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Anyone make plaster mold copies?

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senkosam View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote senkosam Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Anyone make plaster mold copies?
    Posted: 19 Mar 2021 at 12:17am
The first skirted jig I caught a bass on used a Uncle Josh pork Frog as a trailer. If I hadn't seen my tournament partner catch 9 bass using it I wouldn't have believed it.
Unfortunately Uncle Josh stopped selling the pork series of lures besides which the big price increase made me look elsewhere for similar jig trailers.

I started pouring plastics years ago and figured - why not copy the pork frog in the three sizes they were once sold ?  I had no idea soft plastic would catch fish as well as the salty pork fat & skin lures (along with the pork eels and leeches). Here are the first plaster copies of the trailer:
#1 Pork Frog:                                          #11 Pork Frog:
This is how they came out:

Dang if they didn't bass as well as the pork original !

Soon after, various companies started selling other trailers in soft plastic.
Here's a copy similar to the original :

Now I didn't have to buy bags of the trailers in different colors considering how many dye colors I already owned. Making 12 trailers cost 75% less than the original 5 that came in a bottle and 1/2 less than other trailers that were sold later not including shipping:
craw trailers:

All of the above catch bass when rigged on skirted jigs. I discovered a way to secure the trailers using coated wire:
This is the idea:

method:
nose hook the trailer and then wrap the wire once around the hook:
stick the wire prongs into the trailer:

It allow free trailer motion and the trailer stays in place no matter how many fish get caught on it.

Read no further if not interested in lure design theory !
Okay, so in all the fishing magazines of the 70' and later, the pork frog / skirted jig combination was pushed as a crawfish imitation. I may have been gullible for years believing it but time and catching fish on hundreds of lures made me start to question that and many other words of wisdomNO WAY IN H*** THAT THING LOOKS NOR MOVES LIKE ANYTHING THAT EVER LIVED IN WATER!

As many of us that have observed, the action of lures in water is unique between design shapes. In the case of the pork frog trailer, the part that exhibits the action fish notice first: two thin triangular tails and silicone skirt. When the lure is jigged off bottom, those tails quiver and flap and the skirt flairs open. When the lure is retrieved horizontal to the bottom, the tails flutter fast.

When a bass looks at the lure, it sees the trailer's wide flat body - a nice target to pound ! Forget all the nonsense about crawfish imitation; focus on what triggers fish to strike that is unique from other lure shapes/actions.

Gooday mates!
Frank

(Thanks to all for you patience, interest, kind words and open mindedness -  things I rarely see on U.S. forums. Bet they voted for Trump.)


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hooknose View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hooknose Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Mar 2021 at 8:21pm
Cool 😃👍
Cheers Steve R  !!
MAN I LOVE FISHING ! ! !
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puglee62 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Mar 2021 at 11:34am
spot on with the theory mate could'nt agree moreThumbs Up.Those trailers look good too thanks for sharing.Body filler used in car panelbeating is good for molds tooWink
that's no how ye make porridge!
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senkosam View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote senkosam Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Mar 2021 at 11:20am
"Body filler used in car panelbeating is good for molds too"

Easily available?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Mar 2021 at 6:04pm
Originally posted by senkosam senkosam wrote:

"Body filler used in car panelbeating is good for molds too"

Easily available?
should be,its easy to get here through car accesorry places ,anywhere that sells car touch up paint would have bodyfiller,i think its called "Bondo" in the US
that's no how ye make porridge!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Mar 2021 at 6:11pm
This guys making sinker molds but its the same process for lures
that's no how ye make porridge!
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