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Thread: My DIY Projects and Great Adventures

  1. #1
    Micanopy's Avatar
    Micanopy is offline Crappie.com 1K Star General * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Default My DIY Projects and Great Adventures


    I plan to share my stories along with my creations in one thread. What will follow will be of mild to no interest for the vast majority of folks. Those I refer to as normals. Welcome aboard and kindly offer your musings as I traipse through the process of becoming a crappie fisherman.



    So….I am mostly finished up with my curly tail jig heads. Three sizes- 1/16- 1/8- 1/4 ounce sizes, all made with a #1 Eagle Claw Black Chrome sickle hook.

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    The process of making these jigs takes a while. The steps I take and in the order in which I do them:

    Pouring the lead
    Trimming the lead
    Powder painting the white under base and then the UV/clear over top
    Baking the powder paint
    Gluing eyes on
    Sealing eyes with two top coats of UV resin
    Curing in the Sun for a day
    Wrapping thread base
    Adding chenille
    Applying fingernail polish highlights
    Sharpening hooks
    Carefully gluing on the curly tail baits

    These jigs have 7 color enhancements:
    White paint
    UV reflective paint
    Neon polish
    Eyes
    Chenille
    Bait body
    Bait tail

    The three fingernail polishes are a very bright orange, an incredibly bright yellow and a lovely monster green. I had to go with “Atomic Yellow” as soon as I saw it. Bright when wet super bright when dry. These polishes are also UV reflective to a high degree. So the white glows a beautiful blue, and the polishes yellow, green, or orange, and the chenilles add what they have. Some are actually UV reflective some not. Many of the plastic baits also offer UV enhancements whether the package says so or not. This UV reflectivity offers and advantage to visibility in water and early in the morning before the Sun rises, they glow all on their own.

    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.

    The thread wrap is tightly wrapped down, in normal fashion, then a more open series of wraps going back up. Corkscrew like. This provides a rough surface for the glue to secure the inside of the bait. I use round no wax thread. Once the glue is dried the baits are on solidly for multiple fish. I have caught multiples on one bait with no sign of injury. Not sure how long they will last but it will be simple enough to replace a bait and resharpen the hook.

    I place the jig in the vice for sharpening. Just a light touch up on the point. Done correctly it turns a hook that can barely scratch your fingernail into on that digs in when you slide it across. I think this makes only a small difference, but one well worth the effort.

    I added spinners to about a dozen of these, but have a new mold coming next week that will remove any need to do this oddball modification stuff anymore. That mold will make jigs with a special wire eyelet for attaching the swivel and blade. Cannot wait to get those Herring Head Under spin jigs in my grubby paws.


    Yesterday the wife and I went sea side down at a popular lake. Very popular lake. As in wait to launch, wait to land the boat popular. Wake boats, ski boats, bass boats, pleasure craft, tube riders, and a few very brave fishermen in small jon boats. Our boat rocked the entire time from wakes. It was a tad bit windy but the water was only a mild chop. We had testing to do.

    So I tried out my umbrella chair (DIY using PVC) and I must say it worked pretty good. After playing with it though I think I will order the Millinium chair and umbrella stand thingie. The umbrella was well out of my way but the seat had me hunched forward. I was able to spin around and could not really notice the umbrella following my movements. I was able to turn the seat to get shade without regard to boat direction. Not a perfect solution but shade is shade and even a short break from the Sun’s intensity is nice.

    Have you ever pumped up a large tube ? That pump kicked my butt. I won, but at a cost. She loved the stupid tube thingie and preferred floating on it vs. lying on the deck on top of the bedding I had provided before. She would just roll off when she got hot, and she did that a bunch. Oh sure I drug her about like everybody else does, but she really preferred to just kind of nap on it and work on her tan. I was fishing of course and so the boat was moving and this provided somewhat of a rotisserie effect. A very effective effect because she got some color.

    She likes to call out for more bubble water because I fetch like a really good boy.

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    She was a member of the synchronized swimming team at one point and is a pretty good swimmer. We wear our life vests the entire time, except when she is lounging on her raft. I feel comfortable her tanning without it.

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    She said she does not like visors….but I made her wear her Crappie.Com visor.

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    We didn’t catch any fish. Too hot I imagine. Still it is hard to beat being in a boat with a beautiful lady that is giggling and having fun.

    So I pulled some of my latest jig creations anyways even though I knew chances were near nill out in the middle of the lake. Didn’t want her too close to shore where gators hang out. Yes they can be anywhere, but I suspect if it was really dangerous we would hear about people being eaten more often.

    Today we go again, only this time to a more quiet lake. There we will drift around some and eat snacks and pour water over our heads and hide under the umbrella chair. This lake is not well known for swimming but we will be far far away from shore so she can float some more. Probably be a quick trip in light of the amount of Sun she got yesterday. She kept trying to lure me in but I don’t have a ladder on the boat…YET. Guess it is kind of a safety feature.

    This new lake is one we only quickly visited. The locals say it is a great lake to catch fish and that the water helps them to taste a little better. We just want to explore and see what there is to see. I want tuna fish sandwiches today and something else, just not sure what. I buy the most expensive tuna in the can they got, add as little mayo as I can get by with, finely chopped onion, and a dash of sweet pickle relish, with cheese and tomato slices. She will want her usual……dumb old turkey slices on rye with mayo, lettuce and tomato.

    Anyways got run and get started loading the old boat. I will take more pictures of her today so don’t worry OK.
    Maybe they will bite this one……
    Likes MCG1, S10CHEVY, Slab, snake River, Slimjim1 LIKED above post

  2. #2
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    I keep my jig making much more simple but are not as artistic as yours.
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  3. #3
    MCG1 is offline Crappie.com 2K Star General * Crappie.com Supporter
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    What brand of polish? Thanks for all the info.
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    Default My DIY Projects and Great Adventures

    The names are “NeonPop Orange”, “Neon Green”, and “Atomic Yellow”. I add them as an extra color enhancement. Easy enough.

    I have finished 100 jigs for use with curly tail grubs. When I get my new mold I will start making spinners.



    We went for a boat ride yesterday at Lake Lochloosa. The lake is beautiful with cypress trees surrounding the shoreline and lily pads in the shallows. This lake has tannic stained water and is a few feet deeper than it’s neighbors. We arrived at about 830am and there were lots of trailers already there. The ramp was nice and the water was high because you had to wade through it to get out on the dock.

    We trolled some but no fish. I did manage to lose the curly tail on a BG Stroll’R. She mostly wanted to just be trolled behind the boat.

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    Makes me nervous thinking about a large dragon snatching her from her perch. I keep her in close so as not to be noticed, but still makes me nervous. She made me take her through the lily pads and she was croaking as if a frog. Every so often she would want to swim so I would drive out into the middle of the lake. We are able to do both, her trolling and my trolling at the same time.

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    It is a lot of fun to have a nice day on the water. When she was in need of escaping the Sun we headed back in. It was about 100pm or so. We motored up and there was a boat ahead of us. The man was tied to the floating dock, so we tied on the other side. There are two ramps there. So I was getting tied up and that was when about five boats pulled in and they slid up onto the shoreline. I walked to my truck and one of these dudes kind of blocks my progress. Wasn’t sure what was happening at first. In a minute I figured out that he was blocking me so that all those others could get in front of me.

    My lady is a passive soul. You can cut in front of her in any line and she will not say a word. I don’t think she even cares to get upset. I am different. I didn’t want to ruin her day so I bit my tongue. Then I saw where instead of pulling forward after trailering, they were parking and stowing gear and glad handing one another. That was it. I went over to that group of jerks and started in. One glared his eyes upon me and I was thrilled to see that. It was so hot and they needed beating so bad. He got in his truck and drove off, which is the only thing that saved me from jail. Bunch of rude jerks. It was like a game they play.

    At other ramps these issues are rare and usually over quickly. I could see she was concerned and getting upset so we talked and decided we didn’t need to come back to that lake again. I saw their boats anchored out near the ramp area and wondered why they all came in at once. Now I know. It is a test…

    I did test the umbrella chair so more and don’t like it. I moved the umbrella over to the center console and think that is the best place. I can escape the Sun and do just fine there.

    I forgot the Slab Sauce. Left my AR 15 at the house, too. The tunafish sandwiches were good. Got home and took it easy. Great day on the water.
    Last edited by Slab; 07-14-2021 at 08:41 PM.
    Maybe they will bite this one……
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  5. #5
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    I recently tried Bobby Garland Stroll’Rs and they really seemed to do the trick for long line trolling. Of course they are a bit pricy. I had issues with some of them separating at the color line. Tail coming off as the plastic appears to be partially ripped there. My guess….rough handling during the extraction from the mold. Because some are torn some not.

    So enter the Fast Food of the Crappie Nation….the Curly Tail Grub.

    I am going to experiment with these devils. Cheap as chips.

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    I hate to be cheap, but what if I sacrificed a grub body to make little disks that were glued onto the curly tail ? Would that make me a Stroll’R ?

    So look closely. You see the rigged BG Stroll’R, then above that is a regular Curly Tail Grub, Then above that one is one with a segment of grub body glued on the tip. I suspect the originator of the Stroll’R did something like this with a grub, because it just seems so to me.

    I was thinking Living Rubber legs might make it interesting. I already have the jig heads ready to go. Finished sharpening the hooks so now all done. Just need to add plastic bodies. I suspect some will appear like magic very soon. I’ll use those. I mean when they get here.

    Top far right new jig head for me. Do-It’s Herring Head with Under spin. Pictured is the 1/8th ounce version. Has a collar where I will be tying chenille as the grub sits far too forward for that tail not to foul. Too much of the grub body impaled onto the hook shank. Lot to learn and discover about this mold. Already my hands down favorite. The Bat Jig is awesome but this jig is awesomer. The head is thinner than the Bat Jig.

    I had ordered some blades but now I see they are way to large and will likely bang about instead of spin freely. I have other blades and plan to dial in something eventually. Largest I can get away with fashion.

    Ordered some ball bearing swivels size#0, with split rings on each end. I could attach one split ring into the loop of the wire extension, or remove that split ring and attach swivel straight onto wire, leaving the back split ring to attach blade. This would push everything forward and that might be helpful.

    I am pretty sure that curly tail grubs on spinner jigs is gonna be solid footing for me as I learn to find the fish. I have made spinner jigs where swivel comes straight out the back, and also out at an angle from the neck of the jig, but these will be straight ahead noting in the way to steal water, or inhibit the swivel from spinning. They should spin easily, smoothly and reliably. These jigs were new in 2016, following a BassMasters Classic victory using a similar jig with a plastic bait. They claim the blade gives that extra bit of encouragement to bite.

    I am happy that the mold pours nicely without having to smoke it with a candle. I have about a dozen or so aluminum molds for lead pouring and I have yet to smoke any of them. If I have issues it is with the one that I got second hand that had been smoked. Some weights stick and need pulled like teeth.

    I want this Herring Head jig to be my go-to jig head. Pour it as a spinner, pour it without the wire for a regular jig. Six cavities 1/16 - 1/4 ounces. Nice eye socket. The head does not balance itself when on string, rather dips drastically to the plastic bait end. Not a huge issue for me trolling though.

    I can tie my main line to the top jig’s hook eye, then run line from the wire extension to a second deeper jig. Maybe get that second jig in close to the lead jig. Only six inches of separation is not gonna be an issue I don’t think. They could travel through as if a school. Maybe three jigs in close. Bottom one would have a blade, two above not. Something to flesh out later. Might be really cool for spider rigging. Wonder if it would be smart to have all the jigs match or would variety be best.

    Well anyways wanted to share my ideas.
    Maybe they will bite this one……
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    I would not have thought about it. You certainly have it figured out
    The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass along

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    Thanks for sharing!!


    Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

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    Micanopy is offline Crappie.com 1K Star General * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Eerily similar to reptilian creatures……from the Deep !
    Maybe they will bite this one……

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    Good looking jigs.
    The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass along

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    The mold, when used as directed, leaves the little wire pieces as loose as a bum’s tooth. Read others used different wire, but I bought a goodly pile of them. Saw Dr Nip bent the little wires and that that tightened everything up. I am gonna try forgo bending them ridiculously small already wire thingies. Every one of them.

    So I am gonna try fingernail polish first. UV resin next. I think I can freeze it.
    Maybe they will bite this one……

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