"Mend-It" fishing glue

[TritonGlenn]

OK my fishing brothers and sisters... I have a new product that I recently purchased, and I'm so impressed, I just have to share. I had a club member / friend of mine point me towards this link:



http://www.nationwidetackle.com/index.php?cPath=43&osCsid=bdf08a17319884b6db7ae7aac9f48705



The name of the product is called "Mend-It!", and it is unlike any glue I've ever seen or used in the past. The advertisement states "A non-sticky, no mess repair solution for all soft plastic baits". The REALLY neat thing about it - it's not actually a regular glue - it works off of a chemical reaction. I don't know what exactly is in it, but I know it contains MEK and Acetone, amoungst other things. If you get it on your hands.... it won't glue them together! ONLY PLASTIC!



If you click on the Mend-It picture, and go to the bottom of the page, there is a link to a video. My friend came over to my house with his bottle and two Senko's, and pretty much did the same thing that the guy in the video did. Worked great!



Only one drawback that I can see - it takes a bit longer to dry than superglue type products, but it leaves the repaired lure absolutely as soft as the original. I've seen lots of soft-plastic repair glues CLAIM to be able to do that - but I've never tested one myself that lived up to that claim... and I believe I've tried every one on the market available today. So it's one of those things you use when you have a bunch of lures on the bottom of your boat, all torn up. "Mend" them, and lay them on something to dry for a minute or two (depending on if it's hot or cold outside - cold takes about 2 to 3 minutes) while you keep fishing.



Just thought you all might be interested. I ordered some off of Ebay the other day, and got my own bottle today. I'm impressed so far.



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Dan J.]

Works great on the Bass-Trix, Mission Fish and the like, super soft swim baits. The price of one bottle will pay for itself when it reapairs the first handfull of Bass-Trix. IMHO



FWIW - I've had great success over the years with clear RTV and a toothpick on high end soft swim baits. Save the dead ones at the end of the day and while sitting around the house squirt some clear marine RTV onto a paper plate, then take a toothpick and fill in the cracks, slashes and gouges. By the next morning they are ready for touch up with your favorite magic marker.



I know I sound cheap, but it breaks up some boredom!

 

[TritonGlenn]

Well, just tonight, I started adding up what I saved in one "mending" session. I had a rather large pile of soft plastics in a bag in my garage. As I fished all year long, I'd take the "dead" ones and throw them in a bag to take home. Some I knew I could fix with the other glues I had, or a cauterizing gun, which I have used also. Some, I knew were beyond repair, but my little boy likes to play with them, so I take them home for him to rip apart.



So I started seperating all the torn up baits I had in there. After I sorted them, I decided to start with one of my favorite lures to fish - soft plastic frogs. One that I've enjoyed lately is the Stanley Ribbit - $3 for a bag of 5, most places. I had quite a few bags worth torn up in there. So, putting 5 repaired baits back in each bag, times 3 bags, I'm at $9 worth of lures "saved" already. At $12 for the bottle of Mend-It, I'm already 3/4 of the way at "recouping the cost" of the glue! And I hadn't even started on the huge pile of Senko's that I had sitting there! :blink: Safe to say, the bottle has already paid for itself tonight - and then some. I looked at the bottle's level before I started, and again after I was done. It doesn't even look like I put a dent in it!



My most impressive test of the night - I cut two broken Senko's in half, saving the best part of each damaged-beyond-repair bait (each had huge chunks missing out of the front of them). I glued them together. Waited a good 5 minutes for this large "repair", as I'm actually not "mending" two things here - I'm "splicing". I stretched it until it was at what I would consider a normal Senkos breaking point - still holding strong! I wanted to take a picture of it with my camera while I was stretching it, but I need another pair of hands to stretch and click at the same time! :wacko:



Great stuff!



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Is it as good as Pro Soft Bait Glue?



TOXIC

 

[TritonGlenn]

Tox,

I'm not sure if you remember my little "incident" with Pro Soft Bait Glue a while back (had to do with the pin tip sticking... and instead of me using my pliers, I used my teeth to pull it out while applying pressure to the bottle.... and when the tip finally did come out and I squirted the Pro Soft Bait Glue onto my lips, fingers, boat carpet, lures, shirt, fiberglass, etc, etc, etc....)... but that was one of my main driving factors into finding something "different". :lol:



I don't mean to offend anyone using the Pro Soft Bait Glue - especially Gunny. I know he is sponsored by the company, and likes the stuff. But the claims they make about that stuff staying soft on the bait are just not... well... lets just say their definition of "soft" and my definition of "soft" must not be the same thing. When you use Mend-It, you can roll the repaired area in your hand, and cannot feel anything besides soft plastic. If you weren't looking right at the repair line, you probably could not tell by feel where the tear ever was. In fact, I repaired a Green Pumpkin floating worm that had a rip in it, and when it dried, you couldn't tell at all that the bait ever had damage to it. It looked like a brand new bait. This stuff doesn't really "glue" plastic - it kinda creates a chemical reaction that causes the soft plastic to gel for a minute or so, and when the "gel" becomes harder, it is the same consistancy as the surrounding plastic. Does that make any sense? I'm going to bring it with me when I see you next. You are more than welcome to use my bottle to fix anything you want to. I think you will be impressed!



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Hey Glenn, it come in small packages or big ones? I liek the small ones myself as I do not use enough and the mess hardens up

 

[TritonGlenn]

Carlos,

It's a small bottle. Unlike "superglue" type glues, I don't think this stuff can harden up. It has to meet with plastic in order for the chemical to start working. However, since it has Acetone and MEK in it, I'm sure it can probably evaporate if you leave the top off for extended periods of time.



Did you see my response to your question regarding the reel seats on the other post? I'd be happy to show you!



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Glenn,

thanks! might take you up on the offer! I like the seats like that...too bad they can not be retrofitted!!!!

 

[TritonGlenn]

"too bad they can not be retrofitted"



Carlos,



.... yes they can! It takes a bit of work to do, as you have to strip the guides off the rod, and SLOWLY remove the old reel seat, but I've done several dozen of them - retrofits that is. I've had friends break reel seats, or just didn't like what they had on there, so I've replaced them.



I've got a friend that has VERY large hands. He gets bigger reels than most people use, as his hands can wrap completely around a low profile style reel. For years, he has used the older Abu Garcia round reels (I hopped those up too - replaced bushing with bearings for him)... but the reel seats didn't quite "fit". So I removed several of them and replaced with the larger size reel seats.



There is so much you can do to a rod to make it "fit" you right. The best thing about replacing a reel seat is that since you have to take the guides off to put the new one on... you can take that time to line up the spine correctly before you put the new reel seat and guides back on! Recently, rod companies have started doing it a little bit better, but I would estimate that 75% or so of "factory" produced rods don't have the blank's spine lined up correctly. It makes a HUGE difference in some rods, and at the very least, you will see some difference if it was off and then fixed.



Just let me know if you need anything done, or would like to come over and watch me do one, or two, or three.... (and feel free to bring over a few of yours if you would like "retrofits").



Now is a great time of year to get these done. Come March... things are going to get a bit more tight for me. Job searching for the first time in 21 years - Navy retirement September 30th of this year!



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Eric Aasen]

I've also been using Mend-It on my bag-o-dead baits. Can't tell you how many I've repaired and are ready to be put back into service. Some funky colors were created by all the baits sitting together in the hot garage. Bet they still work though. For swimbaits this stuff is a necessity. I bought some Basstrix knock-offs and had a problem rigging them with a 6/0 weighted hook. Just pulled the hook out, repaired all the holes and tears and re-rigged the hook. One thing though, DO NOT pull the edges of the tear away from each other to get more Mend-It in there! This stuff actually dissolves the plastic and the hole gets much bigger. You just need to smear the Mend-It over the tear and hold it for abit. Enough gets down into the hole to weld it together. It's good stuff and seems like one bottle will last a long time.



NoCAL

 

[JIM SHINN]

If you want to purchase a bottle, go to: www.nationwidetackle.com

Chuck will hook you up w/ a bottle!!

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Glenn,

Thanks for the offer I have a couple that can be used as an emperiment!



CONGRATS on the retirement man...you will really liek it! I mean, it not like you do not have to wrok, it is jsut second career time, but man, no duty, no brig visits, no late night phone calls (no ideas Hammer, neeley, Mini, Mac!)...you know what I mean.....



Thanks!



Carlos

 

[TritonGlenn]

Carlos,

I'm looking forward to it - I really am. Truely. Really. No joking.... Uhhh... I think. :blink:



Actually, I've tried to be as upbeat about this as possible, but I am truely scared out of my mind.



Yes, the service has had it's ups and downs, just like most any job. But I can honestly say that I've enjoyed my 21 years, and I do not regret one minute of it - particularly because of the friends I've made, and the job security I've enjoyed. I've seen places that others only dream about. I've also been to places that you would rather not think about - but I've been able to see first hand how others live around the world, and that makes me all the more thankful that I live where I do - in the good ol' USA.



....But now I have to go find a "job" - one that I can be layed-off from if the company cuts back. That thought is just terrifying me. I'm moving to a place that I know absolutely "0" people besides my wife and son. That is just as terrifying to me.



But you also mentioned "no duty".... HEY! I might just be able to enjoy this after all! :lol:



Anytime you would like to get together, I'd be happy to walk you through that entire process. I have some seats here if you would like for me to prep some for you also. Just let me know whatever would be convenient for you, and I'll make arrangements.



All the best,

Glenn