Originally Posted by
DeadlyDan
Micanopy -
Paul, thanks for the great insight. The cautions concerning the handling of lead is good to know. I am an avid do-it-yourselfer, and presently working on slip bobbers, that will probably cost me $35 to 50 a piece. LOL I am driven to tweak things. For me it’s a blast…
Which mold would you recommend for 1/32 & 1/16 weedless jig heads?
Btw - did you pour all of those hatchet heads with the screw keepers?
Danny
I don’t really lose many jigs so never needed a weed guard. No recommendation there.
Take your time and consider how you will dress them after pouring. If you are going to use stick on eyes, get something that allows for that. Also, consider your technique. What shape head will likely do best for how you fish. I like an under spin and modified several molds to allow for a wire to extend out for such. Some molds come with an under spin feature. Consider watching videos of modifying molds to add weed guards. A wire guard is easy enough to manage if you don’t want to deal with plastic guards.
Keep in mind that you will likely want more molds. I could have saved money by buying one really good CNC mold vs. a collection of Do-Its. Not likely to sell any of them either, but certain molds just fell out of favor with me. Every so often I will revisit one and enjoy it all over again. Just know that there is a reason why most jig makers have a collection of misfits dangling on the wall. Pick carefully.
You will do well to be very careful with lead. It will affect your body in bad ways, not always noticeable as changes occur slowly over time as your levels increase. Easy to take in, hard to expel.
I can tell you that I do not like the lead hook thingies for securing [read: destroying]
plastic baits. I cut them off and simply super glue my baits on. Trimming the end of the bait off before gluing helps, as you are using fresh plastic vs. an oily plastic. I like to hand tie and that thing is a nuisance.
The wire catcher works very well but is tricky to finger up when pouring. Still it is a solid choice for using plastic baits. Without a keeper of some kind the bait slides rearward when being trolled, which is my technique. Slides down and chokes the hook and spins up the line. It will catch fish, but…..
The screw keeper is excellent at holding the bait in place. There is a bit of a learning curve with it. Once you get the hang of it. Something I discovered was that I could add a swivel to a blade, and then run it up the screw to creat an under spin. Adding the bait afterwards, it works great. Skinny baits do very well with this as the blade sits close. Small willow blades create a wonderful effect, and no need to modify the mold to add a blade.
Hooks are tricky. I have some that I bought on site recommendations and they didn’t really work out for me. Everyone loves sickle hooks, but I don’t. Fish come unpinned too easily. The barb on the hook doesn’t stick out enough. That is fine and a man can live with all that, all the way up until he sees that huge fish flip off next to the boat. LOL. After that he learns that quality hooks are what he wants. I mean if you are going to go through all the effort to make the jig, why use poor hooks ?
I use the Eagle Claw 571, which is a short shank hook designed to fit the Do-It Live Bait Jig Mold. Same as the EC 570, but with less length on the shank. Bought that mold and didn’t really care for it, but liked the hooks. Short shank hooks mean more activity rearward on all baits. Easier to thread a bait onto the hook as there is less distance for the tip to travel through. Easier to ensure alignment is correct.
Some worry about “short striking” but that is a non-issue. Almost every time the rod indicates, it bows and the fish hits the deck. Once on they tend to stay pinned. I have to remove the hook, whereas the sickles I would let the fish flop and toss the hook on his own. Couple of shakes and it would pop free. So the barb is larger and more aggressive and works to keep what I caught. 
I have a time with inserting hooks into my plastics. I do much better now days, but still end up with a kink every so often. A trolled jig with a kinked bait will catch fish, but one that swims straight and smooth will provide better results. I practiced and practiced and still have issues occasionally. I came up with a technique that works for me, and my baits swim beautifully when I get everything just right. Swimming baits behind the boat and observing their behavior teaches things of value.
DrNip says Mustad Ultra Point hooks are his favorite and I am going to give those a try. $100 for a 1,000 hooks. There are others that cost even more like the Gamakatzu stuff. Ultra Point hooks are a really good quality of steel that is chemically sharpened. I selected them for my circle hooks due to their sharpness, and suspect their jig hooks are equally sharp.
Do NOT smoke your molds. That is probably the dumbest recommendation a man can get. Internet experts continue to show how it is done without understanding what they are doing. The mold will work just fine without taking a candle and ruining it. Each mold will release differently, depending on the shape and size of the cavity being filled. If by chance, you get a sticky mold, they sell a spray called Mold Release, and bullet pourers like it. Usually though nothing is required. CNC molds are so smooth inside that lead just isn’t going to stick.
I poured your jigs. They came from a CNC mold. The mold is not high quality as there are issues with the design. The hinge is an incredible piece of junk. It misaligns the mold during closure. Lots of slop. I am glad to have it in my collection but Print A Molds will get no more of my money. The handles were as cheap as they could make them and still infer that they were handles. Other companies make a finer mold, even if they don’t offer that design.
You will learn many things as you go. I suspect that you are going to have lots of fun. I can also highly recommend trying your hand at hand tying. Very relaxing sitting down at the vice and being creative. Again, buying what you want will be much cheaper than making your own. LOL. You know I am not sure who started selling had tied jigs for so cheap, but whoever he was he was an idiot. The materials are expensive, and there is always something new you want to try. I have a collection of junk going and have more fun tying than pouring.
My fishing club likes free jigs. They just do. They clamor over my offerings as if they were medallions. LOL. Fishermen tend to be cheap you know. Anyways at the last meeting I gifted about 150 of my hand ties, and 100 of my plastics. Ooooohhhhhh aaaawwwwhhhhhh……. and they just got grabbed. So my creations are catching lots of. fish now. LOL
I hope that as you go through the process and begin making cool stuff that you would share your creations by posting pictures here, and be generous with your jigs. People really like to get fishing lures, especially custom stuff. I gift becauseI am creating new stuff and don’t really need five pounds of jigs laying around. The real jig makers probably have fifty pounds laying around.
Maybe they will bite this one……
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