HookSetDon

Thanks everyone, Looks like a good smallie colour for clearwater too! Cadman, that jig is thanks to your countless messages of advice haha. Couldnt have done it without your help!

thanks gents

hydrilla gear! They were a sponsor on the board, not sure if they still are but I purchased mine from them and it was a great experience

black and black!

What do you think? Its a "mini jig" made on a 3/0 hook

Happy to see him take the win, well deserved. A true legend

excellent, I look forward to picking it up! thanks for the encouragement lol

Thanks guys!! I told him its mine haha but Sam, 400?! which one did you buy lol or how long ago I should ask 11364-01 DSR 822 C 6' 10" E 1 6 - 12 3/16 - 1/2 Ex-Fast Mag-Medium $270.00

Well, I was looking at a classifieds website for my area and I came across a DSR822c rod, never used plastic still on the cork for $140. Its a casting drop shot rod, I already have a drop shot rod spinning model and its not a technique I use a lot but I figure the deal is great since they retail for 250-270 on the g loomis website and I could probably use it for another technique. what do you think? Would you snag it?

Thanks a lot SmallJaw. Saved me a lot of trial and error and money. I'll be picking up a ultra soon

Thanks smalljaw, I'll stick with the regular stainless wire. Can I ask which mold you favor? I noticed several different ones made by doit. From the c mold to the bullet and ultra. Too many choices!

Thanks for everyone weighing in on the powder paint dilemma I had, I've been thinking about getting a mold and supplies. I noticed on barlows there's a lot of different molds but unsure of which one would be best. I also would like to make the wire for the spinners out of titanium, I didn't see any on barlows, does someone have a source for titanium pre bent wire for spinnerbaits?

Well I took the ones out of the oven and inspected them about 90% of them are flawless, the others either have a little pit or a few pin dots on it. Overall working much better

maybe i'll give that a shot, so you put the toaster oven to 350 and let them heat for a few minutes? 3 minutes or something? then you take them out one at a time and dip and replace back into the oven, Im assuming the oven is off at this time or is it still maintaining the 350?

If im getting tiny bubbles or pin marks on the jig after baking thats probably from over heating the lead right?

I think thats what my problem was, not heating the jig enough. I have a batch in the oven as we speak and I made sure that they were heated more. For some reason I was under the impression that prior to baking the jig should have a dull look to it hence I wasnt heating it enough to get the gloss, Now im heating it enough that when I dip it in it kinda melts the paint and I give it another shot of heat- If I see that I missed a spot i'll redip it and heat it again before placing it on the rack before baking. We'll see how they turn out, 10 minutes remaining! If I continue to have problems I'll have to use the torch again, I used the torch before when I first started and I had less problems with the painting, It was a different powder but youre probably right it has to do with the heat. I'm using a fluid bed so I havent had any nipples or any such thing yet. Thanks everyone

Ive never re heated or redipped so Im going to have to give that a try. Actually ive tried it when I used the torch and often times it would leave the paint looking burned and would leave a bubble or pin hole. I'll give it a shot now using the heat gun.

When I heat it I try to move it around so every area get hits with the heat, I was using the fluid bed for the dipping

Im using the paint that fishingskirts sell. Im using a commercial heat gun, Not sure on the temp on it.

When I'm doing pouring my jigs I remove the excess by rocking it back n forth with pliers or cutting it with side cutters. I then use a file and give it a few passes to remove the bump, sometimes I'll follow it up with a finger nail file to clean it further. Once thats done I clean off the jigs with a cloth to make sure no lead or dust is on it and heat it with my heat gun and dip it in the powder on my fluid bed. After that its baking time. Sometimes they come out great other times theres some imperfections, missed spots, golf ball look to the paint or lack of coverage on some imperfections of the lead. Am I missing something? Do you spend that much time prepping the jig before painting, and maybe I'm not. Maybe the powder paint I'm using isnt very good? What do you think? ___ It can be very frustrating to spend the time pouring, prepping, and painting to find out once it comes out of the oven its not perfect..

Truly a work of art.

Nice looking fish gents, Glad you had a good outing. Comradery and fishing is hard to beat!

If im keeping bottom contact I'm using a zoom med chunk just nose hooked. If im swimming a jig im using a keitech swimbait. If fish are on bottom then you want to be fishing on bottom with a flipping style jig. If theyre suspended under mats then I typically will throw a swim jig and fish it directly under the mat occasionally banging into it. Jigs are fairly versatile, you can expirement with different presentations. Although one may excel over another when it comes to fishing certain cover or structure theres no set rule. You can sucessfully present a grass jig as a swimming jig and vise a versa.

Make sure you keep the lid on it tightly, this stuff dries up quickly.

LMAO!!