Making your own cool jig heads

[Micanopy]

Well…..if you are wanting to make some custom jig heads, it is fairly easy. You do not have to pour your own jigs, but rather you could simply buy unpainted heads for not much money. From there you just paint them and add eyes. It is easy to do and you might catch more fish.

You do not need a fluid bed to powder paint like a pro. Properly heat the jig and dip and swirl in loosened paint and done. Stir the paint in the jar and it gets plenty loose enough to give a nice finish. Baking jigs is important and I do mine at 325 degrees F for 20 minutes in a toaster oven.

As far as colors of paint, I like bright white. I like white because you can add splashes of color and you can add eyes. White is my base coat for when I make jigs with bright colors. Most colors will appear one way when the head is dipped directly into the color, but a much better color will result when it gets dipped after a white base has been applied. Especially UV enhanced or glow in the dark stuff.

White also allows the eye to achieve a more prominent role. The profile of the eye becomes much easier to spot. Your eye is drawn to it’s eye more easily. Predators look for the eyes, they just do. Your jigs will be swimming along behind the boat if you troll like I do, and a white head with prominent eyes serves me well.

Other favorite colors are pink, silver, chartreuse yellow and neon green. Some blues make nice lures. I like glow in the dark and UV enhanced colors. Your local fish will have a few favorites, but to be sure, these will change as the seasons progress. Been my experience anyways.

Take a look at one of my latest jigs.



Here is a white head that has been dipped a second time into neon pink to add some color. The eye is standing quite proud and is easily detected. The grub body is white and the tail chartreuse yellow. Overall this jig is sleek and will swim with very little resistance, which means I expect it to run a tad deeper than say a paddle tail or a bait with a blade. Most of the movement that will trigger the bite comes from being pulled, passing by the fish, but to be sure having a tail that wiggles is a nice plus. This is a bait from Slabonator. I try to buy baits off the members here and this member sells high quality baits.



This head is just a freshly poured head that was simply powder coated in clear UV enhanced paint. This yields a lovely grey appearance that matches well for minnows. It will not change color because oxygen cannot get to the lead. Again, a sleek bait that will offer very little resistance and will likely produce fish. This bait is a Bobby Garland.

One thing to keep in mind here, especially when trolling, any error in applying the bait to the hook will be enhanced when the lure is swimming. A bait might look close to being right, but still spin. Swimming the bait alongside the boat and watching to see what it does only offers some insight. Once the bait is behind the boat a ways and there is some line available, that is when it will spin on you. So definitely take your time and make certain that your achieving a straight alignment. Spinning baits will still catch fish but your line pays a heavy price.



Adding Whirly Gigs is also a nice thing to do for at least one bait behind the boat while trolling. Bob’s Jigs for the nice creature bait on this one. One of his latest designs out of Texas. Check that guy out as he is trying to bring us new and innovative designs. He has good pricing on good baits.

Once you have painted the heads it is time to add some cool eyes. I was buying 3D eyes from some feller in China, and then fumbling around trying to get them where I wanted them. They all require glue to stay in place. Some folks like to glue them and then overcoat them in resin to ensure they stay in place. Good idea especially if the jig will be roughed up by rocks or weeds or dare I say it…..angry fish. However, the process is time consuming and not much fun. I spend too much time trying to get my fingers back apart. LOL

I have taken to adding eyes in a different fashion now. For me, this technique is much easier and produces much better results. 2D eyes come in some amazing colors and most are cheap and offer holographic effects. 2D eyes are boring affairs when applied as-is to baits, but……I discovered that they can be easily turned into amazing eyes, with just a drop of UV resin.

Piccasisio is the name brand of UV resin I am currently using. Link to Amazon through this site if you can so we get a nickel or something. This is an easy to work with resin that pours smoothly and hardens leaving a mostly clear resin. As with any resin, you must be wary of rubbing your eyes. Burns like gasoline.

After painting, stick a 2D eye on the jig where you think it looks good. Then hold the bottle of resin in a more or less upside fashion. 45 degrees also works. Not sideways as that adds bubbles when you squeeze some out. Don’t squeeze, rather let the resin just kind of ease out of the bottle. The droplet will spread across the surface of the 2D eye and may dome up some, too. I suggest that you figure out how much resin it takes to make that mound, and for some extra to come onto the side of the jig head as well. A toothpick will help until you get the hang of using the nozzle tip to daub at it some. This resin is both forming the 3D effect and securing the eye in place, so you want some to be on the painted surface, and still have the dome for effect.

No need to glue stuff. LOL. Once the resin is applied, look for bubbles and use a toothpick should there be any bubbles that offend you. Then hit the resin with a flashlight that has the proper wave length to freeze the resin in place. Freezing everything now prevents future flowing. Then set the jig outside and allow the Sun a few hours to do it’s magic. This is what you get.





You can see that the eye no longer looks boring, but has depth and that 3D effect is present. 2D eyes come in flavors that 3D eyes do not. 2D eyes are also cheaper and this method is actually easier to apply the eyes than 3D eyes. 2D eyes come in brilliant colors. So…. a white head can receive a bright green eye and that eye can then act as a second color. An enhancement of color vs. the basic silver fish eye look. Two tone effect.

One of the things that happens while trolling is the bait gets pulled down the hook shank as it catches fish. At home, I will attach the bait to a straight hook shank as normal, ensuring proper alignment, then pull it back some and add a drop of Loctite Super Glue Gel Control to the shank, then slide the bait back up and hold it against the jig head for a couple of seconds. This works well. If the bait has a lot of worm oil, try wiping the tip on a cloth before assembling. This saves time because I do not have to constantly adjust the bait back into position while I am fishing.

Bait is glued to the shank and the head.

In these various pictures I am using a short shank hook as it is easier to get a good alignment, it also leaves more of the bait free to wiggle, and I land just about every fish that nibbles. Fabulous hook- Eagle Claw 571.

I like the Screw Lock system you see as it will secure the bait without the need for glue. For adding baits to jigs -on the boat - this is a good addition to jigs. The fish might shred the bait, but he ain’t getting it to pull down and foul and spin up my line. Baits seem to last longer, too. The only issue with the system is that some baits are very slender and the coil can pop out through the side.



Here are some showing that I make them both ways for that exact reason. I suspect that these colors would work well in your lake. Never been there…..but the fish will probably respond to these jigs in similar fashion as they do in mine.

Another thing to consider that plays a huge role in all of this is the color of the baits. Typically, baits come in two tones, a body and a tail. This means you have to match a head color to a bait with it’s own color combination. Three colors, maybe four. So look for these special combinations of colors as you catch fish, and try to develop lures that incorporate them.

I have a few favorites that work on my lakes:

Pink Head - White Body - Chartreuse Yellow Tail
White Head - Bright Purple Body - Chartreuse Yellow Tail
Chartreuse Yellow Head - Lime Green Body - Chartreuse Yellow Tail
Silver Head - Silver Body - Silver Tail

So you could start your selection of jig head colors after you examine your collection of baits. Lay out samples of the plastic baits that you have the most confidence in, then consider how each best pairs up with what colored head. Look for combinations that seem to make sense. It is hard to beat chartreuse yellow ( Yum Yum Yellow ) as that seems to end up somewhere in all of my lures. Once you have laid out the baits you will likely be pulling, figure some on colors you could add out front for the heads, and get started painting.

Anyways, I wanted to encourage some of you to start customizing your own jig heads. I feel they make a big difference in my results. Some will argue that none of this is needed to catch fish….big deal. I feel that anything extra I can offer I should offer. Your technique will determine your choice of bait, and from there you choose the head. Work it backwards. Choose your favorite baits and then fashion up heads that work best with those baits.

Big eye…..
Little eye….
Red eye
Blue……

When I whip out my jig box, the others on the lake all go……Boo Hoo Hoo







Let me know if you have any questions. Especially if you get motivated and wish to share some of your designs. There is a great subsection on this site for jig making. Some very creative folks in there sharing their best stuff. Just remember that it is easy to make your very own custom jigs, and helps keep the boredon down when you can’t go fishing. You can make better than you can buy and catching fish on a lure you made is a nice feeling.

[RVG Fishing]

Excellent and very informative post, thanks for sharing !

[Ketchn]

Used to make some beautiful ones myself , 3 d eyes and etc etc ,it is fun and pretty easy to do
I prefer cheap nail polish , easy no heat required and holds up pretty well .
But jigs in my hands don’t typically last long anyways, so durability is not very important

[DockShootinJack]

Used to make some beautiful ones myself , 3 d eyes and etc etc ,it is fun and pretty easy to do
I prefer cheap nail polish , easy no heat required and holds up pretty well .
But jigs in my hands don’t typically last long anyways, so durability is not very important

Fishing around docks is pretty rough on jigheads.

[DockShootinJack]

Very informative tutorial

[Micanopy]

Look how the eye has enhanced the overall appearance of this bait. The eye is prominent and bold, leading the way. Everything is sized very well on this lure. Proportional and sleek. This lure will troll beautifully.

I am waiting on some truly different eye materials to arrive soon. When they do I will share some of my new ideas regarding eyes. I am sure someone, somewhere, done thought of it first, but still I invented it because I never seen their post. LOL

I am trying to use the color of the eye to replace a painted head. I am using white head on all, as they are bright and will reflect better colors than a grey lead head.

Not gonna paint pink heads. Gonna paint white heads and then add pink eyes. Starting with a plastic bait I like, then I add the eyes to this neutral white jig head. Three color combination.

[DockShootinJack]

Green eyed little fish catcher

[skeetbum]

Those heads are nice, good tutorial.

[Micanopy]

Thank you gentlemen.