How Did it all Start?

[firetiger]

I’m sure there are some interesting stories on how you got started pouring your own plastics. 

For me, it was the 10.5” trick worm.  I was buying them for about a buck each.  They were too expensive to fish with during practice, so I would save them for tournament days.  Well, when tournament days came around I didn’t know if the fish would bite them or not because I didn’t practice with them.  That was ridiculous!!     So I said, “I wonder how much it costs to pour my own worms?” 

The rest is history.  I have been pouring for myself and my dad for about 2 years now.  I wish I had more time to get creative but definitely enjoy the hobby.

[Jason]

I started making my own jigs, then soft plastics for the jigs, then molds for both...  Hobby gone seriously wild!

Seriously, I have always fished, my Dad was a tournament fisherman, I have always preferred trophy fishing.  Because of this I spend a lot of time studying fish and their food.  Ultimately it's the desire to catch bigger fish that drives me.

Jason

[MikeInCtown]

I didn't want to spend $7 on a pack of Senkos! A $grand+ later and those Senkos don't look so expensive. Though I have an assortment of molds now, and a pile of plastic to make a few hundred bags.

[pieterbez]

I started looking at making my own baits when a packet of flukes went over a R100 (about $12) a packet. The price is back to R55.00 ($7.50)
That was when the Dollar crashed and the whole world suffered.

I now have 55 molds and a presto pot.

Still not seeing the end of the tunnel

[mikolay87]

Berkley stopped making the power worm in watermelon candy and thats one of the only baits that worked for me so I started making my own

[Big Scott]

When my buddy started out fishing me with colors I couldn't find in the store.

[pjmcla]

I started in 1971 or 1972.  I got my start from Tom Mann giving me some plastic and colors from his shop in Eufala Ala.   Tom was nice enough to give me the plastics stuff. He was one of the first plastic worm folks after Cream Worms.  No microwave, or glitter back then.  Hot plate and a small, lipped sauce pan and plaster of paris molds painted with high temp epoxy paint. Had some friends in the Arts and Sculptor Dept. help with modeling clay worms for mold masters.
Things have come a long way since then.

[kipbass]

In a way I knew hobbiest pouring existed, but never thought anymore about it. Bassmasters came out with an article on it and the west coast bait makers. After that, I researched the net. I knew it was a good move as I stated in a previous post somewhere, wally world (here) only buys seasonal items. So in the fall, it's tough to find plastic lures. I live rural Louisiana, 15 minutes from town that has a population of about 10,000. There's only one other person I know of in this area making baits.