started pouring some rubber

[ThrowingTimber]

suggestions:
1. coat your masters with epoxy let cure sand smooth, re-coat sand. Then pour your silicone.
smooth master= smooth mold cavity
2. you mention going to plaster molds next. a. seal your masters as mentioned above. That will help with the smoothness of the finished baits. Once your plaster cures completely, seal the inside of the mold cavity with epoxy as the plaster is very pourous, the epoxy is going to wick right into the plaster so multiple coats may be necessary.
3. unless its essential that your baits be perfectly straight once cooled down, after you remove them from your mold (safe to touch but still warm) you can throw them in a bucket of water. The pours Ive done I try to lay them straight as possible and just let them cool that way.

[adson]

I have been suspending the hooks in the mold as I pour.
seems to work so far.

the first few I did with two colors ( pour one color, wait and then pour the other ) had a seam along the side between the colors. so I have been letting the first pour harden for 5 minutes, then heating the surface with a heat gun until the very top starts to liquify then pour the second layer. seems to solve the seam problem.

these steps won't work for a volume setup but I'm only pouring a few at a time.

if you work with plaster of paris to make a mold, consider wearing eye protection when you mix it up. I splashed some in my eye and it took a 4 days for my eye to get cleaned out.