Loochy88

I was with you initially. I came back to it again and now I'm obsessed with them.

My argument to the"is it worth it" question isn't based on how long it takes to break even. What I think is most important is knowing that the jig on your line didn't cost 7.50. That really plays into where you're willing to throw it, and ultimately, how many fish you'll catch.

I have yet to melt or break a single mold. I've printed about 15 so far...

Plastisol shoots @ 350 degrees F. PETG can withstand that, however the printing/melting temperature for PETG is around 240 C (464F). It wouldnt work unfortunately.

I use Tinkercad. I'm no pro at this, and I have found that to be the easiest to learn.

Try PETG. If your printer can print ABS, you can do PETG. It has many of the benefits of ABS without being so toxic. Here are some examples of the molds I've designed/printed and am currently shooting.

Soft plastics! I have a number of injection mold files I've designed. Trickworms, senkos, grubs, ribbon tails, frog, beaver style bait, ned, and probably a few i cant think of right now. You have to print in PETG. PLA does not have the temperature resistance. Because of the layer lines, it can be difficult extracting the baits, so you need to use some sort of mold release. I used vegetable oil. You lose some details because of this when compared to aluminum, or composite molds. It is fun though, designing your own lures and seeing them come to life. Ive found that buying aluminum molds is worth it though, if you're willing to put up the money. The detail is just much better, and many molds are very affordable. I have several do-it molds now, and some cheap amazon composite molds as well. Those just shoot much better. Printed a whopper plopper too. It worked pretty well. I use my printer for other fishing related things too. Right now I'm printing a handle for a diy stake out pole. They're very useful.

I use my 2019 classic regularly on the Niangua arm of Lake of the Ozarks. Never felt uncomfortable. Its a 17 foot aluminum boat, and you have to be smart about when you take it out, but it handles a little chop just fine.

We have a place down there. Last week I had a tough time finding them. Ended up catching a bunch, but i had to downsize to ned rigs. I wont give away my specific spots but I'll say I was finding small keepers relatively shallow off secondary points. May be different by the time you're there. Enjoy!

Made a few out of fresh plastisol. I designed and poured quite a few ned style baits. The plastisol I got my hands on seems to float without salt, so that works great for ned rigs and finesse baits. Tried them out at the neighborhood pond yesterday and they work great!

PETG seems to work. I guess theres just enough temperature resistance. No noticable deformation after 4 pours. A wood backing on the mold also seems to help evenly distribute clamping pressure.

My family has a condo on the Niangua arm of Lake of the Ozarks. LOTO has a rep of being crazy, but the Niangua end is more on par with some place on Table Rock, and you can avoid the Branson crowd. Fishing is great. Might be worth a look. Lots of condo choices there. Be warned, Missouri is fishable in the winter, but can still be absolutely frigid when it wants to.

I was surprised to see that this actually works! I have a 3d printer that I use for just about everything, and I've been wondering if I could use it to create soft plastic molds. I have no experience with injecting soft plastics, but on a whim I bought a 4oz injector off amazon and gave it a shot. I have a bit of hobby level experience in 3d design. I drew up my version of a senko and printed it out in 60%infill petg. I used wood backing blocks when assembling the mold to give it some added stability. Below is the result of my first try. I have a ton to learn about plastisol, injecting soft plastics, etc.... but its a pretty cool proof of concept. Now I can essentially create any bait mold I can imagine up.

Just purchased my first boat with a deployable trolling motor. The trolling motor required more effort to deploy/retrieve than I was expecting, and I've been dealing with back problems, so I needed a solution. I've seen lift assists for motor guide's products, but nothing for Minn Kotas. Looking at the MotorGuide equalizer product it seemed that all it really was, was a system of struts, balanced at the right weight and geometry. That was the hardest part to get right. After trying a few weights i settled on 2x 80lb struts, at 12 inch length, set up as shown in the photo. Takes almost all the weight off the trolling motor when pulling it out of the water, and assists slightly with lifting it off the deck as well. A huge relief on my back!

I finally have my first "real" bass boat. Up til now I've been fishing off just about that anything that floats besides a bass boat. Kayaks, coleman crawdad, a 25foot cobalt, but never had a bass boat. That all changed last month with a brand new Tracker Classic.