'hybrid' soft plastics make use of useless lures

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senksoam
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Location: New York

'hybrid' soft plastics make use of useless lures

Post by senksoam » Tue Sep 20, 2022 10:22 pm

Over many years, I've accumulated many bags of soft plastic lures now stored and forgotten. Since I pour my own lures, those old lures became even more worthless until I started melting the ends of some and attaching them to others. Since I started doing this, the new shapes and actions from those shapes have become a hobby in itself knowing that no one sells them. many of which catch hundreds of fish.

I used to make lures for bass fishing but after many years of catching far less fish than fishing for everything, I started fishing light finesse lures. I guess I'm addicted to the soft strike regardless of the species and usually manage over 40 fish per outing which include panfish, bass and the occasional catfish. Big bass used to be the target especially when I fished tournaments, whereas now, seeing the bend of the rod from large crappie or sunfish is just as much fun.

After I attach parts of different lures together, I need to watch what they do in the water to know the action produced. Once fish are caught consistently, I know I got a keeper! On any day any of them can catch fish some better than others depending on the day.
These are the shapes that have done well:
mini sticks
cone tail grub
French Fry stick segment for the body attached to a number of tail shapes
thin tail
knob tail - looks like a light bulb
whiskers - thin tails joined to a thick segment and wacky rigged
claw
spike tail

Some of the above parts are from injection mold lures.

To attach them together, I hold each end over a candle and join the slightly melted ends together. To make sure the parts don't detach, I use a battery-powered soldering iron to smooth the seam. Done properly, they never come apart no matter how many fish are caught.

Here are a few:


This combo consists of a Mo Magic body (injected plastic lure) and a Crappie Magnet tail:
IMG_1235.JPG
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It caught many fish yesterday - 4 species - including some decent crappie.
IMG_1236.JPG
IMG_1236.JPG (62.72 KiB) Viewed 3824 times

Another resulted from the joining of a tapered tail (injection mold) and connecting it to a grub body. Even little bass jumped all over it!:
IMG_1229.JPG
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IMG_1251.JPG
IMG_1251.JPG (63.73 KiB) Viewed 3824 times
This last example consists of a (molded) thin tail added to a grub body:
IMG_1243.JPG
IMG_1243.JPG (36.12 KiB) Viewed 3824 times
Last edited by senksoam on Wed Sep 21, 2022 11:08 pm, edited 4 times in total.

senksoam
Newbie Angler
Newbie Angler
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:43 pm
Location: New York

Re: 'hybrid' soft plastics make use of useless lures

Post by senksoam » Tue Sep 20, 2022 10:39 pm

French Fry body:
mFBjOa3.jpg
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J2vho6X.jpg
J2vho6X.jpg (13.25 KiB) Viewed 3890 times
Another taper tail / worm segment body:
crappie on a large hybrid.jpg
crappie on a large hybrid.jpg (22.73 KiB) Viewed 3890 times
cat fish on cone tail.jpg
cat fish on cone tail.jpg (42.31 KiB) Viewed 3890 times
There are over a few hundred hybrid soft plastics I've discovered while watching TV in my basement workshop when I can't go fishing. At least those old lures now have some use.
Last edited by senksoam on Wed Sep 21, 2022 11:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

senksoam
Newbie Angler
Newbie Angler
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:43 pm
Location: New York

Re: 'hybrid' soft plastics make use of useless lures

Post by senksoam » Wed Sep 21, 2022 3:33 am

The other thing you can do is dip the body of a soft plastic lure in hot plastic to thicken it.
black chubby stick heavier jig.jpg
black chubby stick heavier jig.jpg (25.94 KiB) Viewed 3877 times
dark gray chubby curl tail.sunny.jpg
dark gray chubby curl tail.sunny.jpg (29.54 KiB) Viewed 3877 times
I find what's most fascinating are the large number of shape/action combinations that fish attack. Colors also. Who would think a clear plastic lure would catch as many fish as one with color?!!
clear plastic.jpg
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This one may have perch colors but I like it for no other reason except fish bite it. Of course, color brightness may enhance a lure's shape and action adding to the mystic of why fish attack unnatural objects such as lures in the first place.
French Fry segment attached to a Mo Magic mold lure's thin tail.
brigt fr fry crappie.jpg
brigt fr fry crappie.jpg (35.34 KiB) Viewed 3877 times
No match-the-hatch for me!
Attachments
IMG_1078.JPG
IMG_1078.JPG (25.61 KiB) Viewed 3876 times

kevinkunkle
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Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:22 am

Re: 'hybrid' soft plastics make use of useless lures

Post by kevinkunkle » Thu Sep 22, 2022 9:18 am

Thanks for the post.

Plastics and panfish are great.

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