Making great soft baits for pike: proven catchers!

Besides the fact that we love fishing for pike-perch with shads, I have also regularly fished for pike recently. And now the addiction set in again... I really wanted to make big soft baits! You can read how I went about this in the blog below.

It may sound strange, but making a large shad (softbait) is easier than a small one. With a small softbait everything is much more precise. The tail must be exactly straight so as not to mess up the action. With a large shad you have a little more leeway in this. Small mistakes are less likely to be punished when building a large shad. This also applies to more home-made lures (plugs, jerkbaits) but that's besides the point :)

The design and master

I'm not really into designs on paper/computer. I often use an existing shad as an example. In this case the goal was to make a 23cm shad and I chose the Ripper shad as an example. I then sculpt a coarse master from FIMO clay. I then bake this for 30 minutes. in the convection oven at 100 degrees Celsius.

Tip: To prevent the clay from sticking to your work surface, I recommend using a sheet of baking paper. I also use this baking paper in the oven.

The coarse version of a large soft bait for pike

Refine

Now I grab the dremel and sandpaper and refine the master. I'm not very precise about this. What I think is very important is that the tail is symmetrical. But you won't encounter all kinds of stripes and other frills with my home-made shads. Make sure you have a dust cover when sanding with the dremel. The clay is quite dusty. If you accidentally sanded away too much, don't worry. Simply repair with Fimo clay and then bake it again.

Make a mould

The next step is the mold. I'm making this LUPA RTV Mold Silicone. The version for soft baits. I consciously choose silicone here and not plaster. Plaster is a great material, but only if you make a mold of a flexible object; so for example an existing shad. If you are going to design soft baits yourself, then nothing beats flexible silicone.

I now glue the Master on its back on an (in my case) old breadboard. I then build a wall around this with Lego. This wall will be one cm higher than the highest point of the shad. The photos below, starring another shad, clarify a lot….

Ready for use

Just unpack!

Silicone is relatively expensive. That's why you want to use it sparingly and not make too much, as you can't store or reuse it. That's why I first measure the inside dimensions of the Lego container before I start. In the case of the 23cm shad, this was 25cm x 4cm x 4cm = 400cm3 or 400ml. By doing this I know exactly how much silicone I need to make in my measuring cup.

Finally, I seal the inner edge of the mold with Fimo Clay. This ensures that the silicone cannot leak away. Now I prepare the desired amount of silicone. To do this, I first stir the silicone thoroughly. Make sure you also go over the bottom. Some filler tends to accumulate here. After this, I pour the desired amount into a measuring cup and add 5% activator. After this has also been stirred thoroughly, the silicone is ready for use.

Mal Gieten

Careful pouring is now the motto. This way you prevent air bubbles in your mold and you get a better end result. After 6 hours the mold has hardened enough to remove the Master. This is always possible with some caution. The Master usually remains on the surface where it is pasted. This can then be removed later, using a knife.

Large Softbait Casting

After 24 hours the mold is ready for use. With the colors and glitter from us Product Range the sky really is the limit! Make it up and you can make it. Simply by mixing colors and glitter.

It is good to know that we sell two types of Plastisol. A soft variant for small dropshot shads and a medium strong variant for all kinds of pike creations. 50% soft mixed with 50% medium provides a perfect blend for all kinds of pike-perch shads. In this case we choose the medium strong version.

Freshly cast large soft baits and ready to use

The test

Of course I wanted to see what the action was like. Well, that one was just great. Beautiful waddle combined with a snake-like action!

Catches

Right on the opening day we already received a good number of strikes on the new cast large soft baits (23cm shad). A few also lingered.

The best catch came from buddy Frans. During a troll trip to Sweden he managed to catch a 112cm specimen!

112cm pike power!

Broken shad? Just melt it down!

With a bit of luck, the shad will remain intact for a long time... The first one has withstood at least 20 fish, which is really good. But then it's over...

And you know what's so nice? We can easily melt down this broken shad again. Simply separate the colors, cut them into pieces and melt them back into raw material... For another new 23shad!

For enthusiasts, we have a very nice package online to make this shad yourself. Curious? Here is the link: https://www.lureparts.nl/nl/value-pack-pouring-softbaits.html

Good luck!