painting jig heads question

[crappieseeker]

I hardly ever use painted jigheads. In the past I have caught 100 to 1 on a plain head over a painted head. However on a very few select trips when the water was extremely muddy, I fared better with painted heads. I would like to do my own painting because I think i could save alot of money this way. What paint is the best to use and where do you guys buy your paint supplies, do you get it online or at a local store? Also, I use to have to poke something through the eye to get the paint out of it, alot of times this would cause the rest of the paint to quickly peel off. Can you put something through the eye while painting it that might come out rather easily and keep from peeling the surrounding paint? What is the best method for minimizing paint peel. i know they sell little tools for taking the paint out of the eyes but do they work good and keep the paint from peeling. Like i said I dont use painted heads much so i dont know a whole lot about it, but thought about doing it as a project.

[Scott38305]

TNT Tackle Online , home of the Lit'l Nitro Bladebait I'm going to try the powder paint these folks have.
The price looks very reasonable.

[redear]

with the powder paint, some people push a hot peice of wire thru the hole, melting it instead of chipping it.

[skiptomylu]

Actually this question is way better served on the jig tying board.

Skip

[sea-sons]

I've painted thousands of jigs. Powder paint the bodys and use vinyl paint for the eyes are the way to go. A toaster oven on high is all you need for the powder paint and dip a toothpick with the end cut off in the vinyl paint works great for the eyes. Five bucks buys enough powder paint (2oz) to paint many hundreds maybe thousands of jigs. And $3.50 gets you 1oz of vinyl paint, enough for all the eyes for those jigs. Like you, I leave a natural lead finish on a lot of my jigs, but sometimes painted ones work better. I buy my supplies from Lure Craft on line. To start off, I would buy the hot pink powder paint and black vinyl paint.

[smashdn]

be mindful that you do not melt the lead off of the jighead as you are heating it up to use the powder paint. I know a guy (wink wink:rolleyes who did this a few times with some crappie slider heads. Powder paint is what i use because I just can't seem to find the black charlie brewer crappie slider heads in stock anywhere and I just don't want to pay shipping on them from sliderfishing.com

[rocket rich]

Never used a painted jig head in the last 15 or so years and caught lots of fish. i think painted head are very overated... What's the difference between black or lead color heads??? None, the jig is what's fish bite???? The other factor is ofcourse the Fisherman or Fisher person.....

[shockley32]

Powder paint is the way to go.

Brad

[stonyloam]

Powder paint is the way to go.

Brad

I agree: Fairly inexpensive, tough and lasts forever in the bottle.

I tried the flame method and other ways of heating the jigs, but found I could not control the temp very well, and was having trouble getting an even coat. Worked up a two step process that works pretty well.... for me. You can do 1 or 100 this way.

For a heat source I use an old steam iron. Clamp the iron upside down on you bench. Set the temp to linen (hottest setting) and just set the jigs on the iron (they fit nicely into the steam holes) and let them heat up for a few minutes, depending on the jig size.

When hot use needle nose to pick up by the curve of the hook (eye up) and give them a quick dip into the paint. the powder will partly melt and will stick to the jig. Give a couple of quick taps on the side of the jar to knock off excess. Hang em up to cool. They will be dull because the paint has not fully melted. When cool clean off any excess on the hook or eye (easy now but nearly impossible after curing).

Take the cooled cleaned jigs and hang them on your oven rack. Set temp to 350. Turn on, and when it hits 350 turn off and let cool down. You should now have nice shiny well cured jigs.

One note, the different colors of powder seem to melt at slightly different temperatures so you may have to play around with the initial temperature to get just the right amount of paint to stick when you dip.

Get together with some of your buddies and each buy a different color, the supply should last for years.

Good luck

[CrappieWhisperer]

I like the Pro Tec powder paint from Bass Pro Shop. It doesn't clump up to bad and gives a durable shiny coat. The flame I use is a small can of sterno that they use to keep catored meals hot by placing these cans under the dishes. I think you can buy them at Wal-Mart. I use a set of needle nose pliers to hold the eye of the jig with. This covers the eye so you don't have to clean the eye later. I heat the jig for 4 or 5 seconds over the flame and stick the jig into the powder paint then tap the jig a couple of times over the paint jar. Then reheat the jig by waving over the flame a couple of times. This helps melt the paint evenly and provides a glossy finish. I hang them over the edge of pie crust pan hook outward until I have no space left. I turn the oven on to 350 and bake them for 15 minutes. This helps harden the paint and makes the paint durable. Be careful to not over bake them the paint will settle downward with gravity. I take a commerial paint pen that you would use at work and paint eyes on the jig heads. The paint pens come in red, blue, black, white, and yellow. One jar of powder paint will last forever. I bet one jar would do a 1,000 jigs. I really think color helps..... Dad always said pink is a dominant crappie color. Chartreuse and orange are good too. My buddy likes his jigheads black. Hope this helps good luck.