Fluke design

The photos below are of the fluke design I poured for several years.  I stopped pouring them awhile ago because I lose too many due to the tail section being so thin side to side, the belly is juuuuuust a bit too deep for a 5/0 swimbait hook and I want the nose to be a little more blunt.  I'm just tossing this up, much like the pontoon boat thread, to have conversation, feel free to spend your two cents at will, this eventually will be a saleable bait so consumer input is cool but not mandatory.  Some of you may not have seen a bait being designed, maybe this will be cool to you.  Enjoy.
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Ever think about putting a slit on the belly? Ever toy with the idea of using a spade shaped tail?

Hook slots are a pain for gravity pours, at least in my experience, I always get a bubble on one side or the other so I do not use them. That's why I'm just going to make the belly less deep. And ya, since I have to thicken the tail one way or another I was planning on some sort of a spade or something. Thanks, tonight I'll post pics of the beginning of the process.

Nice looking pours!
I agree with the suggestions that Kin has already brought up about the belly-split and a spade or paddle tail.

I look forward to seeing pictures of your next pour.

SP Dan

Looks great I remember the other ones nice work here bro.

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So I start with Firm Super Sculpey.  Sculpey in itself has a kind of rubbery texture and I'm not much of a sculptor anyway.  After warming it up in my hands I make a basic cylinder.  After that I need two things to get started, first, a flat side, this will be the bottom (for molding purposes) or back of a gravity pour bait.  So I need that clean, flat side to stick to the bottom of my mold box.  After that, I go for a basic(ish) triangle cross section a bit longer than the finished bait will be.  From here I'll fire up the oven and charge my dremel battery.  After baking it will be hard and chalky, perfect for dremeling and sanding.

Nice,, i cant wait to see the following steps

Is this a quarter pound piece of clay?

The piece shown is probably around four ounces ya. Sculpey is a bit lighter than modeling clay.

Progress pics[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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progress pics

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indexing marks

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Getting my grooves on.

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I'm going for more of a jerkbait, low profile so the paddle tail got gone.

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At this point I'm gonna hit it with a layer of lacquer and rough mold it.  From that mold I'll pour a few for Friday's fishing trip.  However that turns out will determine whether any changes are made to the design.  I'll mold an acrylic copy from the rough mold, make any changes deemed necessary or just polish it from there and make the master mold.  From the master mold I'll make multiple acrylic copies to be set up for a multi cavity production mold.

Looks great buddy.