Glow colors

[ctom]

I've been shooting some glow colors in an ice plastic of late. I'm using glow-in-color-pigments, meaning the color purple glows that color. The color is not always obvious by looking at the plastic or the pigments either. Purple, blue and green glow need to be charged up to show the color, other-wise the plastic just looks like a hazy white...milky would work here. The glow red pigment does stain the clear plastic to a hint of orange but not very much.

The recipe has been simple. 4 oz CC plastic, 12 drops of stabalizer, and 3/4 tsp of pigment.

The red, blue and purple pigments are flour fine and stay suspended for quiet a while but I keep things stirred between shots regardless. The green is coarser in texture and will settle if not stirred between shots leaving a poor glow quality in the plastic. Just gotta keep it stirred.

The end result has been unreal. I wish I could get a pic in the dark of these colors. I'm going to give it a try later and if it works I'll post some pics.

[ctom]

Here's a series of pics of the glow colors in action. The green, while it appears weak and splotchy, is only looking like that because the camera had to be adjsuted downward to cut back on "haloing". The green cast such a strong aura around the plastic that the plastic could not be defined. The green is the strongest of the three color actually.

[superharmonix]

Tom- we just got in a discussion in my shop last night about smallmouth and largemouth and how they "see" at night.  The whole time I was thinking about the CCM forum and the fact we should post some glowers...
NICE pics!  Also, I read your post regarding glitter and my friend, you are well experienced and that post like this one was eye-opening.  Thanks and keep it up! 

[pjmcla]

Slick looking baits. I really like the bottom one -- purple or blue? Bound to work in low light / night fishing.  The last time ( a LONG time ago ) I messed with glow powder it had a really bad smell.  Do these pigments smell much? 

[ctom]

Do these pigments smell much?  

Lets just say that you'll get noticed if you are using the red.... before, during, and after shooting.

And interesting things about the glow colors that I use. Each and every one of them are extracted from good old Mother Earth's dirt. All are common in our soil. Like iron ore, the amount of refining and the processes of extraction to deliver the purest form determines the value and the integrity of the end product. The red comes from soil with a high concentration of sulpher, hence the dead egg smell. You don't notice it much when the fish are hitting.

The purple is my favorite color both to look at and for catching fish.

I'll also add that if fish show interest in glow plastics under the ice but seem tenetive towards the hit, I'll lay a thick plastic cover over the head end of the plastic and charge only the very end of the tail. Having that mere wisp of glow out there really upsets the fishs' closed mouth tactics. Sometimes the glow can be so intense from the thick end that an aura actually can be noticed in the water and the percieved size of the bait can put fish off. Like any bait, there can be good points and there can be elements that work against a guy. Each and every hour poses its own requirements for what you put in front of the fish.

Also, in the spectrum of white light, the purple appears just before the band of color seems to go white. This puts it very close to the visible portion of uv light, white, that we can see. The fish see true uv light even though we cannot, so the glow purple, as far as a color goes, makes it very visible to fish. Way more so than any other glow color.

[pjmcla]

Thanks.   Interesting info.  Glad you shared it.
I have used glow paint on jigheads for low light conditions and I am positive it increased my catch.  Especially on White Bass, Skipjack shad; and Crappie if I could get the jigs past the other two.  Both White bass and Skipjack are typically more aggressive feeders than Crappie.
I wonder if anyone has any feedback from salt water experience.  Bioluminescence is much more prevalent there.

[jeffhill]

Where do you even get this stuff? I've never seen it anywhere and I think I might like to try some. I do quite a bit of night fishing on Stockton and this might give me a bit of advantage.

[ctom]

Where do you even get this stuff? I've never seen it anywhere

I am assuming that Jason and Caney does not carry glow pigment beyond the standard glow, the eerie green stuff similar to the green pictured here. I do not want to step on toesand if this is a no-no go ahead and remove it. The pigments I am refering to are worlds away from the standard stuff. The green shown will hold a charge for hours. The purple and red , while generally not great at glow longevity will hold their color for about twice as long as most glow baits and are easier to charge up.

Try www.glow-inc.com. On the front page that pops up you'll want to check the menu at the left side, second catagory down from the top. I am using  pure form of the pigment. Not cheap, but in smaller plastics or for personal use it is affordable since no other components other than it and the plastic are needed. The cost will really add to the value of the plastics if you are selling them and larger pieces simply may not be worth the cost. Jason's Ice plastic, found in the crappie mold section, would be an excellent starting point for doing a solid plastic in a glow color and his carrots would be ideal to make using a glow tip. Actually glow colors need to be controled a little bit so fish don't spook from them. Remember, until only recently the fish have not seen actual colors at the depths and the deeper and darker water in which these glow products get dunked into, the stronger the glowing will be seen and that stronger glow can cast an aura making the bait appear much larger than it actually is. The tip section of a carrot molded in glow and added to the bait during shooting would be far better than the whole bait being done in glow. If the carrot tips and ice plastic are being shot using 4 ounce batches the glow will go quite a ways with the green and purple being the most affordable. Reds, oranges and yellow pigments are 4X as expensive. If I get the slightest inclination that the fish are showing interest in a glow color but not commiting to hits, I'll pull the bait off and start with a fresh one but I'll cover the head end with something to block the light while charging so only the end of the tail gets lit up. Forcing a focal point like this helps to eliminate the perception of the bait being too large.

Here in Minnesota the purple is my pet color, followed by the red, even though I may begin my fishing using the red simply to help weed it out for that period of time or the location I am at. Other peole may prefer red over anything. Some blue. Its all in developing confidence in a color for many but I always keep an open mind to conditions and let the fish help guide me towards whats doing the best. Some days glow won't turn an eye. Lots of days in fact.

Pro-tec, the powder paint people, makes a number of the glow in color products that jig painters use but those are not real aggresive glow finishes and thats how I came across this site as a supplier. I think I have glow blue, glow orange, glow yellow in addition to these three along with one other cross between green and blue that I can't remember the color designation for but it glows almost a turqoise blue....pretty but hard to charge in my opinion so it doesn't see much use.

I use glow throughout the year, not just during our winter. I'll hint that colder water seems to get better results so now is a great time to begin snooping out how glow might fit into your battle plan. I begin to notice a shift in real productiveness of the glow plastics at about 50 degrees of water temp for crappies and sunfish. Walleyes and sauger seem to get tripped up a couple degrees cooler. I'll also note that these so-call illuminators or flashers sold under company logos to charge the glow products might just as well go in the junk. Go to a flea market, Salvation Anry storre, Goodwill store, Kmar, Walmart, Shopko.....go somewhere cheap and buy a battery operated camera flash and put some good batteries in it. These units power up in a blink and have flash power 100X that of the other products. Getting the glow to take a deep charge is the key to it. The charging element is the first point of not being happy with glow finishes or products and the second is in using products with soo many fillers, like the powder paint. Jason's glow powder will be a clean pigment, but for glow in color, assuming Jason doesn't carry it [I didn't/couldn't see it in the cart system], you'll have to go to a specialist supply like the one mentioned. These people, like those here at CCM are great to work with. 

[Jason]

Great topic Tom.  Very informative.  We don't carry anything like this, but it looks like we should look into it.

Thanks,

Jason

[ctom]

You'd want to look at the cost effectiveness of carrying the glows from glow-inc Jason, but you could batch the pigment out. I use it in small plastics where I can get maybe 1500 out of a 4oz batch and the glow will get paid for over the long haul. As mentioned I also use it on jigs so it will see some double duty for me.

What I have found over the last five years in using the glow products from a number of providers is that glow-inc has the best product to work with, hands down. I had some product from another outfit that I could hardly get to glow even sitting in the sun. I'll be happy to vouch for glow-inc.

From a business standpoint, check thier site and contact them. They are easy to work with, much like yourself.