cadman

Went out to Delavan today. Not a bad day overall. Started at 6:00 a.m. by the hump . Got a fish first cast and missed it, second cast I got him on a jig and pig. 4 lbs 8 oz. Then my buddy picked up and 18 incher. Moved down the shoreline, we both got two 16 inchers. Further down the shoreline I got a 18-1/2 incher. Shot across to the other side and fished that shoreline, my buddy got a 4 lb 4 ounces largey on a senko wacky style fishing docks. Moved down the shoreline got another bass about 15 under the docks. Further down that shoreline my buddy got another bass 4.0 lbs. Went to the house with the clock fished that dock got a 17-1/2 incher. It was now 10: 30 A.M. next hour and a 1/2 nothing nowhere. Went back to the shore by the pagoda fished that till 1:00 P.M only got 1 more bass about 14 inches. That's it . No northerns today woohoo. Below is a pic of the 4 largest bass. Going tomorrow to either Powers Lake or Browns.

Ronnie James Dio and Lizzy Hale from Halestorm

Yes, all you need is a pair of long nose pliers and a pair of cutters. I make three wraps of wire around the skirt, twist the tag ends,cut the tag ends to about 1/8 to 3/16" long then bend the twisted ends down. As far as wire goes you want to use copper or colored copper wire. It is soft and very manageable. You can buy it at a craft store like Michael's, Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann fabrics. Buy 24 ga or 22 ga. The smaller the ga. the larger the diameter of the wire. If you want I have a step by step tutorial on how to hand tie. Pm me your e-mail and I will send it to you tonight.

2d or 3d eyes are the last thing I put on a jig before I clear coat it. I wipe the painted jig with rubbing alcohol, stick on the eyes with tweezers, press on the eyes with my fingers (our hands have oil, so I wear latex gloves) then I clear coat the jig. I clear coat the entire jig to keep the eyes from falling off. Some use glue, but I don't like the mess, to each his own. Also 3d and 2d eyes are not all the same. Some stick better than others. I sent you a PM with info on the eyes and what clear coat I use.

First of all, if you want to make the mold that you pictured, you cannot do that with a drill press. It has to be done on a milling machine with a round end mill. The reason being is you have an elongated slot and you must cut this out, which you cannot do with a drill press. Also you have to make sure that the cavities are aligned and pinned. If you don't pin them then the mold halves will have to have a hinge. Wood is not a good choice, as It will start burning from the hot lead, and eventually the cavities will crack and get charred from the heat. Most molds are cut from aluminum. Reason being, aluminum is easier on the tooling, it cuts fast, and it dissipates heat when you pour lead. As far as sizes go, unless you know what the mass weight is of the size you want, it will be trial and error. Also depends on the lead properties. Pure lead is heavier than alloyed lead. This is just a start. There are many other thing involved in doing this. If you insist on doing this, you should also have a technical drawing showing sizes, depth, length and position of the cavities in the mold along with all of the dimensions, so you can duplicate accuracy. You can make molds out of high temp silicone, but that is short lived as well. Good Luck

PM sent.

Yes, we were there on Sunday at 6:05 a.m. Went to the hump, 2nd cast I got a northern about 23" long. About 10 minutes later my wife got a bite off. Went to the point by the hump nothing. Shot over to the east shoreline by the Pagoda. I got a 14", 10 minutes later got another 14" both on a jig and pig. Another half hour later and my wife gets another bite off. Shot over to the extreme S.W. shoreline and fished a stretch about 200 yards. My wife picked up (5) fish fishing a swim jig. (2) 17-1/2", (2) 16-1/2" and (1) 14". See pics below. We fished till 1:00 and didn't get anything else.

I'm not saying all outboard places are this way, but all the ones I've dealt with will not give you repair advice or help. Reason being is they want to do the work. I am a do-it yourself guy, and I like to see what is done to my boat. With that said, a friend of a friend of a friend gave me this ex merc marine mechanic. He came highly recommended. I called him up, and he will come to your house to help you out. I had him replace both water pumps on my 225 and 9.9 as a preventive maintenance, and he was very reasonable with parts and labor and service call. He works right out of your house, or I am sure you can take your boat to his house. He does everything in front of you and shows you how everything works. that's what I like about him. Hands on and explains everything. He lives in Bloomingdale, and he drove to my house in Vernon Hills. Only issue I had which was trying to schedule him, but I had two busy weekends in a row and he was open. Great guy and I would highly recommend him to anyone. PM me for his full name and phone number if you are interested.

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First of all I do not use the metal pins that come with the molds, because they are a P.I.T.A. to get out once the jig cools. I use Teflon pins, much easier to use and reusable. I pour with the teflon pins, then when I'm done I put clean pins in the weedguard holes, and then powder paint the jig. As soon as I put the paint on the jig, I immediately remove the pin. This to me keeps the paint along the edges of the weedguard hole nice and painted. After that, I put all the jigs in the toaster oven for baking. Once done let cool and glue in your weedguards. If you need more info on how the pins work, I have a small tutorial. PM me.

Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how we do. if you plan to go out there, I'll be in the white/wine/silver 619VS Ranger, and maybe we can talk some.

Don't know if it's the best but I bought a Sears Platinum this year. Big $$$ battery at the recommendations of others. Great battery but expensive, however I am using it to start my 225 Merc. Opti. So far so good and a lot of power. Motor doesn't even hesitate. I charge all my batteries with the on-board charger by Dual Pro. PS: You will get a lot of opinions on here. You will have to decide for yourself.

1994, Ford F-150 XLT long box, 4x4. Original owner with 49K miles. All stock pulls my Ranger 619VS. Once I find a pic I will post it.

Going out to Delavan this Sunday. Nice fish slonezp. The pic of you holding the fish is that by the hump???? Looks like the first point on the west shore. Were you guys fishing docks with the wacky worm? I'll let you guys know how we do and hopefully take some pics.

You can also try Anglers Unlimited. They are more of a bass club that does draw tournaments. They are out of Round Lake Beach,IL. They fish mostly S.E. WI waters. PM me and I can give you a contact number. They are always looking for non- boaters.

I bought lights for my boat as well. Haven't had a chance to put them on yet. I just had my decals made and put them on the carpet of my boat and also on my truck. The carpet decals came out beautiful. I also had a license plate frame made for my truck. I will have to bend your ear when I put my lights on. I am putting clear lights on in my storage lockers and blue ones on my deck. I would like to put the red and green ones on in the rub rail like you did, but am terrified of screwing it up. I see you have a nice lip on your bow to tuck your lights under. BTW Job well done.

Looks Good.

Very Nice

It all depends. If you make 20 jigs it is not worth it. If you make a 100 then yes as you will save by buying in bulk. 2-1/2 skirt tabs will cost you about 70 cents for each jig depending on what tabs you get. A painted jig will cost you approx. $1.00 depends on what jig you buy. So at about $1.70 each not including your labor, it is still a good price. Also remember, you are going to make them the way you want and if you hand tie the skirts, they will be better than any store bought jig. JMO.

There is a dumb blond joke in here somewhere: My buddy was waiting to try to load up his boat after fishing Geneva yesterday. So this guy and this woman are launching their boat. Lady gets in the boat, guy backs up and boat floats off of trailer no problem right? Not so fast. Lady drops the anchor in the water to keep the boat from drifting away any further, while blocking the launch. Sits down and is waiting for husband. While everyone is waiting for her to start the boat to get out of the way, she sits there patiently. Husband comes to the dock and realises his wife doesn't know how to start the boat, and is giving her instructions. Lady can't find keys. In the mean time my buddy tells the lady to throw a rope to her husband so they can pull the boat to the dock and tie it up. No rope. Husband takes off his long pants and jumps in water, swims to boat. Gets in boat can't find keys. After watching this patiently enough my buddy takes his rope, motors over and pulls this guys boat back to the dock. My buddy said all of this took an hour. The guy doesn't even thank him. He just can't believe it. As funny as this sounds, I've seen a lot of things at the boat ramp that just makes you wonder, especially on Lake Geneva, when you get some of these guys with the big boats. Just thought a Monday morning chuckle would be good.

My buddy went to Lake Geneva on Sunday and they did much better. On the water at 6:00 a.m., same problem like everywhere else couldn't see 20 feet in front of you. They went to light house point picked up a 16 incher, went over to the narrows, and picked up (2) 19" smallies on top water. Worked that whole shoreline to Cedar Point and picked up 6 more bass between 14"-16". Went over to the old academy and got 2 dinks, and lastly shot over to Trinkies and picked up (1) 16 incher. He told me they had to leave at noon, because boat traffic was so bad, that they had numerous people skiing inside the buoys, apparently this is the worst he's seen as far as disregard for no wake buoy markers. Geneva is really out of hand on the weekend, need to fish it in the middle of the week when everyone else is working.

Well what can I say about Beulah, another consecutive horse$$$t day. Well everything started out slow all the way to the end. Got up at 3:00 a.m. left at 4:00 a.m. and it was so foggy I thought I would get their at noon. 35 mph all the way to the lake. Got on the water at 6:15. Water temp 71 degrees, and couldn't see the lake either. Made are way slowly around the lake about 8: 00 got the first bass 15-3/4 ". 9:00 my wife got a 15-3/4" bass. Fog lifted at 10:30. From then on till 1:00, we got six small fish about 12". It was a horrible day for fishing. I should have stayed home and slept. Next Sunday plan to hit Delavan. You guys are probably right it must have been all the rain, I've never had such bad outings.

Well Tichigan, was a slow day. We fished the main lake for 5 hours and only got one 12" walleye and 2 small bass about 12-13". On our way back to the launch we stopped, and started to fish docks. 3rd cast I got a 18-1/2" bass and also two more around 13". My partner got 2 small bass as well. All fish were caught on senko's wacky rigging. Hope tomorrow is better.

Going to Tichigan tomorrow and Beulah on Sunday. Will post results when I get back.

If you are looking to learn and try your hand at making things, then I would say go for it. I can help you with some tutorials on lead pouring and jig making. If you are looking to save money by making jigs or plastics, then it is cheaper to buy what you need. If you're interested in the tutorials PM me.