How to Make a Baitfish Mold

Many commercial baitfish molds exist on the market, but it is easy enough to create your own. Homemade baitfish molds allow you to design creative baits, as well as produce baits on a budget. Using simple designs helps you learn the basics before you move on to more complex molds. Use or modify existing baits, or make original designs out of clay. Once the mold is finished and you are ready to create baits, look for environmentally friendly liquid plastics. These plastics decompose quickly and lessen the negative impacts of plastic baits on the fishery.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

Pie tins
Plaster of paris
Modeling clay
Vegetable oil
Epoxy
Petroleum jelly or vegetable oil

Step 1

Design bait out of clay and harden. Or, use one of your favorite commercial plastic baits as the model.

Step 2

Coat hardened clay bait with vegetable oil or petroleum jelly to prevent it from sticking to the mold.

Step 3

Mix water with plaster of paris as advised by directions. Fill the pie tin with the mixture.

Step 4

Push the clay model into the plaster, leaving the top of the lure exposed, and leave to dry.

Step 5

Carefully remove the clay model. It should slide out easily if properly lubricated. Seal the new mold with a thin layer of epoxy to protect it from damage. Your mold is now finished and ready for liquid plastic.

Article Written By Zach Lazzari

Zach Lazzari is an outdoor writing specialist. He has experience in website writing as well as standard newspaper writing. He wrote an outdoor column for the Silver World in Lake City, Colo., and articles for Colorado-mountain-adventure.com. Lazzari is currently completing his bachelor's degree online through Arizona State University and lives in southwest Montana.

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