FuzzyGrub

FWIW: Unless you are fishing for small fish only, step it up to ML. if your river produces 4-5lbers and need to fight them in current, a M is more appropriate. My river smallie "goto" rod has been a 68MXF action/power, be it Mojo, Avid, Walleye or Bass Tournament St Croix's.

Deja' Vu And after that, soft plastics, spinners and spinnerbaits, and maybe even some hard baits. I haven't convinced myself to climb that last plateau.........yet

and don't forget about the special FED tax for the tackle industry.

You might find this useful: http://www.joefishin.com/TubeMaking.html

On a PVC plastic mold, I used a spray vegtable oil, like PAM.

I haven't played around with tungsten. I would think powder paint would still be the right answer. Does it chip too easy or something?

The gasket maker in the video sounds promising. Be careful not to get too much on. Other things that will help: - Clean baits in detegent and dry thoroughly. - Put a flat surface over the baits and place a some weight to hold it down. - Do not add too much hardner. It will cause resin to heat up hotter, and "melt" bait or glue. - Flat sided baits are easier than round. - Flat pours may require appendages to be cut off and laid flat. Anything that dips below the top will be an issue with removing bait from mold or require extensive dremel work. An example would be a paca craw where the pinchers attach to the body. - Do not rush this stage, unless you like sanding and dremel work in resin.

Being creative with coloring is the main variable the DIYer gets to play with.

Yes you must dry the pop molds out. I used my toaster oven on low. They need to be completly dried before sealing. The molds in the foam block are water cure silicone (and all in that pic), not pop.

Don't you hate that? Nice work.

Yea, that would break my heart to catch a huge smallie on them! While most of our muskies have been inadvertant ones, fishing for smallies and eyes, don't have an issue with the reverse. We caught a smallie last year that was only 2" longer than the muskie spinner!

And here are what the bucktails attach to, my first pike/musky spinners:

Yea, without the eyes, they do look like the aspirin head. Putting on the 3d eyes rounds them out more. The ones I tied are menat to be more crawfish like, so don't bother with eyes. With a pair of side cutters, can make them to what I need. They take a slightly larger hook than their regular fine wire round heads. I'll take a look for the mold you mentioned. My lead mold collection can always take another! The trebles are for Muskie/Pike sized spinners, and the main reason I decided to get into tying bucktails. I will be doing singles and gangs, also trying some of those flashabou and skirt tab styles for pike/muskie. Doing my own for smallies and walleyes, is just a plus. By next year, I'll probably add rabbit and marabou.

Here is the procedure I was trying to follow: http://www.luremaking.com/howto/bucktails/bucktail1.htm The thread I have is non-waxed E, and tends to unravel if you take pressure off, so I did a couple of half hitches after each pinch of bucktail, and dab of head cement. On the final did five half hitches and a good layer of head cement.

Here are my 1st ties. Three are on 1/4oz socket-eye GP jig heads, and two 4/0 trebles. Got allot to learn, and will need more practice.

Judging from those tails, I'd say that is a Caney Creek mold. I just got thier Bigfoot Frog mold which has a pair of that style feet. Welcome to the addiction.

A fluid bed will make it easy, but to help in the meantime, fluff you paint between each dip, and focus on your dip method to get good coverage without excess paint. Tap the edge of the paint vial to try to shake off any excess powder. Like Jigman said, too hot will end up with too much paint, too. Also, find a method to hang the jigs head high for curring. If there is excess paint, it will tend to run down the barrel of the jig, instead of the more noticeable head. Depending on your curring oven height, shortened xmas ornament hooks can work. I have also seen pics of door springs used to clamp the hooks.

The bucktails that a retired tacklemaker use to make for me, could choose head, wrap, and two colors of hair, and flashbou. In general, the head and wrap color would match one of the hair colors. The lower color hair would generally be lighter color. One strand of flashbou down each side, like a latteral line. But, they were used mainly for walleye, and some cold water smallies. Don't sell short the single color. Have fun with whatever colors you come up with.

Good looking jigs. I plan on doing my first bass and walleye bucktails this winter. Hope mine come out as good.

Skirts and paint are a great way start. Enjoy, and post your creations.

I have made 1 and 2 piece resin and pop molds, but always from soft masters. Also have made water soluble rtv molds with mixed results. I have some alumilite to make some rtv molds, but haven't done it yet. RTV will be hard to "tweak" after set, but with hard masters, the rtv is the better one to use. POP while delicate, is easy to "tweak". Resin requires dremel and a steady hand. If your lure designs can be made by "frankenstiening" some exixting soft baits, the POP and resin would be options again.

It must be an eastern vs central time thing! Because I'm a very sloooooow typer. BTW, thanks for the heads up on the new EC hooks coming. I mainly use mustads, but an improved EC might be worth a try.

Most DO-IT molds run about $30-$40 each. The Lee IV pot about $55-65. That is new, and shipping is extra. Some molds can be more difficult to pour, so learning the basics with some of the simplier ones has the benefit of less fustration. http://do-itmolds.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=1

Everything Cadman has said is right on and matches the few years experience I have. I did the painting and skirts the 1st year, and moved to pouring lead the next. I focused on the high loss jigs first. Tube jigs, footballs, shakyheads, and round heads. I now have more molds than I could possibly ever save from buying buk. But, there are worse things you can throw your money at. You did mention a dis-continued jig. Have you looked through the DO-IT mold or other brands to see if they have something close? A custom made mold will add some $$ to the hobby.

Ted, great looking jigs, as always. Glad to hear they put some TX money in your pocket.