Selling baits

[Flippin4Biggins]

Well guys I'm new to the site and bought a few things to get me started.  My goals are to make enough money to really fund my R&D division for big worms and senko style baits.  For now I will basically make molds for myself to save money from buying big names, And hopefully someday get away from these molds and sell my originals but anyways my question is the following:

Guys I've searched for about 2 hours and I saw that the do it molds don't mind if you manufacture their molds and sale under a different name but are there other molds that do the same??  I have bought a few molds already that are close to said big name molds but I'm not going to chance that.  Any info or posts on where to find that info would be greatly appreciated!

Ps if anyone has some good wholesale info and can direct me that would be awesome. 
Thanks in advance
Cory

[Carolina Fisher]

Bookmark these www.jannsnetcraft.com sells the do it essential series molds for $30 a piece (great molds that simply catch fish , very easy to shoot highly recommended ). There is an essential series Senko mold , finesse worm , fluke style , beaver, brush hog , Craw , swimbait ,  etc great molds in every thing you could need .

www.barlows.com if you ever get the itch for do it lead molds they have great prices .

To answer your question there are several other companies that offer all kinds of molds google search aluminum soft plastic mold .Be very careful with what you call your baits to avoid copyright infringements. In example Senko , and Beaver are heavily protected .

Welcome to the forums don't be afraid to post pics and enjoy this great hobby .

[Flippin4Biggins]

Thank you much.  I plan to make molds for 8-15 inch worms... Wish there was a mold for strike kings anaconda worms... I absolutely kill bass on these.

[Lamar]

   Your going to get many different opinions on this topic. But I say if your just going to make for yourself and a few cash bags for your buddies then make anything and all you want. That's all I've ever done with no problems. You going to mass produce and advertise on the net then you need to watch your steps. My advice would be to keep this a hobby an enjoy catching fish on something you made. Then getting your money back doesn't come in cash but in rewards of doing what you like. I saw Ike this weekend in Columbus and he makes a very good living fishing and selling baits. He's one of a few and very rare.

[Flippin4Biggins]

   Your going to get many different opinions on this topic. But I say if your just going to make for yourself and a few cash bags for your buddies then make anything and all you want. That's all I've ever done with no problems. You going to mass produce and advertise on the net then you need to watch your steps. My advice would be to keep this a hobby an enjoy catching fish on something you made. Then getting your money back doesn't come in cash but in rewards of doing what you like. I saw Ike this weekend in Columbus and he makes a very good living fishing and selling baits. He's one of a few and very rare.

Ok Lamar I totally see what your saying.... Then would you know how I go about finding or making my own molds? Like the aluminum ones?  I have a lot of innovative ideas or just flat out want to combined two companies idea say a Dbomb body with a longer ribbon tail ext.  Also if companies have infridgement issues how can two companies create the same mold and sale it?

[Apdriver]

Finding and making own molds. There are guys that do custom work and design and cut custom molds on CNC machines. Just so you know, it's expensive and then if you don't patent the design, they'll be knockoffs. Patenting a product takes time and is also costly. Not trying to dissuade you at all, it's just how it is.

[Lamar]

Ok Lamar I totally see what your saying.... Then would you know how I go about finding or making my own molds? Like the aluminum ones?  I have a lot of innovative ideas or just flat out want to combined two companies idea say a Dbomb body with a longer ribbon tail ext.  Also if companies have infridgement issues how can two companies create the same mold and sale it?

  Like I said I only make baits for my personal use and never have looked beyond that.

[Bob]

Then would you know how I go about finding or making my own molds? Like the aluminum ones?  I have a lot of innovative ideas or just flat out want to combined two companies idea say a Dbomb body with a longer ribbon tail ext. 

This is something not a lot of people have experience with, I have had quite a few of my own molds designed and cut, you are going to expect to pay anywhere from $300 - $500 in design/programming costs alone (average seems to be $500). That is just to draw the mold and develop the machining code. Once this is done they can actually cut your mold, which in my experience will cost anywhere between $200 and $1000 per mold (this will depend greatly on number of cavities and number of molds you are ordering) It is not something that most just getting into the hobby can afford or justify. Now, using your example I will guarantee if you have someone design this DBomb with a ribbon tail it will be a VERY costly mold because of all the very fine ribs cut into the body, these require extremely fine tools and take a long time to cut. I am not in any way trying to scare you off from designing and having a custom mold made but rather trying to make sure that you are fully aware of what you would be getting into.

Black Hawk Custom Baits (small hand injection company) has a creature bait with the beaver-ish style body and a long ribbon tail that was just recently awarded a US Patent D745,109

[ctom]

Finding and making own molds. There are guys that do custom work and design and cut custom molds on CNC machines. Just so you know, it's expensive and then if you don't patent the design, they'll be knockoffs. Patenting a product takes time and is also costly. Not trying to dissuade you at all, it's just how it is.

As Bob has mentioned, you'll need deep pockets to get a mold cut from scratch. An alternative may be in making an RTV mold using your own baits as forms and hand-pour your dream baits. A quart-sized RTV kit will set you back about $40.00 but you can probably get about 5 multi-cavity molds from that amount of RTV. The stuff will handle the heat of hot plastic just fine and is very durable so mold longevity is not in the short term. The RTV is easy to work with too. Depending on your skills level, RTV can be made into an injectable mold too, but I feel that starting out with the product as a hand pour will give you some up-front experience in how it handles and as you move along with it you can look at more advanced ideas. Do a search for rtv.

[Kasilofchrisn]

I would suggest you start small and work your way up making stuff for friends and testing your products.
Once you know your stuff works well then consider selling.
Funding out of pocket as your budget allows is a great way to get started without having to take out loans or risk loosing anything if the business flops.
yes custom molds are expensive.
But if you are into selling they can be a great way to offer things nobody else can and get a return customer base.
For my custom lead molds I have had made I like these two guys: (they also do soft plastics) Contact Bob at http://www.cncmolds.com/
Or Shawn at http://shawncollinscustoms.net/
they have both treated me well.
It is hard to compete with the big guys.
My stuff fits a niche market here in Alaska.
In the bass,walleye,crappie world there is a lot of competition and I think you would do best to keep it small for awhile and have good customer service.
Then again you have a lot of guys fishing for those species so....