Frequently Asked Questions
These are the questions that actually land in my inbox, answered the way I’d answer them at the ramp. If yours isn’t here, ask it on the contact page and it’ll probably end up on this page afterwards.
Shipping and delivery in Canada
How long will my order take to arrive?
Baits leave here in one to two business days, often the same evening, because packing happens once a pour has cooled. After that it’s Canada Post: two to five business days to most of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, and up to a week or more for BC, the Prairies, Newfoundland and anywhere north. Holiday weeks add days to that, and no shipper in the country is honest with you about it.
How much is shipping, and how do I get it free?
Flat $9.99 anywhere in Canada, and free once the order passes $50. The threshold is on the cart total before shipping, so if you’re sitting at $44 it’s usually cheaper to add another pack than to pay the flat rate.
Do you ship to the United States?
Not yet. Canada only for now — cross-border paperwork on a hand-made product is a project of its own, and I’d rather do one country properly than two badly. If you’re in the US and want a heads-up when that changes, send a note through the contact page and I’ll keep the address.
Do I get a tracking number?
Yes. You’ll get an email with the tracking number when the label is printed, which is usually the night before the parcel actually moves. If tracking sits still for three or four days that’s normally a missed scan rather than a lost package, but message me with your order number and I’ll chase it.
How the baits are made
What does “hand-poured” actually mean?
It means the plastic is heated, coloured and poured into open moulds by hand, a few dozen baits at a time, instead of being injected by a machine running thousands an hour. Pouring by hand lets me run softer plastic, a heavier salt load and more flake than an injection run tolerates, and it means somebody looks at every single bait before it goes in a bag. The trade is honest: it’s slow, and a batch is a batch.
Are the baits salted and scented?
Salted, yes — the finesse baits carry a heavy salt load so they fall at a steady, level rate and fish hold on that extra half second before they spit it. There’s no scent baked in, because bottled scent goes flat sitting on a shelf for six months. Add your own gel or dip the day you fish; this plastic takes it fine and doesn’t get greasy.
How many baits come in a pack?
It depends on the bait. Small finesse profiles come more to a bag, while 4- and 5-inch craws, creatures and swimbaits come fewer, because there’s several times the plastic in each one. The exact count is on every product page beside the price, so you never have to guess.
Why do the colours vary from batch to batch?
Because they’re mixed by hand, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. A green pumpkin poured in one batch can land a shade darker than the next, flake settles differently in the pot, and your screen brightness does the rest. It’s cosmetic — no fish has ever complained — but if you hit a batch you really like, buy two while it’s there.
Will they tear up after one fish?
Soft plastic is a consumable, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something hard. These are poured on the soft side because soft gets bit, so expect several fish out of a ned bait and more than that from a texas-rigged craw. Rig a stick bait on an O-ring for wacky work and you’ll roughly triple its life. Every new bait gets tank-tested before it ships, so what shows up in your box is what I’d tie on myself.
Rigging and choosing a bait
What hook size should I use?
For ned-style baits, a 1/10 oz mushroom head with a #1 or 1/0 hook covers most water, and 1/6 oz when there’s wind or current. Drop shot and finesse worms want a #1 or #2 octopus hook, a 4-inch craw texas-rigged wants a 3/0 EWG, and a 5-inch stick fished wacky wants a #1 weedless wacky hook. If the plastic bunches or the gap looks crowded, go up a size — a hook that’s too small costs you fish you’ll never even know about.
Which bait should I pick for the fish I’m chasing?
Start on the species page for whatever you’re after: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleye, crappie and striped bass each have their own, with the baits built for them. The broad rules: natural greens and shad patterns in clear water, black/blue or june bug when it’s stained or post-frontal, smaller profiles on pressured water and around dock posts. Still stuck? Tell me the water type and I’ll point you at two baits instead of ten.
Do you make anything for pike and muskie?
Yes — bigger, thicker profiles for northern pike and muskie, mostly swimbaits and jig trailers rather than finesse stuff. Fair warning: teeth are teeth, and no soft plastic comes back from a good pike untouched. Run a fluorocarbon or wire leader, expect to lose a few along weed edges, and stock up accordingly.
Can I fish them in cold, stained water?
Yes, and that’s where the darker colours earn their keep — black/blue and june bug hold a solid silhouette when visibility drops to a foot. Cold water mostly changes your retrieve rather than your bait: slow it down, use longer pauses, and expect the bite to feel like weight rather than a thump. Soft plastic stays soft in cold water, which is a real advantage over harder factory baits in early spring.
Storing them
Can I keep them in the same bag as my other soft plastics?
No, and this one genuinely matters. Different brands and plastic types use different plastisol and softener blends, and left touching in a box they’ll bleed colour into each other and eventually weld into one unusable lump. A hot truck cab or a boat locker in July makes it happen in days rather than months. Keep each pack in its own bag, one bait type per compartment, and out of direct sun — UV fades colour and turns plastic greasy over a season.
Custom colours, shops and returns
Can I order a custom colour?
Yes, and it’s the best part of the job. Send the bait you want it in, the water you fish, and either a colour name or a photo of something close — “watermelon red with a heavier gold flake” or “smoke purple flake but darker” gives me something real to work from. I’ll tell you straight whether it pours well, what the minimum is, and how long it’ll take.
Do you sell wholesale to tackle shops?
Yes, to Canadian shops, marinas and guides. Message me through the contact page with the shop name, where you are, and the species your customers actually fish, and I’ll come back with pricing and samples. Small first orders are welcome — ten shops selling steadily beats one big order sitting on a peg.
What if something’s wrong with my order?
Tell me, with your order number and a photo if there’s anything to see. Wrong item, short count or damage in the mail gets replaced or refunded, with no argument and no restocking fee. Opened and fished packs I can’t take back, because I can’t resell them — but if a bait failed in a way that wasn’t the fish’s doing, I still want to hear about it, since that’s how the next batch gets better.
Still stuck?
Ask on the contact page — it’s one person reading, so give it a day. Longer answers on rigging, colour choice and reading water are in the journal, and everything currently poured and in stock is in the shop.