I would like to clear the air on some bad feedback I have recieved lately.

I moved recently and had a bit of a hang up trying to change my Ebay information as far as contact email to the new ISP and even the delivery address. I have not investigated what the problem was but every time I tried to change them I would get a username not registered page. I followed the instructions and kept leading to the same dead end.

I got caught up in the home improvements and preparations for the move that a couple of orders slipped through the cracks. For that I deeply appologize. I didn't even know the orders existed because of the problems I was having with Ebay.

Everything is settled now and I hope all my valuable customers that had to wait a long time for thier orders will accept my appologies.

Thank you so much for checking in and look for more exciting additions to my store in the near future.

Sincerely,

Dave

Ok,

Had a couple good days to hit the lake. Water almost reached the low 40's. Lot of deadsticking took a few nice fish. trout season opened this past Saturday so I stayed in and poured Bass baits. :)

Now it's blizzard conditions and I'm confined to my home with my lovely family. Games with the kids and quiet time with the wife till this blows over. oh yeah, and better stock up for the spring and summer.

I poured all my staple colors, like black/blue, watermelonseed, green pumpkin, junebug, etc.

Now I need to pour my laminates. The one sided molds are easy enough but the 2 sided molds are a bit tricky.

The secret to a successful laminate pour is the temperature of the second color.

Tips for laminates:

• Open the mold and lay it flay but keep the furrel or open end propped up on a popsicle stick. (just that little lift will help fill the half more)
• pour your first color lets say red for a red shad laminate.(always pour the lighter color first because you will heat the darker color more than usual and if it gets discolored it won't show) when you pour it, run the plastic quickly out the open end.
• Let the color set and close the mold while it's laying down.
• Heat the second color to pouring temp (about 375 deg F.) then put it back in the microwave for 20 seconds.
• That should get it to the desired temp.
• Pour a thin stream down the empty side of the mold.

That's a great way to get perfect sticks every pour.

Recipe for red shad

4 oz. plastisol (soft)
desired salt amount
(red side)
10 drops of red
1 drop of black
1/8 tsp. red flake (optional for more flash)

Black side
same plastic and salt amount
12 drops of black (some might disagree and say it's too much but try it and you will se a deeper black)
1/8 tsp black flake (optional for flash)
You can heat this black very hot without any discoloring

The Core shot pour

This is a great tip for a fantastic bait

• Pour your red plastic very fast.
• lay your mold flat without the popsicle stick
• pour a thin stream very fast in the opening to the tip and back out on both sides of the mold (you want a thin layer of plastic on both sides)
• Close the mold after the red sets.
• Pour your black hot again to ensure proper fusion to the red.

A guaranteed favorite after the first pour!

well, that's it for now.

Tight Lines!

BACKLASH

Ugh!

The ice is finally gone and the water is just above freezing temperature. Cold days and cold water. Warm fronts that have virtually no effect on the fishing conditions because the water is just too darn cold.

Sound familiar? This is what it's like right now. I have sunburn from fishing because we had a nice warm front come through here in northeast Pa. last week. Temperatures in the 50's and even 60's. Enough to get your blood flowing and totally psyched for fishing the deep water haunts of the elusive largemouth bass.

Here's how it goes...

We launch at about 5:30-6 am. water is like glass and not a breeze in sight. Jon boat is packed out with all the rods, tackle trays and bags. Some small talk about the conditions and where the fish might be. We know this lake like the back of our hand so we didn't even load the electronics for this trip. Manly fishing!!!

I go a bit aggressive with a GOTObaits crystal stick in minnow (they use our molds to make their baits and they have some really nice stuff). It is a 5" stick that has the flash of a minnow in the water. My partner goes with a GOTO-STICK in Bleeding Junebug because you can't knock a junebug! I also have a 1/4 oz. spinnerbait with a white skirt and nickel blades for slow rolling. I weighted down the hook shank to get a longer cast and get down for the roll faster.

All I can think about is, what the hell am I doing? I have some white grubs poured and some 1/8 oz. jig heads. Just throw those, you know all they want is small slow bouncing baits! Anyway, we worked some key points. Deep flats, secondary banks that drop into the deeper waters, deep water near riprap looking for the grass. Find the grass, find the bass. That's a rule to live by on these days.

I finally hook into a fish after about 2 hours. I hooked a nice size pickerel on the minnow GOTO-Crystal stick. I was deadsticking it. About 15 minutes later, I hooked into a nice 2 1/2 lb largemouth on the same stickbait. man, that stick didn't move for at least 2 minutes before that fish picked it up. He came up like a wet sock and he was very cold hehe.

Finally, my partner picked up a nice 2 lb largemouth on nothing other than a white grub on an 1/8 oz. jighead. A staple in every serious anglers tackle bag.

Check out the grub mold in my store and here is a nice twist to the white grub.

4 oz plastisol
1 tsp. salt
5 drops white
1/8 tsp. silver flake size .015 or .08
The silver gives the grub a really nice flash. The grub is a small bait so the smaller flake works well. The salt will give it a little flavor but not impede the action of the bait. (I always like a little salt in all my baits)

Well, That's about it for now. Going out in about 5 hours so I need my sleep. Wish me luck and happy Easter to you.

BACKLASH

Can the winters get any longer in the North East US?

I went ice fishing with a bunch of friends and only had hand augers. What a mess!!!

The ice is at least 2 feet thick and one auger had a dull blade and the other one had a bent blade.

3 hours and only 3 holes with 4 guys working our butts off.

Anyway, we always have a blast and a bunch of laughs whenever we get together on the water.

I am seriously thinking about a gas auger for next year.

Great time to pour and stock up for the spring. These long nights are just the ticket to play around and get some really nice baits and work on those pouring techniques.

Here's a tip for ya.

Take a zipper split tail (Brown, black or blue) and trim the body so it fits right down the body of the dragonfly mold.

(Absolutely NO SALT)

Pour the wings really hot with some gold, red or green flake. (just a pinch - a little goes a long way with the wings)

I recommend regular plastic. the super soft makes the bait too flimsy. So if you only have super soft, get some hardner and mix it 3oz SS to 1oz Hardner. That usually works well.

The result is a really cool dragonfly with a split tail and some zipper to help with water displacement and makes a hell of a racket on the surface.

Have fun and Tight Lines!

BACKLASH

Well,

It's that depressing time of the year. The holidays came and went, lakes are freezing over but not enough to fish on. A very, very sad time for us die hard fishermen.

But cheer up! There is escape from the monotony of day to day life without fishing. That's creating! The perfect time to get those creative juices flowing and make some great baits. This is the time I take out to stock up an all my springtime GOTO baits and create new colors, try new molds and create new types of baits using multiple molds.

Here are a few tips for you guys who need this as much as I do.

Let’s go to the stick bait. The easiest of them all is creating thin sticks. Make your standard 5" stick bait. While it's hot, take each end of the bait and pull. The bait will stretch to about 13" and lose much of its girth. These are great springtime worms that can be fished anyway you want. The key to this is salt! You won’t get the stretch you want without salt because of the properties of the plastic, the salt will allow it to hold that elongated shape. If you do 1 out of every pour, you can cut them in 1/2 or 3rds and fill a tray very fast.

***Take these out for early spring when the bass are just waking up***

Next with the sticks is a colored tip. If you desire chartreuse, red, purple or whatever color tip on your favorite color stick baits, this is a great tip. Some pourers tell you how hard they are to make, that you need to pour right down the middle with the first color then follow up immediately with the second color. That’s not the case at all. Make your tip color. You will only need 2oz. to start because you are only making tips and it will go a long way. Chartreuse tips on a black or black~n~blue bait are very popular so we will use this in the example.

• Pour sticks of chartreuse. (with practice you will only really need to fill 1/2 the cavity)
• Extract from cavity and cut the bait from the tip to the desired size. (1/2 to 1" is standard)
• Place the tip back into the cavity. (Now you have 4 tips in the mold) close up the mold.
• Mix your black color and get it to the pouring temperature. (4oz will be fine)
• ****IMPORTANT**** heat the black for another 20-30 seconds to get it really hot. (this will ensure proper fusion to the tips)
• Pour the stick as normal. (you may need an oven mitt or leather glove to handle the super hot Pyrex)
• Let cool and extract the sticks from the mold. Place on a cooling tray.

Hint! You can pour many tips and keep them in a ziplock bag for later use. they will be fine for future use or for making bulk batches using a pouring pot for your main color.

Congratulations, you are now a tipped stick pouring madman/madwoman!!!

 I will post some other tips in the near future. Hope these are helpful.

Tight lines!

BACKLASH