Make Your Own Soft Bait Fishing Lures

You know you can make a better fishing lure, so why don't you make it? And when the other fishermen are asking why you're catching all the huge fish, you can sell them your lures. Or give them the lures for a gift, that would be the nice thing to do. Here's how to do make your own soft bait lures with either a soft silicone rubber or plastisol rubber.

You can either mix and match heads, bodies, and tails from a Lure Making Kit, or you can build your own shape using polymer clay, wood, or plastic. The shape is your choice, so the idea is to experiment and see what works best. The molds shown here are made with a re-usable molding material, ImPRESSive Putty. Because it's re-usable, you can make as many different lure shapes as you want. Heat the putty in the microwave for about 15 seconds and it will become soft like polymer clay. Press it around the lure shape and let it cool to solidify.

The Lure Making Kit comes with a 2 part soft rubber, but you can also use plastisol to make the soft rubber lure, whichever you like. For the 2 part soft rubber, mix the two parts together. You'll need about 1/2 oz. total for each lure depending on the shape. Before you mix the 2 parts together, add scents and colorants. You have about 2 minutes before the rubber starts to cure. It's cured in about 5 minutes total.

For the plastisol, heat it in the microwave or over the stove until it turns clear. While still hot, add colorants, scents. Pour it into the mold. Because it cools quickly, be sure to pour as fast as possible into all the crevices.