stated here as to why people are making their own plastics is so that they can have a unique color or a unique bait profile....something not common on store shelves. Don't be afraid to play with colors and components. Remember, nobody will ever see or hear of a major ugly unless you put up a pic of it. lol When you play, get that notebook out and sharpen a pencil. Use it. And keep in mind that only you know what you are looking for in a color so be sure to try different molds using the same color as you create it....every step, shoot several molds with it. Different densities of mold cavities will yield differing color results even when the color is the same going into those molds. Trust me, you will KNOW when you hit on a good color. Keith from Microspoons once stated that, "You know it is a great color when you open the mold and say to yourself,WOW". Words of wisdon right there. BUT, only you will know when to say WOW. If you want to get back to that point again and again, you need to have that pencil getting dull.

We're all different in tastes and ideas but we all have a common goal of self satisfaction in what we create. Step outside the every day color realm and play with this stuff. Keep your batches small and have some fun. For me its not so much what you like but more about what I can do to change what I like. Everybody should appproach plastic this way.   

[ctom]

Heres a pic and color example of what I  am saying above.



These are made with all Do It plastic, colorants, glitters and hi lite.

The orange in the tails is a cross between X2 Fluorescent Orange mixed heavy and X2 Tomato to bring the red out in the tail without turning the color to red, red. The white is standard, old formula, CCM white, 50 drops to 6 ounces and 10 drops of the old formula pearl with a dollop of UV Enhancer and a bucket full of stabilizer - the size of this bait dictated that I had to have the white going into the mold at 370 to weld sufficiently. No scorching at all. The Chartreuse is X2 Chartreuse mixed slightly strong and toned with a couple drops of the X2 Fluorescent Green Chartreuse and some UV enhancer. The chartreuse tail colors was shot first as a whole bait to trim for the tail sections and then the remainder and sprues being re-melted got juiced up with stabilizer. The clear sparkle is exactly that...green, blue, red and copper .015 Do It glitters, lots of stabilizer, some UV enhancer and just a hint of green hi lite. The purple bodied animal was shown in another post.

The point here is that none of the colors, stand-alone, tripped my trigger. By blending and working in other colors I reached colors that I like for the purpose that these baits will serve. Not one is "out of the bottle".

[sim]

I learn more and more reading your posts cTom - much appreciated.

To answer the OP - "all of them" - why? because when you first get started, you will always find that recipe you 'want' to create that requires that one color you do not have.

I'm still trying to duplicate a blue - the wife likes all the oddball blues I've been coming up with.

Its a learning curve.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

ctom Another great read by the master. By the way how is the tail action on that grub? mike

[ctom]

Sim....it is indeed a learning curve. Baby steps....

WW. I took this animal behind the house and made some casts using this bait shot in my usual soft formula and again in MF firm. The action is good either way but of course the softer product offers a "looser" action while the firm is a tighter thump. Great action though. And yes I do plan to tempt waldo with these when the river sheds about 30 degrees..

[WALLEYE WACKER]

ctom What is the length of the bait and is that from Jacobs? It looks like 1.75. I pour all walleye baits in soft and get up to 22 walleye before you cant use it. bass and pike baits in regular  mike

[Botanophilia]

There's definitely something to be said for confidence in your baits.  My go-to baits for panfish are 2 1/4" triple tail grubs in floro orange, chartreuse, or white; these colors get used almost regardless of conditions and catch fish.  For bass (and pike) I'm confident in 7" ribbontails in pumpkin/chartreuse, pumpkin/orange, and watermelon/red.  Tubes in watermelon/candy or watermelon/red.  Frogs in any color, there doesn't seem to be any preference by the fish.  Again, all of these baits produce for me in any condition/water clarity.

Now that I'm making my own baits, it's fun to experiment and move outside my comfort zone with colors.  Experimentation can help you find new confidence colors.  Junebug is producing well for me.  tomato (what I call tomato, it was me playing around w/ floro orange and red scrap and it came out very close to the pics of tomato colorant) has been pretty good too.  These colors have been more dependent on conditions though. 

Experimenting w/ having something unique is another great benefit of making your own.  For brown tones, I've always liked motor oil color baits, but it's not as widely available as pumpkin seed for instance.  When I was buying power worms, pumpkin/chartreuse was my go to color with pumpkin/orange being a close 2nd.  Recently when buying colorant in a brown shade, I went with motor oil instead of pumpkin.  It's a similar but slightly different color and I'm able to make baits that might not be on shelves.  I've also found a small amount (1/16th of a teaspoon or so) of green hilite does a lot for the motor oil colorant.  So I have 7" ribbontail worms in motor oil/green hilites w/ a floro orange/gold hilite tail.  What I'm making is producing at least as well as the baits I was buying before and I have something very similar, but decidedly different.

Another benefit to making your own is getting ahead of the curve.  People on here have talked about Tomato being a hot color in TX recently.  In WI, it hasn't exactly taken store shelves by storm however.  So I've mixed up something close to give it a try here and results are promising so far.  How many people are using that color here I can't say, but I would guess that it's not many.  I'm using a color fish maybe haven't seen yet.  Bass on Winnebago seemed to like it.

Ok, so short answer time:  Colorants - If you can afford all of them, get 'em.  But if you're like me and broke, get the colors that will produce well for you as well as some basics that will allow you to experiment and mix up new colors.  IE red+blue=purple.  Glitter - same as above.  I highly recommend holo silver.  Hilites - all of 'em.  They're affordable enough.  UV blast when it comes out will be added to my arsenal.  Probably glows as well if they're affordable like the hilites.  I won't use them as much, but they'll be fun to play with.

[ctom]

".......a floro orange/gold hilite tail."

This is a cool color whether its a transparent or an opaque.

[Botanophilia]

Yes it is, Tom.  I kept the hilite very light; it's not very noticeable, but it adds a special something to the bait in the water.

[ctom]

Right on Nick. At times using "just enough" hi lite to put a slight tang in the color does wonders.