My DIY Projects and Great Adventures

[Micanopy]

It worked. The polish froze the wire in place, and the UV resin was applied over the eyes and around the wire, over top of polish, cured and produced a solid set. I’m sure it can be destroyed by pulling with pliers but doubt the fish will loosen it any.

So now I plan to make 1/16- 1/8 - 1/4 ounce Herring head jigs. Ordered some one inch long willow leaf blades to go on these. Will make white with the fingernail polish highlights and some Lizard heads.

Been reading again. This time about crinkle paints. There is a description of one that would have been helpful to have read when I first started. Talks about the temperature climb in the curing process. I plan to order some new powders soon. I am also going to experiment with dragging toothpicks through the paint to create streaks. Swirl patterns, etc. will all be in the works.

I am kind of sold on these eyes though. I like them. They show best against a light background of course, but it is OK to use subtleties and slight color variations as well.



Poor Jerry……she visited the dentist yesterday and her mouth is very tender. Looks like she has a headache huh ?

[Micanopy]

Bending the end of the little wire to 90 degrees yields little. Some are solid some loose. Not enough wire deep in lead. Easier to load up mold than with wire keeper wires though. i suspect a different wire is the solution. Do-It molds are usually sloppy with lots to clean up, but these heads are mostly ready to paint. Unless you are a perfectionist, then in that case go ahead and enjoy.

[DrNip]

Looking great! Just heads up on that mold. It is the reason I switched over to 95% lead 5% antimony mix. The wire insert tends to wiggle out in 100% lead or at least did for me. With the antimony it no longer did as well as other molds I modded to have insert for blades.

[Micanopy]

Gooping polish around wire and up it some definitely helps. These are ready for two layers of resin.

[Micanopy]

Looking great! Just heads up on that mold. It is the reason I switched over to 95% lead 5% antimony mix. The wire insert tends to wiggle out in 100% lead or at least did for me. With the antimony it no longer did as well as other molds I modded to have insert for blades.

I saw where you modded up the Walleye mold, and it looked great, but I would probably botch the procedure and ruin the mold.



There isn’t a lot of pressure on these wires, so it will be an easy enough fix. I am thinking longer wire, perhaps even hooked onto hook shank. Bending the wire on the 1/16th ounce leaves it so loose it falls out. Either way I am going to be unable to make lots of jigs anyways.

The amount of extension away from the plastic bait is a whole other issue. I don’t feel it is far enough away. Limits choices for blades to basically willow leaf style. I do have some very small Colorado blades that would get me by. It is just disappointing that Do-It proceeded with production knowing this issue was present. No fix since then ?

Iam excited to try to leave the blade off of one, attach a section of line to that wire, and dangle a second jig underneath. Might be nice spider rigging. That top jig would be drop shot style. Easier to manage. Maybe add a small swivel first and tie to that.

I like the overall shape of the jig head. Quite a bit of the weight is in the collar/ tail, which can be cut away. I trimmed one up and liked it. This should yield a very light jig when done to the 1/16 ounce heads. No real need for a 1/32 or 1/24 size cavity.

Lot to be learned about jigsin general. They seem so simple but there are complex forces involved. I will consider buying some antimony. I have some wheel weights I could melt down and use that “lead”. What I have is pure stuff.

[Micanopy]

Double double

[Micanopy]

Been studying this blade wire and surely a better wire design was known. Making my own seems only option. Changing my primo mix of pure lead just to suit a poorly designed accessory…..um probably not.

So thinking loop tool and then a 90 degree bend that rides downward next to hook shank. Even a short arm would hold rock solid. Design has wire ripping lead to get free.

One bend about halfway and a loop.

I could pile up powder paint to stiffen but failure still possible and I want to tie another jig on that wire. No choice really.

do-It claims they cannot fix their poor designs ever because they will infringe on someone else’s design. They manage rubber worms and round head jigs and such pretty good. I mean they don’t have to care if we like it or not. They should have easily known this was a defect in design. Their design. They could fix their design. Seven years ago, fixed it back then and I wouldn’t have ever known about it. Instead excuses about infringements.

There may even be another tackle wire that has loops and can be cut and bent to exactly fit.

I like the heads and they are very close to the shape of the Bat Jig. Enter a mixture of bladed jigs. Top spin, underspin, dangle off the back spinner. Different shapes and sizes and colors. Instead of six color enhancements per jig, seven. An extra color brought in by the blade itself. Flash, sound, vibration, and color.

Tomorrow I try again and will fish six lines behind the boat being trolled in a shallow lake. Mixture of jig styles, sizes and colors. Maybe I will find them. Most times I do not. Be pretty confident they aren’t around when I come thru an area. Gonna head out and begin on one shore, and work my way towards middle of lake, then back to the other shore. Let the light winds be my guide. Surely they are thick somewhere. Be on the big lake tomorrow. Gitchee-Gootchie.

[Slab]

Attachment 405118



The chenille is not necessary but I like to include it as the baits will seat up tight against it and the glue between it and the bait’s head provides a solid hold. This pushes the curly tail of the bait back off the hook a little. This elongation prevents the tail from fouling on the hook.


Attachment 405120

Great posts.

That chenille is also good for absorbing Slabsauce. Just sayin'

Also, don't loose wifey, she's a darling and cleans fish too. I know gators don't feed on people, but still, on the tube is OK; in the water I would say "quick in and out", IMHO. But that's just me.

Thanks for sharing.

[skiptomylu]

Not sure what lake you guys are using, but some of these places have things in them that can do damage. Of course gators are there, but there are other biting things in these lake also including snakes that can have nest of water moccasins floating along the surface so tell wife she need to look really good before going in.

Just for kicks I found something in this lake that I never knew existed, but found one trying to fill a hold behind the bulkhead with concrete I got a little too wet so let it sit half full and then went back and there to finish filling and two-towed was siting on top of the concrete. Have read their bite is second only to the snapping turtle.
Species Profile: Two-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma means) | SREL Herpetology

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[Micanopy]

So I arrived O Dark Hundred as planned. (She gets up super early on her workout days). As I drove there are a couple of spots you can look down and across at the lake. Beautiful.



The new Herring Head Underspin jigs were the deal today. Once I found some fish it was game on. Of course it was late by then and they stopped feeding.



I cleaned them. I have always done a lousy job and this was no different. Anyways she will have a little bit of blackened crappie now.

The spinner blades turned super fast but the jig sat head down, not level. The curly tail grub with the nub added was their favorite. It looked fabulous along side the boat.

I left at 11 when it started to get really hot. Wish I would have found them sooner. Locals told me them specks quit biting at 830. well all mine came after 830.