Skeeterman225

Thanks again for the compliments guys. I've got some trailers from Monte that look good behind it. Will get a pic up soon as I can. Pretty swamped right now.

two tabs at most on mine. you want the skirt to breathe and move in the water. get it too thick and you'll limit the movement of the skirt.

Very Nice! Love the fine details you put into it.

depending on how fine or rough the detail is, small engraving tools for little stuff. For boring out hook eyes to accept different hooks I use a ceramic tile cutter/grinder bit. main thing, err on the side of caution. one bad move messes up the whole mold.

I generally put a little anise oil in mine. adds scent and lubricates.

Monte, That looks awesome. I need to get photoshop, but don't want to spend the moolah to get it.

+2 on what the others have said. you will have to make 2-3 hundred jigs before you'll start saving any money, and then another couple of hundred before it gets really cheap on you. It's more a a fullfillment hobby. Not necessarily how much you can save, but how much fullfillment you get out of catching fish on your own baits. If your only buying 20-30 jigs a year, it'll take a LONG time to get ahead, and if you are like anyone else, once you get the hang of it, you go to expanding on it, and you never get ahead.

Sent u a pm nate

Generally if it's solid tabs I do just wire. If it smaller accents and want to get placement just right, I use thread first, then go over that with wire. That eliminates the need for glueing the thread and less mess for me. As for seperating them, some use their hands. Hold the end stretch it as far as you can and slowly cut across with some scissors. All strands will seperate. I do several at a time when I do them so fingers get to hurting quickly. I use one of these to hold the tabs while I cut them:

That last one is just screaming "I dare ya"......

Yeah, I used to have some old spinnerbait skirts that were the like the skirts on the H&H's. If you didn't talc those they didn't last anytime at all.

I know what you are saying smalljaw. I have had the legs on several frogs go bad, but I have some straight black jigs that have been in my box for well over 5 years and still good as new (i obiviously don't use straight black much...lol) I don't leave them in the boat or in the heat though. I get my jigs, cranks, hook, and topwater boxes out each trip to keep them from baking and being exposed to the elements. Little time consuming but saves lots of hooks, bodies, and skirts.

This one wouldn't fit in the original post.

Redid a few of my pics on my Living Rubber Skirts and thought I'd post some. Rubber is plain, and lacking a lot on color selection, but as many of you know it really comes to life in the water. Using all the colors available you can get some pretty colorful combos that work great. The Black N Blue one is a 100 strand skirt on a 1 oz head. Little thick for my taste, but I have to admit, as I make more of them it is starting to look good.

I believe it's purple Monte. It bluer looking deeper in the worm, but at the surface it's pretty purple. If you don't have any of these in your area pm me your address and I'll send you one to look at and match.

We've been catching a lot of fish around here at night on a Zoom Candy Bug worm. Figured I'd make a jig up and see if it would work just as good. This is my second attempt. First came out a little too bright I thought, so added a little more of the Black/Purple Flake and liked this one better. As always, nice to have more than my opinion though, so let em rip.

Used different color skirt tabs to end up with that combo for the skirt. One of those deals where I grab on here and there and put together and see what happens. My most popular colors have all came by doing this. Something different catches eyes. Something different also catches fish. Always experiment when fishing. Something out of the norm may be the golden ticket.

If the lead is solid, set it outside for a while and let dry off if it is still wet. If your friend sprayed while the lead was still melted, there could be the possibility of a water pocket in the lead. Unlikely, but possible. I would heat the lead back up outside and away from anything that it could cause harm to. After reheating and recooling all water should be gone. As Siebert said....melted lead and water is a big NO NO. Even a drop of sweat can cause a major problem.

If you have never fished them before and are just starting to experiment with them, I wouldn't recommend buying everything needed to build em from scratch. I would buy a few different style heads, and different color skirt and put those together. This will save you a ton in startup cost to get everything needed to start from scratch. After you get the feel for them and decide you like them, then pursue the leadpot, molds, and other supplies needed. As for the trailers, it's anything you want to put on the back of the jig to finish it off. Most use craws or chunks, but can be anything from a worm to a swimbait. Use your imagination. You never know what those crazy fish like.

It's the 5317 Owner.

Thanks again for the compliments everyone. Much appreciated. Will have to add these to the recipie list while I still remeber what I used....lol

Very Nice!

Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Here is a cleaned up pic of it along with another I made last night. Okeechobee Spice Rusty Craw

Back went out on me yesterday, so after I was unable to get to sleep and beyond tired starting grabbing colors and putting em together to see how they would look. Here's one of the better looking ones. Took my Okeechobee craw pattern and added some more gp/orange and a little Living image chart illusion. What do yall think. Not the best pic, but gives a good idea. Look good or bad......

Before I started buying my weedguards in bulk and having custom sizes made for glue in, I used the drill bit method as mentioned. An 1/8th inch drill bit is what you need. I know the pins are "supposed" to be 1/8th in, but after the lead cools, the actual hole is slightly smaller, not much, but enough to make it hard to get the base of the guard in. As he said, MAKE SURE YOU USE IT BY HAND. Using in a drill will get it too big. I put several skirt bands on the shaft of mine to make gripping it easier.