Page 12 - Crappie NOW - January 2019

BOBBY GARLAND FACTORY TOUR

jig color. Gary Dollahon, sales and
marketing, says colors have evolved over Cool Facts
time and are a direct result of input from
fishermen. “The philosophy of adding a
new color is different for me and Chris The Baby Shad mold creates 158
(Lindenberg). I love to add colors but our baits per pour.
warehouse is full of different baits and
colors so inventory is a nightmare for
Chris. We have 91 colors of Baby Shad. It takes 36 hours to go from plastic
Each year we have about three colors in a barrel to packaged baits.
in mind to add but by the time we print
our catalog we will have six or more. The
colors are suggestions from our pro staff The #1 selling color for crappie is
and customers, but sometimes when Monkey Milk.
creating those colors for them we will
come up with something different than
what we expect but it looks great so we All Bobby Garland plastics are
add it, too.” made in the USA.
Dollahon continues, “We really
haven’t dropped colors in the Bobby
Garland line because they all sell and Key People
if we drop a color we know fishermen Chris Lindenberg, owner/president
would be ringing the phone off the wall. Gary Dollahon, sales/marketing
Our dealers don’t like so many colors but George Toalson, plant mgr/lure
they have trouble deciding which colors
not to carry.” designer
Lindenberg says, “Crappie are so Eli Smith, office mgr/inside sales/
much more color sensitive than bass, product traffic
it’s unbelievable. There is no doubt that
crappie are more selective about which
colors they’ll hit.” Contact Info
www.bobbygarlandcrappie.com
Making Baits
The following are highlights from
Lindenberg about the bait-making Five. The mold is poured with
process. plastic. Crappie molds often produce
One. Plastic arrives in drums in three over 100 baits per pour. The mold is
grades: soft; medium and hard. chilled down to where the plastic can be
Two. Lure type is decided including handled, about 30 to 50 seconds.
whether it will be a solid color, laminate Six. The plastic is pulled from the
or a front-back color. mold by hand. It’s cooled and allowed to
Three. For two-color baits, a gated harden for 24 hours.
mold is used to open the gate at the Seven. Each bait is individually
precise time to allow the two colors to picked (pulled off) the poured plastic.
run together for a front-back colored bait. Eight. Baits are packaged and
Four. The color recipe is loaded into shipped.
the tank. Pressures and temperatures Other notes: Left-over plastics can be
are checked. Plastic temperatures are ground, re-melted and used; baits are
set at 380 degrees. quality controlled three times, when they

12 Crappie NOW January 2019