Anyone buy hand pour soft plastics?

[Joedodge]

I’ve seen some teally

nice hand pour stick baits and flukes and ribbon tails and such on a Facebook group I’m in. Guy is knowledgeable of the process and makes some great colors at great prices. I was curious if anyone goes this route vs mass produced baits? Just thinking of supporting small business and saving some money 

[Jig Man]

I don’t buy them because I make them, but not for sale.

[WRB]

SoCal is the center of the hand pour universe, yes I buy them👍

Tom

[Joedodge]

7 minutes ago, WRB said:

SoCal is the center of the hand pour universe, yes I buy them👍

Tom

I didn’t know that! I just figured might be a chance to stock up on baits ins. Color I like and can adjust the softness and such. And support small business. 

[MediumMouthBass]

5 hours ago, Joedodge said:

Just thinking of supporting small business and saving some money 

90% of the time you will be paying 2-3x more instead.

 

Every local and online smaller guy selling soft plastics i could find is charging $8-10 for a pack of 5 plastics using a cheap mold even, and $6 for jigs with no name hooks.

 

I would love to buy and support local tackle makers, but i refuse to.

[Joedodge]

Ahhh ok. That makes sense. 
 

5” stick baits 10 for $6

5” flukes 10 for $5 

[WRB]

1 hour ago, Joedodge said:

I didn’t know that! I just figured might be a chance to stock up on baits ins. Color I like and can adjust the softness and such. And support small business. 

Hand pour soft plastic worms originated in Burbank by Jim Smith “Smitty” worms and a local market started up. By the early 70’s  every bass tackle shop had several hand pour suppliers. The advantage was multiple color layers and flake combination plus the plastic was soft and floated or was neutral buoyant depending on the salt content.

The Japanese market was developing and hand pours couldn’t keep up with demand so a Robotic hand pour machine was developed by Greg Stumpf creating Roboworm company.
Tom

[Columbia Craw]

True hand pour or small operation injection mold pours?   I buy both.

[FishTank]

I like the baits from 99 Strikes but they have gotten pricey. They may look good but there are cheaper options.

[Hogs_n_Logs]

Hand pours are hit or miss. The few guys that are really good at it and understand lure design in terms of fine tuning plastic hardness/salt content etc can be worth buying from if you want specific stuff. 

 

Almost everyone peddling stuff in my area on FB or outdoor shows is just pouring stupid colors of medium plastisol into whatever flavor-of-the-week mold + a fluke and senko and advertising it as "custom baits". 

 

In general mass produced plastics from good brands are a superior product and much more consistent, especially lure designs that use multiple hardness/salt content plastic on different segments of the bait, which is the key to the effectiveness of many modern plastic lures.