cadman

The best hook is a relative term. Gami's, Trokar, VMC, Owner are all excellent hooks. Some guys just have to use those hooks no matter what. However, all the other hooks you mentioned are very good hooks.The best bang for the buck are Mustad and Eagle Claw. Eagle Claw almost always has a matching hook that correlates with Mustad sizes and styles. Also Eagle Claw are less expensive and made in the U.S.A.

I use it when I spool line and then the night before. Works fine for me. Keeps my line more manageable.

I use it for jig fishing and like it. 10 lb test with KVD line conditioner.

Jig and a craw trailer.

Paca Craw second would be twin tail grub.

I don't tie a lot of hair jigs, however for the ones I do, I have a Griffin Odyssey Spider vice as well. Very good vice for the money and excellent quality. You will be happy if you are starting out. Especially for hooks that are 4/0 and smaller.

The stainless is going to be 300 or 400 series. I doubt it will be 300, as we use that for salt water conditions at work and it is more expensive that 400 series S.S. There is no way of finding out from the seller, because they probably don't know. You would have to go to the manufacturer, and the seller isn't going to tell you where hew gets them from. Allen, How about black tape? You can trim off the profile with a single edge razor blade.

The blades I buy are stainless steel.

I powder paint my blades as well. Works for me.

I have to agree with smalljaw67 on this. I have had several production molds in the past, and I found them to slow me down. Like he mentioned, I can load and pour faster one jig at a time than load and pour 6 cavities. Especially if you load all 6 cavities and then a hook is not aligned or a keeper is not aligned, then you can't close the mold. Once you think you got them aligned, and then you bump the mold, and all the keepers move. Trust me still faster to pour one at a time. However the Midwest mold is a P.I.T.A with the little keepers especially the 1/16 oz head.

Wiha tools for me as well. All of their screwdrivers are very well made and fit most any screw you will encounter on a fishing reel.

Since it's new, and it doesn't sound right just return to to TW and get a new one.

It is a walleye jig head which is used with a grub trailer. You cannot add a weedguard, as there is no room at the top, because the hook shank runs along the top side of the jig head. Also the hook that is used in that mold is more of an aberdeen style hook which is much thinner. If it were me and I didn't have a use for it, I would sell it as well as mentioned above.

This is our second year doing this, and my wife and I enjoyed it tremendously. It just gives us a great feeling to teach young children how to cast a fishing rod. Many kids never even held a rod in their hands. After maybe a dozen practice casts, the kids usually figure it out and they start casting really well. I urge anyone that fishes to get involved and teach kids how to cast and catch fish. My wife and I will do this again next year.

Eddie, Here is what you can do to solve this issue. #1. Put a piece of tape or business card between the two mold halves. When you gap the mold, you will open enough space for the mold to fill the keeper. If that doesn't work. Do the next two things. #2. Cut an air relief line with a utility knife on both mold halves, where the keeper is cut from inside the keeper to the outside of the mold. The reason you are not getting the keeper to pour, is because the hook might be a little bigger in diameter, and it is trapping air in the mold, keeping the lead from filling there. Also do #3 while you're at it. #3. Take a small round hobby file, and file out both mold halves, where the hook shank fits in the mold. By filing this out, you will also let the air release from the mold. Do not over file and make it too big. Make it so the hook shank is a little loose. One thing to note, is that once you file this area out, if you decide to put a smaller hook in there, you will get some lead flash seep out. No need to worry, you can always cut that off. If you want to call me with more questions, I will PM you my phone number and help you out.

Allen, If you are looking for chrome to look like a car bumper and gold to look like a gold chain, then forget about powder painting them and get them plated. If you don't care, as long as the gold and chrome have a gold and silver color then powder paint will do the job. Depends on how picky your friend is. Actually the fish don't really care.

I pour the 1/4 oz Poison Tail a lot. Although m mold is a little bit worn, the Mustad 91768 will fit in there no problem. Also the Mustad 4/0 32886 fits in there as well. On a brand new mold you may have to take the hook and place it in the cavity, close the mold halves together and take a hammer and lightly tap the halves together until they close tight. This, is because the hook eyes might be slightly bigger. But in no way does this cause any problems with the mold, and you will not get any flash. Also use Frankford Arsenal mold release on your molds. Makes it really easy to pour and release your head once the lead fills the cavity.

Baby powder only keeps rubber skirt strands from sticking together. Does nothing for rotting or dried out rubber skirt bands. If you want a wire tying tutorial on how to wire tie your skirts, PM me your e-mail and I will send it out to you.

Leave the skirt band on. Then hand wire tie with two wraps of wire (ahead of skirt band) , cut rubber skirt band off. Never worry about it again. Initially leaving the skirt band on before you wire tie, helps keep the strands from falling apart before you wire tie. Or like mentioned, use small plastic zip ties.

Netbait Paca Chunk Sr. in every color except white and Jewel 5" "J" tail grub in smoke blue and smoke purple.

I would try to find another source for powder paint. Harbor Freight powder paints are poor in adhesion in my opinion. You have a PM

It all depends on what you want to do. Do you really want to make a brand new spinnerbait? If so, I would take some paint stripper, apply it to the lead head, and once it's clean , paint the head with acrylic paint. Once dry, wire tie your new skirts and be done. If it was me and I wanted it to be perfect, I would go thru the whole process of stripping the paint and then powder coating the head. Then clearcoat Clearcoat will add durability to the paint finish. Not really needed unless you slow roll your baits on the bottom of the lake. All in all, the fish don't care. If you want to do it on the cheap, just wire tie a new skirt on it and go fishing. This is a spinnerbait, and you are looking for reaction bites. I don't think the fish can see the paint of the spinnerbait as it goes by.

Crimp the wireform over the hook eye so it is flat. Then move the connection closer to the center of the cavity body. You will then get good pours.

probably the same problem as the keel buzz bait. Do you have some pics we can see to assess what is going on? Some things to try: Coat mold with Drop-Out. (90% of your problems will go away). Make sure hooks are hot along with wireform If the hook eye or the wireform are sticking out of the sides, get a smaller hook or move hook eye over center of lead body.

Is it the keel buzzbait from Do-It? If so, they are a P.I.T.A to pour. If you need help with that , I can call you to discuss all of your options.