Melting rubber lures.

[Antony]

Have any of you lads ever had a random rubber lure that has actually melted ? years ago I used to do a bit of cod fishing up at Whitby and one year I was getting my tackle ready for a wrecking trip and noticed that a bunch of red rubber muppets had somehow melted through two tiers of my plastic tackle box and ended up a slimy blob at the bottom of the box ? I haven’t seen anything like it since.Has it ever happened to any of your shads,lures,jellies ect ?

[Drew]

I bought three packs of zman lures last spring. Put them in a nice shiny new lure box. Week later got the gear out the boot, took the lure box out my bag only to find them congealed into one big blob. Doh.

[Antony]

Drew I wonder if it’s because we took them out their original packets and the fresh air had a reaction to them ? I also read somewhere that you should never mix soft rubber lures with hard plastic plugs,but I haven’t had any problems with mine so far.

[Will Smith]

It is a well known fact guys which seems to have passed you by somehow, that some soft plastic lures do have a melting/fusing effect on certain types of tackle boxes, as well as some hard plastic lures.
Try using the softer, more pliable boxes to store your SPs in, and keep them separate and away from your hardbaits.

Will.

[Antony]

Thanks Will,I will split them up and get some softer plastic boxes for the rubber ones Much appreciated mate.

[Martin Ward P.A.C.]

Many years back the old Lure Shack started making their Suzie Suckers with System X and I one trip to Ireland I mixed around 10 with a similar number of Bull and Magnum Dawgs.....You guessed it two weeks later when I got around to sorting out the mess from the last day dash the Suckers won 10-0. They were still useable but the Dawgs were a mess.

[Gary littleborough]

Yep!! Sometimes they melt. But the only problems I have had have been with Korum snapper Reggie’s, and gonks, the Ned sticks 5 and 7.5cm ones have been great. For some reason it just happens!? Some do some don’t. Someone said about keeping in the packages. Best way Definatly. Or a sleeve wallet. But keep them in the plastic inners of the packaging. Seems to be when there all piled up. Too warm doesn’t help either. If there sticky when u come to use one, submerge it in water and work it between your fingers. That helps em enough to be used. Hop some of this speel helps. Btw. Never had much luck on my local canals with Ned fishing.! And god knows I know the ins and outs of it having been trying different techniques…

[gus666]

I bought three packs of zman lures last spring. Put them in a nice shiny new lure box. Week later got the gear out the boot, took the lure box out my bag only to find them congealed into one big blob. Doh.

Z Man lures are all like that mate. Do NOT mix with any other plastic of any kind, whether lure or tackle box.
Keep them in their original packets-they have ziplok type seals on them plus, if you look closely, the packets have pre punched holes in them. This is to fit them into a Z Man D ring type wallet which you can buy. Z Man are very supple but strong with it and I believe this mix in the plastic is what causes them to react with other plastics.

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[Jack H]

I’ve had some soft lures react with the boxes there stored in, leaving a sticky oily residue. I have also had real trouble with soft lures bleeding there colour when mixed with others. Going forward, all hard lures are stored in a really useful box, and all soft lures go in a large Plano.

Jack

[gus666]

I’ve had some soft lures react with the boxes there stored in, leaving a sticky oily residue. I have also had real trouble with soft lures bleeding there colour when mixed with others. Going forward, all hard lures are stored in a really useful box, and all soft lures go in a large Plano.

Jack

Yes mate, it's not just Z Man that react with some other plastics.
What I did notice when it first happened to me was that I'd put the lures into a 1970s tackle box and they melted. I put the remains in a modern box and they were fine.
I reckon it was the old box. I think modern tackle boxes are manufactured with rubber lures in mind, whereas in the 70s they weren't so common.

[Ratty46]

as Gus said, if they come in a clear wallet, keep tham in that only.

alot of lures will bleed colours if you mix them, it can be a good way to make a unique colour!

most SP lures, bar those that come in clear resealable wallets, wont melt but will bleed colours, some worse than others.

the oily residue, i found is more with lures that have been 'scented' like real eels, and Gunki Gbumps, i leave them on some paper towl for bit or greasepaper, to take most of it off, as i hate it!

[Steve Dennington]

I think it was one of the Lure Shack "Formula X" baits that I learned this lesson with. What a bloody mess that created with the plastisol baits!

[Jack H]

as Gus said, if they come in a clear wallet, keep tham in that only.

alot of lures will bleed colours if you mix them, it can be a good way to make a unique colour!

most SP lures, bar those that come in clear resealable wallets, wont melt but will bleed colours, some worse than others.

the oily residue, i found is more with lures that have been 'scented' like real eels, and Gunki Gbumps, i leave them on some paper towl for bit or greasepaper, to take most of it off, as i hate it!

The only gunki soft lures I’ve owned were all oily to touch and stank of aniseed. No idea what they coat them in, but did smell nice

Jack

[Jack H]

I’ve had some soft lures react with the boxes there stored in, leaving a sticky oily residue. I have also had real trouble with soft lures bleeding there colour when mixed with others. Going forward, all hard lures are stored in a really useful box, and all soft lures go in a large Plano.

Jack

Yes mate, it's not just Z Man that react with some other plastics.
What I did notice when it first happened to me was that I'd put the lures into a 1970s tackle box and they melted. I put the remains in a modern box and they were fine.
I reckon it was the old box. I think modern tackle boxes are manufactured with rubber lures in mind, whereas in the 70s they weren't so common.

also had trouble with non fishing boxes like tool boxes. From now on I think I’ll be sticking to Plano when the time comes to replace my current boxes.

Jack

[Ian Crook]

Most traditional soft plastics are manufactured using plastisol or latex and are pretty inert, many of the newer buoyant lures like Z Man are made using TPR (Thermoplastic Rubber) or TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer), they are very stretchy and should be kept separate in their retail packets