By John Merwin

The weekend’s snow is melting quickly, and spring, as they say, is just around the corner. So I’m looking forward to fishing soon and thinking about what tackle and lures I want to stock up on right now.

In a nutshell: hand-poured worms. No, not nightcrawlers dumped out of a can. I mean some very special soft-plastic worms that worked so much better than anything else in my bass fishing last year.

Most soft-plastic baits are injection-molded in very large numbers. The plastic for such molding is formulated partly for toughness so the baits themselves come out of the the molding process in one piece. These are your common plastic worms, for example, which are still soft and flexible, but not as much as they might be.

Hand-poured baits are the less-common alternative. In this case, the plastic formula is poured by hand into open-sided molds. That means the finished result can be made softer and more flexible while still coming out of the mold without breaking. It also means that more and different colors can be added to different areas within the same bait than are possible with injection molding.

My favorite local bass lake has clear water and intensely pressured fish. They are just plain hard to fool. What I found last season was that a 4- or 5-inch hand-poured soft-plastic worm would outfish by far a more common 6-inch injection-molded worm. The smaller, more flexible baits definitely have more movement in the water, and better colors, too. Downsizing the bait probably helped, as did fishing with 8- or even 6-pound-test fluorocarbon line.

So now I’m stocking up on hand-pours. Berkley PowerBaits have a hand-poured line of worms. One of the best hand-poured series, and one of the originals, is Roboworm out of California. But one interesting thing about hand-pours is that the technology is simple enough so there are lots of garage baits made in limited numbers. I see many of these on the Web.

So that’s where a lot of my early-season orders are going. How about you?

Comments (13)

from Douglas wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I had never heard of this. Thanks for the intel, I'll have to check it out.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Koldkut wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

Add me to the list of do-it-yourselfers. Anyone can get started with as little as $50 to dip tube jigs and little more for some open pour molds. It puts the same smile on an anglers face that a fly guys gets from catching fish on his own flies.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from vtbluegrass wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I used to fish smallmouth on the New River in VA and once it got to be summertime a Roboworm would smoke any other plastic. Haven't tried the handpoured stuff in the salt yet because gulp works too well.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from MLH wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I never considered the difference between poured and molded. Thanks.

Reminds me of when I was a kid and set hooks in my Creepy Crawler molds. The only thing I caught off them was wrath from my mom.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from 2Poppa wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I really like this idea! Any links available John for what you're referring to?

Here is what I go with year after year ... the bite is always on!

http://www.mannsbait.com/index.asp

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from vtbasser wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

they definitely make a difference but A lot depends on the situation, sometimes they are worth it but mostly (for me at least) the regular ones are sufficient.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from johnmerwin wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

2Poppa....

Here are a couple of links, but if you Google around for hand poured worms, you'll find lots more.....
http://www.roboworm.com/products.htm
and
http://www.berkley-fishing.com/prod.php?k=298696&sk=0&p=PURMPHPCT5-BBG%2...

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from buckhunter wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I just returned from the Midwest Fly Expo in Michigan. I hoarded a number of deer hair frogs, poppers and zonkers for just a buck a piece. I'm set for the entire year and never touched my vise. Also picked up a 10ft 6 wt. Bass beware.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Dcast wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

Does anyone know what and where to buy the gelatin(for lack of better word)to make your own worms? I seen Larry Dahlberg doing it but he never said what material he used or where to get it.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Koldkut wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

Dcast, it's called Vinyl plastisol. Search it up and you will find forums of folks who use it and some good isntructional sites.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Beekeeper wrote 1 year 46 weeks ago

I remember buying hand poured worms from the local bait shop when I was a kid. The fellow that owned the shop made them right there. No fancy patterns just basic colors although he did pour some with what he called "fire tails" which were tipped with bright organge or red. He would dress the worms in Anise oil after pulling them from the mold. They were soooooft! Good baits as well. After the thougher worms became available coustomer didn't want what they called his Jelly worms...

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Panfry101 wrote 1 year 32 weeks ago

Hahaha, the only worms I buy are roboworm 4 and 5 inchers.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from news wrote 1 year 8 weeks ago

After the thougher worms became available coustomer didn't want what they called his Jelly worms, terrible news

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

from MLH wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I never considered the difference between poured and molded. Thanks.

Reminds me of when I was a kid and set hooks in my Creepy Crawler molds. The only thing I caught off them was wrath from my mom.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from johnmerwin wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

2Poppa....

Here are a couple of links, but if you Google around for hand poured worms, you'll find lots more.....
http://www.roboworm.com/products.htm
and
http://www.berkley-fishing.com/prod.php?k=298696&sk=0&p=PURMPHPCT5-BBG%2...

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Panfry101 wrote 1 year 32 weeks ago

Hahaha, the only worms I buy are roboworm 4 and 5 inchers.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Douglas wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I had never heard of this. Thanks for the intel, I'll have to check it out.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Koldkut wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

Add me to the list of do-it-yourselfers. Anyone can get started with as little as $50 to dip tube jigs and little more for some open pour molds. It puts the same smile on an anglers face that a fly guys gets from catching fish on his own flies.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from vtbluegrass wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I used to fish smallmouth on the New River in VA and once it got to be summertime a Roboworm would smoke any other plastic. Haven't tried the handpoured stuff in the salt yet because gulp works too well.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from 2Poppa wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I really like this idea! Any links available John for what you're referring to?

Here is what I go with year after year ... the bite is always on!

http://www.mannsbait.com/index.asp

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from vtbasser wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

they definitely make a difference but A lot depends on the situation, sometimes they are worth it but mostly (for me at least) the regular ones are sufficient.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from buckhunter wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

I just returned from the Midwest Fly Expo in Michigan. I hoarded a number of deer hair frogs, poppers and zonkers for just a buck a piece. I'm set for the entire year and never touched my vise. Also picked up a 10ft 6 wt. Bass beware.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Dcast wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

Does anyone know what and where to buy the gelatin(for lack of better word)to make your own worms? I seen Larry Dahlberg doing it but he never said what material he used or where to get it.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Koldkut wrote 1 year 47 weeks ago

Dcast, it's called Vinyl plastisol. Search it up and you will find forums of folks who use it and some good isntructional sites.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Beekeeper wrote 1 year 46 weeks ago

I remember buying hand poured worms from the local bait shop when I was a kid. The fellow that owned the shop made them right there. No fancy patterns just basic colors although he did pour some with what he called "fire tails" which were tipped with bright organge or red. He would dress the worms in Anise oil after pulling them from the mold. They were soooooft! Good baits as well. After the thougher worms became available coustomer didn't want what they called his Jelly worms...

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from news wrote 1 year 8 weeks ago

After the thougher worms became available coustomer didn't want what they called his Jelly worms, terrible news

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.