Salt

Jethro Baits - The Story of Salt

Salt is a common, but misunderstood, ingredient in Soft Plastic Baits. Here's the Jethro Baits take on Salt, how we use it, and how it will affect your fishing.

Types of Salt:

There are many types of Salt. The two most often used in the production of Soft Plastic Baits are Flour Salt and Granular Salt. Each has different characteristics.

Flour Salt is a very fine powdered Salt. It adds density to the Bait, increases the sink rate of the Bait, clouds the color of the Bait, and masks human scents. Flour Salt is not visible to the human eye and has little affect on the texture of the finished Bait. This is the Salt that is used in the manufacturing process for all Jethro Rubber Baits that contain Salt.

Granular Salt is a very coarse, heavy Salt. It adds density to the Bait, increases the sink rate of the Bait, and masks human scents. Granular Salt does not have the same clouding affect as Flour Salt, but does change the final color of the Bait because of its very gritty and rough texture. Granular Salt is visible to the human eye. Some companies coat their finished Baits in Granular Salt. This outer coating acts as a desiccant and absorbs oils and other moisture. This salt coating can cause the bait to be firm, with less action.

Does Salt make fish hold on longer?

There are two schools of thought on this subject. Some say yes, while others say no. We believe that Salt masks human scents, and, as a result, fish hold on to the Bait when they don't detect human scents. Salt is not an attractant. Salt will not trigger a bite. That said, the flavor of salt is closer to something from nature than processed plastic and human scent.

Our final analysis: Salt is good! But not for the reasons most Anglers generally believe.

How does Salt affect Density and Sink Rate?

Soft Plastic Baits that have no Salt are more buoyant than Soft Plastic Baits with Heavy Salt. Adding Salt increases the density of the plastic and subsequently increases the sink rate. Certain Baits, like Stick Worms, require heavy Salt to insure a moderate sink rate without adding weight. While other types of Baits, like Finesse Worms, require very little Salt. This keeps the Bait soft, lively, and buoyant, and allows the Angler to determine the sink rate by adding weight.

While a Finesse Worm with no Salt is very buoyant, it still may not float with the weight of a hook, but it will sink very slowly. If a Soft Plastic Bait Manufacturer uses too much Salt in a Finesse Worm, it will be impossible to create a slow fall, even without weight.

Why is the Salt content displayed as a range?

Salt is continuously mixed with liquid plastic before it is pumped into the Molding Machine, heated, and injected into the mold. Within any color batch, slight variations in Salt can occur from one Bait to another. These variations are small, but generally, the Salt content can vary by 1% to 3% between Baits in the same batch.

Multi-color Baits require increased heat to insure that different colors fuse together to form the final product. (Example - Black Blue Fusion) When liquid plastic is heated to higher temperatures, less Salt is retained in the final product. This means that fusion colors, or fade colors, will have slightly less salt than a solid color in the same Bait, even when they start with the same formula.

Is your Bait worth its Salt?

Know your Salt. This is one more variable that can mean the difference between catching a fish, and catching a limit. If you understand the use of Salt in your Soft Plastic Baits, you'll have the ability to control the action of your Bait and insure that the Bait stays in the targeted strike zone as long as possible.

What the Salt?

Unlike some Soft Plastic Bait Manufacturers, we've designed the Salt content in our Baits to give the Angler the most options. You determine the correct Bait based on shape, color, movement, and salt content; and then you determine the correct added weight. This allows you, the Angler, to dictate the final action instead of the Bait dictating the final action.

By increasing the buoyant nature of certain Baits, we allow the Angler to control the action from slow to fast, or from high in the water column to fishing the bottom, simply by adjusting weight. When certain Baits are produced with Heavy Salt, it reduces the Angler's options.

Jethro Baits uses five basic variations of Salt to control Bait Density, Sink Rate, and the action of our Soft Plastic Baits. Each has uniquely different characteristics that allow certain Baits to be fished using the widest range of techniques and actions.

Floating - No Salt - Tiny Foam Cells are added to the plastic base to create a Floating Bait. Adding Salt would counteract the floating effects of the Foam Cells. The Foam Cells are opaque and do not allow for bright transparent colors. Jethro Baits does not currently produce a Floating Bait, but keep watching for our NEW Floating Bait scheduled for release in the second half of 2011!

No Salt - Jethro Baits produces Flukes, Craws, and Lizards with no salt. This allows these Baits to remain super soft and buoyant with lively action. The Angler controls the sink rate of these Baits by adding weight. Claws and tails will stand up off the bottom when rigged correctly.

Ever see a Fluke with Super Salt? This increases the density of the Bait which increases the Sink Rate. Stop moving the Fluke and it heads straight for the bottom. There's nothing you can do to keep a Super Salt Fluke near the surface when you stop your retrieve. Do you want the Claws of your Crawfish Bait to stand-up off the bottom in a fighting position? That's why we don't add salt!

Light Salt - Jethro Baits produces Finesse Worms and Ribbontail Worms with Light Salt. (8% - 10%) This allows the Angler to control the Sink Rate by adding weight. Using no weight produces a very slow controlled fall. When you add weight to fish the Bait on the bottom, the tail of the worm will rise with the slightest twitch and then fall back to the bottom at a very slow speed. We could add more salt to "toughen up" these Baits, but then the Bait will have decreased action. This is not good in a Finesse Bait that needs to move with the slightest twitch of the line.

Medium Salt - Jethro Baits produces Frogs and Swimbaits with Medium Salt. (18% - 20%) These Baits have very specialized actions that require increased density. If a Frog Bait has too little Salt, it will skip across the surface and just produce a ripple. The legs of the Frog won't dig into the water and churn up and down. Salt helps give the Jethro Baits Willie Frog its' signature gurgle. Swimbaits are commonly used near the surface, but more often are used deeper in the water column. The slightly increased density, from added salt, keeps the Swimbait tail from skipping on the surface and insures the bait will sink to the desired depth in the water column.

Heavy Salt - Jethro Baits produces Stick Baits (Senko Style Baits) with Heavy Salt. (35% - 45%) This allows Stick Baits to fall to the bottom, at a moderate speed, with a tight wiggle, without adding weight. Weight can be added for deep water or Flippin applications, but generally Stick Baits are used without weights when fished Texas Style or Wacky Style in normal "do-nothing" situations.

Our conclusion?

Salt content is as important as the shape and color of your bait. Consider you most productive fishing techniques, and choose the bait that will show the most desired action, and stays in the targeted strike zone the longest based on Salt content. This could be the difference between catching a fish and Winning the Tournament!

Look for the Jethro Baits Salt Content on the label of all new Baits beginning in Q2 of 2011!