cadman

I used to be a die hard crankbait guy about 3 years ago and got a lot of fish fishing them. Then I fished with one of my customers and all he fished was jigs. Well anyway, to make a long story short, he kicked my butt fishing jigs. He outfished me 2 to one every time and with bigger fish. So I finally took his advice and started to fish jigs. My numbers the first year doubled and the quality of fish also increased. From that time on I rarely throw anything else. My three rods in this order are jig rod, wacky worm and a trap or a husky jerk. The first two always produce fish. Now as far as jig fishing goes, since I fish from a boat, I will say that fishing from shore is harder as you will get more snags, lose more jigs and possibly lose fish as you cannot maneuver around easily. With that being the main problem you will catch fish from shore. Jig fishing like mentioned is a very slow process. I literally had to retrain myself when I started jig fishing, because throwing cranks for so long, my reel speed was way too fast. The key to jig fishing is you have to fish them slow, and I mean slow. Cast the jig out wait about 10 seconds so the jigs hits bottom. Wait for a bass to pick it up, if you feel nothing, raise you rod tip up to 12 o'clock position and drag your jig. Lower rod and wait another 10 seconds, see if you feel any taps or any movement. If you do wait for the fish to swim off with it and then set the hook. Now the best way I learned this method was by casting out and closing my eyes. This may sound stupid, but this forces you to concentrate and feel with your hands (since you cannot see and get distracted), line movement, fish bites if any and weeds. Do this until you finally can feel the line movement through the rod guides with your hands. You will feel pick-ups and line twitch because you are focusing with your mind on what you feel not what you see. Once you get to the point of slowing down and start concentrating better, open your eyes and focus on your line. Now you can watch line movement and still be able to feel the taps as you have conditioned yourself to do this. I guarantee if you do this you will catch more fish. Don't give up as this will take awhile . I say about a month or so to get your mind, hands and eyes in sync with each other. I am not an expert, but I would never go back to throwing cranks all day long. I've gotten too many bigger fish from throwing jigs. I use 10 -12 pound mono, mh 6'6'" rod with a baicasting reel. Nothing fancy. One last thing, is I only fish finesse jigs. This means 1/8 - 1/4 oz jig max with a trailer. I throw nothing heavier and I mainly fish 10 FOW or less. An 1/8 oz jig with a trailer sinks pretty fast in my opinion, but maybe I finally got used to the slowness of fishing jigs, and I'm glad I did.

I use a heat gun to heat up the jig, then I swish it in the powder paint, whether a jar or a fluid bed. After I finish all of my jigs I put them on a rack and bake in toaster over on 350 for 15 minutes.

X2...........Your auto powder should be fine for your jigs.Like Smalljaw mentioned I myself have also used many different brands of powder along with different powder paint make-ups, like TGIC,Hybrid, and Epoxy type powders. I've never had a problem with any of them. Some are better than others for their original intended purpose, but they all work really well for powder painting jigs. We are not concerned here with military specs we are painting fishing jigs. So get what you can if it is more cost effective and have fun. Also as mentioned, the different heat ranges versus minutes for the different manufacturers, a safe bet is 350 degrees for 15 minutes give or take. This has always worked well for me, and I put on sometimes 6 colors of 6 different manufactures with no problems.

I never seen those before. What kind of fish did you make these for?

PM sent

Depending on what paint was on there before. Some paints that are lacquer based will chew up powder paint. Also some nail polishes that have an acetone base will do the same. Try it on one spinnerbait body first to see the results. BTW I'm from northern IL, and I fish some of the same waters you do.

Looks good to me. As you throw them you will develop confidence with the colors that you make.

I pour all kind of lead . Anything I can get free or pay as cheap as possible for it. You can pour straight hard or pure soft. I prefer my jigs on the harder side. 30% soft 70% hard. However all lead will pour if you know what you are doing. Some lead will pour easier than others. Get your lead in your pot hot along with your molds, and get some mold release and you will be pouring with very little problems. Also a $1 per pound is a fair price. Roto- Metals charges around $2/lb however you can pick the lead mix you want. When you get it from someone you don't know what you are getting.

Like Smalljaw mentioned, the EC EWG hooks are a solid super sharp hook. Definitely the EWG hook to use if you are looking for a regular eye hook. The new breed of EC hooks are exceptional. These are not your grandpas old bronze Eagle Claws. You will not be disappointed in the quality, rust resistance, sharpness and price. Best of all they are made in the U.S.A.

If you want to use a flat eye, the Mustad 38109 hooks will work in that mold as well.

First of all, if any of your jigs have pinholes in the raw lead or actually holes from pulling sprues or from not filling fully, it is pretty hard to cover these up. I used to break off sprues back in the day off of just poured jigs. When you do that many times you will get holes in the head behind the sprues. Now I cut the sprues and file them. With that said, unless you can control your own pouring of jigs, any imperfection in a poured jig only makes it worse by painting over it. So this is my advice and you can try this. Before you paint your jigs take a look at all the heads by looking for imperfections in it. If there are any, then try to file it smooth with a metal file. Now many of you may think that this is a bit too anal, but I can honestly say that my finished jigs are flawless. I'm not here to toot my own horn, but if you are going to paint jigs do it right or don't do it at all. And yes I know the fish don't care, but when you spend so much time in something it should look good really good. Just my two cents on this. One other thing, if you want to remedy the problem that you are having, paint your jig, bake them, and come back and repaint it. The second thin coat will usually take care of all the bad spots. Just remember not to burn the paint the second time around. If you need more help PM me and I will give you step by step help, or I'll call you to let you know how to hopefully solve your problem.

If you want to something really quick and cheap try this. Wipe down the spinnerbait with alcohol, let dry. Take some white electrical tape, punch some round holes in the tape and then stick it on the current eyes. The tape will hold fairly well. There are other more permanent methods though.

Use nylon paint pins. Need more info let me know..

Clayton, Do not melt your lead in the pot you are going to use to pour your jigs, because you will get a lot of crud on top. Melt your old lead in another pot, skim off the crud and garbage, then flux your lead and pour it into small ingots, so you can put clean lead into your pouring pot. Also remember to be very, very careful if this is your first time with lead. It is extremely hot and there are no second chances if you get burned. Do not have any kids or pets around and make sure you don't get interrupted. Don't smoke or drink any liquid when you pour. Water and lead do not mix. Again think on the side of extreme safety. There is so much to cover here that I cannot even begin to tell you. Is it worth it for 40 lbs of lead ? In my personal opinion, No. By the time you buy everything and clean the lead of all the impurities, it is cheaper to buy your jigs or whatever you want. If you are going to go into selling them, well that is another story. I get lead for $1 per lb I strongly recommend you go to the wire bait section on tackleunderground.com and read up as much as you can on pouring jigs. It also has a thread on there regarding fluxing and safety. I am mentioning this not to promote their site, but to make sure you don't get severely burned. Once you get burned, it will take months to heal, and then the scar. I'm not trying to scare you but this is serious stuff. Make sure you wear, safety glasses, face shield, long pants, long sleeve shirt preferably quilted, socks, shoes and gloves. Moderators Note: Site mentioned is not my site and I did not mention it here for promotional use. Site mentioned is so OP knows all the ins and out of pouring lead and all safety factors needed .

Before I bought my Ranger I was seriously considering a Tracker Tundra. I had such a bad experience at the Bass Pro in Gurnee, IL, that I would never buy a boat from that store. Now mind you, this has no reflection on Bass Pro boats, the two salesmen I had at Gurnee were horrible The reason I mentioned this is that I was going to buy a Tundra up in WI, but got a better deal on the Ranger. So a lot of it has to do as well with the dealership. Find someone that is willing to work with you, explaining all the ins and outs and the options and you will be a happy camper.

I had a Tracker 1988 Magna 17 for 17 years. Loved the boat, took it on the river, to Canada, everywhere. Never had any issues with it. I will second everything that J Franco said about the pros and cons of aluminum boats. I now have a glass Ranger boat, and more maintenance for the gel coat on the boat and trailer

Try permanent black magic marker. It will at least dull the clear. You can put several coats on after it dries. Let me know how that works for you.

Ain't that the truth, and it gets bigger and bigger.

KJ and Senko, nice looking jigs

Without seeing a picture of what you actually did, and what you are trying to achieve, it is difficult to give you a good answer to fix your problem. I would start with JB weld, let it cure and re-drill slowly. However it might need to be filled with weld and re-done. These are just guesses more info is needed. If you are looking for a guy to fix your mold, PM me your e-mail and I will give you his info.

I am a die hard Owner #5304 hook user. I also have tried the Trokar hooks. Yes they are a little pricey, but they are sharp and I have had no issuse with them.

I also use the small Norman speed clips for cranks. I will tell you that I will not use them on spinnerbaits, as I lost 3 spinnerbaits in one day. What happens is the wire of the spinnerbait rides on the speed clip and the spinnerbait slips out. As I was casting I felt the line go so far and my spinnerbait kept on going. It happened to me several times that day with different spinnerbaits and I won't use them for that anymore. Never had a problem with crankbaits though.

Jay, I have not used it, but a guy by the name of smalljaw on this site has. He is very knowledgeable, and will give you his honest opinion on it. If I recall correctly in speaking with him he liked the skirts. I will call him and let him know about your thread question.

I have that color skirt and so does fishingskirts.com. It is called Living Image #420/170 Caldwell Special. Unfortunately I have always complained to them that their pictures really don't match their actual skirt colors, and the girl there does agree. Anyway, I just looked at their website, the picture and the verbage doesn't look like the skirt colors they sent me three weeks ago. I can send you a pic when I get home tonight. PM me your e-mail address. You can then show this pic to fishingskirts .com. It looks like it is in stock.

Yes very nice looking jig.