smalljaw67

Excellent information!!!!!!

Just about every hook made anymore is chemically sharpened so a hook not being sharp isn't normally a problem anymore but it can be if the hook point was rolled. I'll bet it is a combination of hook, line, and rod being out of sync. You may be using a moderate action rod with light line on a heavy hook, that right there will cause you no to get a hook to fully penetrate. So what rod and line are you using and be specific.

I often see posts with anglers replacing trebles and split rings on baits and the one split ring that is mentioned most of the time is the Owner Hyper wire split rings. Well, as a tackle maker and an angler I'm telling everyone that we are over paying for 16 or 14 split rings. I spoke to a rep from Worth manufacturing where I get my spinner blades and ball bearing swivels from and asked them why the Owners are so much better. They told me to order their standard split ring in nickel or zinc plated steel, those are made from the same type of steel as the hyper wire rings, and that is "spring steel". The spring steel makes them stronger with very little to no memory and that was music to my ears since I go through a lot of split rings making bladed jigs. The problem with stainless is that they can deform, and then they weaken and open up, spring steel can deform but it goes right back to its original form keeping its strength and it has worked for me. I was having a problem with opening split rings for my bladed swim jigs and the ring would just stay open, then I got the hyper wire and problem solved but they aren't cost effective. So after I contacted Worth I found I could get the nickel plated spring steel split rings from Barlows Tackle and it would cost me a little under $5.00 per 100 and so I tried them and I've been using them ever since. 6 solid years and zero failures even with a flipping stick and 65lb braid, after that test I was sold and I've been happy ever since. The Owner Hyper Wires are great, I know because I bought them too but the price for so few rings had me search and ask questions and I'm happy to say that I've found a cost effective solution. So, if you need split rings look for "spring steel" in the description, those are the best in strength and memory.

You are talking about hand injection, I know of a small company that makes their own products but they work 7 days a week and they have over 300 molds. If you want to make a living you have to make an investment, so if you start out with 2 sizes of stick worms, a creature bait and a worm, you would need between 6 to 10 molds of each in order to be able to produce enough to make a living at it. In order to have a custom mold made, you will need to pay to have the cad work done and depending on how many cavities you want it can cost a lot, figure around $500 to $1000 depending on the complexity and number of cavities and then figure you'll need 6 or more molds. In order to manufacture enough baits that you can sell to make a living from it, figure you'll need a facility to put at least two large Zorn injection machines, and have $4000 molds made that will allow you to shoot between 50 and 100 baits per round, then the packaging, you'll heed about $300K to get started. I know you don't want to hear it but in order to make baits to make enough money to pay for materials and pay yourself enough of a salary to make ends meet, you'll need to sell an awful lot of baits and here is the kicker, you'll have to figure out pricing, you just can't decide to charge whatever you want. You need to break down the cost per bait for your material expense, then you have to break down your overhead, things like electricity, storage, packaging, shipping and other expenses related to the production of your baits. Then when you have all that figured out it will give you the basic cost per bait to make, but then you need a sale price, so you have to figure in federal excise tax, along with other taxes and that is figured out by you or an accountant as you have to figure the lowest amount you need in order for your business to operate and still provide you enough money to live on. When that number is figured out then you have to figure out you estimated quarterly tax, city, state and county tax and depending on where you live, you may even have to pay a manufacturing permit or a zone approval fee because you can't manufacture on that scale in a residential area. This may sound like a lot of crap and it is, but that is what you have to go through in order to make a living at this. Most smaller companies outsource to a bulk manufacturer and they will have their baits shot to their specs and colors and then shipped to them where they will package and distribute the baits themselves. That way you have lower overhead but you also have a lower profit margin but a lot less headache and investment. The scale you are looking to do it is what is called a "hobby business" where you can make enough for your supplies and a some spending cash but you still need a day job, just too much expense and it isn't possible to make the kind of volume you need to make it your job. Remember, Zoom probably gives away more baits in a month than you could make with 1 person helping you in a year, just let that sink in. Now, as I said before, if you are determined enough you can do it but it won't happen overnight, it will take long hours and a lot of work to do but it can be done if you have enough drive.

I use both styles as they are completely different baits. I wacky rig smaller Senko or stick worms and T-rig the 5" models, and they are very effective no matter how you rig them. Ribbon tail worms for me are my active Texas rig worms for mostly deeper water, 10+, that ribbon tail flutters on the fall and it also displaces water making it good for stained water situations. So I really can't say on is a favorite over another since each is used for different situations.

I have the first generation Smoke, I think it is the best casting reel Quantum has made!! I'm talking about the 150 model, the 100 is a good reel too but the Smoke 150 has just been solid.

If that is the Tourney Trail 7' ML with the Mod-fast action you'll have trouble with light biters. The 2 problems with that rod is it is not close to a medium light, it is a medium in power and the mod fast action makes it more of an in-line spinner rod than a hair jig rod as you'll have decreased sensitivity. You want a fast or extra fast action, not a mod-fast , but it might not be the same rod so you could still be fine.

Most are put together with a sonic welder, machines can be ordered through Bransone or Dukane and they type normally used for lures will run around $6500 for a used model and up to $14000 new. I looked into molding plastic baits a long time ago and I was told glue is a thing of the past because it isn't a consistent process as some baits will have a little more glue than others and it will cause them to run differently. There are stories of how pros would go through 2 dozen baits of the same lure to find one that was "right" and this happened even with plastic cranks and it due to gluing baits together by hand. Using a sonic welder eliminates the glue and is fast but it takes an investment. Go to you tube and look for videos on how plastic crankbaits are made, you'll be amazed and informed and it will give you an idea of how to go about your lure making. If you want to this only on a small scale without making money then ignore this post, because you need to be able to make large volumes of lures in order to make real money and sonic welding is the way to do it.

The hardest part of using traps is when to use them and for me it is any time but post spawn is a good time because the fish are scattered and lipless cranks make a great search bait. As far as when to use a silent bait versus a rattling one, the answer is clear water, if you have 3' or more of visibility then a silent bait will be a better option.

What weight range are you talking about with these lures? Is there a length preference? I'm asking because for topwaters I prefer a shorter rod than I do for traps, and for square bills I can use either a longer rod or a shorter rod but it depends on what the size of the baits I'm throwing. Now, not knowing any of the variables mentioned above, there is a rod I think will work well for all and it will only set you back $75+ shipping costs. Over at FFO, there is a Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth 6'10" MH-MF casting rod, I already have one, that rod isn't soft or parabolic in action. What you get is a stout rod that flexes further down the blank to help keeping the fish pinned with trebles without being parabolic. That rod will work with square bills 3/8oz and up, it will work for the same size traps and top waters as well as it is rated 3/8oz to 1oz. There are rods that will work better for one technique or another but for a rod that can do them all and do them well at your price level, the ET Smallmouth 6'10" MH-MF is the rod for you.

I fish a shallow rocky river for smallmouth, the way I decide what to throw is depth. If you are fishing 6' depth on average, find a bait that rund between 6' to 8', and remember, you can take a bait that maybe runs a little too deep and use heavy line to keep it higher in the water. Most square bills will work in rock, and even though balsa cranks take a beating, the high floatation allows the m to float out when you hit a spot that grabs the crank and brings it to a grinding halt. You'd be amazed at how effective a DT-6 is around rocks in the 4' 7' zone. EDIT: I almost forgot, a Rapala DT Thug, I've been impressed with them in rock, 5' to 7' is the zone fo4 12# Big Game line with a DT Thug.

I have a couple 7'ML-F rods and they were all closer to medium power rods and they were fine but I needed something a little softer. I ended up getting a St. Croix Avid X 7'ML-F, I was actually torn between that rod and the 6'9" ML-XF because the extra fast model has some more backbone so it it rated to 1/2oz but the tip was just a hair too soft, the 7' ML is perfect. I throw micro jigs that are 1/16oz up to 3/16oz in both silicone and rubber along with hair jigs and it is perfect for it. You got enough tip to cast but it is far from a buggy whip, it is a true fast action that isn't going to overpower the smalle size 2 Aberdeen hooks but still has the backbone to drive a more stout hook like 1X strong with no problem at all.

That was one of my favorite rods in the line up and as others said, it isn't very moderate in action. I like using mine for ripping lipless cranks out of weed and spinnerbaits and chatterbaits have been great as well. I also like square bills but the rod is very stout, it loads up further down the blank with a stiffer tip section so it feels like there isn't much give but there is. I'm guessing it was designed for shallow cranks banging through cover and deep diving baits. I'm also guessing you are looking at it over on FFO, if so and you are looking for a little shorter cranking rod there is one there. The Fenwick HMG GT72MFCB, I have the new version of the rod but it is the same action, it is a strange, but great rod. It is a 7'2" medium power, but it is rated for 1/4oz to 1oz baits and it handles that range really well. Over there they listed it as a medium power, fast action crankbait rod, but it is actually a 7'2" medium fast action crankbait rod, the original never listed a power because the tip was more medium power that went into a nice backbone that allowed it to handle weights more in the MH range, that is how it was explained to me. Anyway, that rod will handle cranks much better as it is more of a cranking rod than the 6'10" MH-MF ET Smallmouth. Just for the record, I do think the smallmouth rod is incredible but the HMG is going to feel similar to the 7'2" St. Croix you had as the actions are going to be closer because the smallmouth rod will feel too stout.

They use a size 4 hook and if you are having a hard time waking them then I suggest replacing the hooks and rings with stock. Either use the Owner ST-36 or the Mustad KVD Elite treble, not the short shank and I'll explain why. For split rings you can get the VMC size 3, those will work fine, and the reason you don't want short shank hooks with heavy duty split rings right now is because you aren't good at walking the bait yet. When you use the short shank trebles it is for upsizing and even split rings, heavy duty ones add to the weight, if there are 2 baits you do not want to add weight to, it is a jerkbait and a topwater, especially a walking one. When you get good with walking the bait, then by all means, do whar 0119 told you to do, up size the hooks for better landing percentage and heavy duty split rings to make sure they don't bend out at all. The reason is like a said, the upgrades add weight causing the bait to sit lower in the water which will make it harder to walk when you are just learning. Remember, size #4 treble hook and a size #3 split ring.

Are you having fun or just don't want to get a melting furnace?? I do my lead casting in the house, I have a basement that I made into a work area and I have 2 windows, one in the back of the basement, and one in the front. I have a small window fan in the back that sucks air in from outside and a small fan on the front that pushes air out, if I light a candle you can see the flame move toward the front window and that is how I know the air is circulating well. That said, the lead dust is the bad part, it gets on your hands and your clothes and if you don't wash up after messing with it, you end up ingesting it and it is how you get lead poisoning. The fumes aren't a problem with a melting furnace that you can control the heat, as long as you keep the lead at or below 900 degrees you'll be fine but you can't do that on a hot plate or campfire or a coleman stove. When you melt scrap lead the impurities will burn off and it will stink, those are the fumes to worry about, I don't get that much because I buy my lead from Rotometals, it allows me to control my alloys because I purchase both pure lead ingots and 3% to 5% antimony ingots and the lead is pretty clean, when I flux it, very little slag or dross comes to the top that has to be skimmed off. If you are serious about getting started then do so but only do it when you feel you can afford the initial start up cost, doing it without experience and trying to cut corners is a disaster waiting to happen, it is a fun and rewarding hobby if you take the time to do it right, but cut corners or rush it and there will be problems, good luck.

Selling to "Mom & Pop" shops is the wrong way to go for small volume. Back in the day before the internet, this is how you would get name recognition but now a days all you have to do is start a face book page and take to social media. The problem with selling low volume to tackle shops is that if you make a lure, and figure out the price to be $5.00, well the tackle shop is going to have to make money on it too, that means you have to sell to the stores for even less and that cuts into profit big time. Most stores will only pay 30-35% of original cost, that allows them to make enough profit that they are willing to give shelf space for your product. Then there is a thing called FET or Federal Excise Tax, that is 10% on everything fishing related you sell, so that has to be figured into the cost. If you decide to do it "under the radar" meaning you make and sell baits without obtaining a business license or Tax I.D. number, well if you get caught you can lose everything, especially if you don't keep records on what you pay out for material or bring in from sales, that is when the IRS agent will guesstimate how much you make and it isn't going to favor you. The reason you will get caught is because there are guys that do this for a living, and if you are doing it but not reporting your take, well you can really undercut a legitimate business because you aren't paying the taxes and fees and the traditional cost of doing business and when you begin to do that you'll end up getting reported. I actually don't blame guys for reporting others, I never did it because I had a day job, but if I was trying to survive on what I was making by manufacturing and/or selling baits, yeah, I might be inclined to report a hobby business not paying taxes because that business can really give a much lower price as I have to make sure taxes, fees, and profits are built in each bait.

Bomber Square A - cheap and is a killer in both sizes, these tend to be a little smaller than others. Bill Norman Fat Boy - Wide range of colors and this just clobber them. Cotton Cordell Big-O - They just work, plain and simple and they have a nice selection of colors.

Join Tackle Underground, they have a section just for soft plastics and there are a lot more people that can help so you will an answer quicker. As for the problem you're having, what type of bait and are you using salt? Salt will cloud your colors up, you could also be scorching your plastic, a lot of variables at play so you have to be a little more specific with things like your heat source.

Welcome to the forum!!! What kind of top waters are you talking about? What you have to do is get a rod that will work across the weight ranges you intend to use. For example, if you like throwing 1/2oz spinnerbaits and then a 1/8oz tiny torpedo top water, well that can present a problem. So what is the smallest lure you plan to fish with it and the largest bait you plan to use? Once you know that you can narrow down the choices, at least you didn't say crankbaits, that opens an entire new can of worms.

Are you setting the hook with force? What rod are you using? Remember, those are light wire hooks, you can land 7lbers on them without bending but the right tackle is important. Your line, rod, and reel all play a part. I use 6lb and 8lb line when using jigs with Aberdeen hooks and with 8lb line you need to make sure your drag is set n the loose side.

We used this technique for years without it having a name, we used a half of a Senko on a 1/16oz ball head jig with 6lb line. There are a few different reasons for the mushroom head, the first reason is that the head is a little more flat and broad and that helps it come through weeds a little better, and it also helps slow the fall. The other reason is it provides a larger surface area in which to glue the bait and it makes the transition from head to bait seamless. The biggest thing people forget about is that the Gopher style head with the double barb that is pictured, is that because of the collar with the double barbs it makes the head a center balance jig meaning that when you stop swimming the bait it will fall horizontally, a head without a collar will fall nose down so the presentation is a little different. Bait Junky's ned headz mold is a perfect example of how the rig is morphing back into the jig worm it originated from. Ned Kedhe uses a 1/32oz with a size #6 and sometimes a #4 hook, he also uses a 1/16oz with a size #4 hook and the largest head he uses is a 3/32oz with a size #2 hook, but he is fishing it on light line with light tackle in clear or slightly stained water where the presentation is natural with a slow fall. Guys using heavy line with heavy weights and hooks are fishing a jig worm, not a Ned rig and I don't really care so much but anglers should know the difference, you use a 3/16oz or 1/4oz with a 2/0 hook, you're fishing a jig worm, the difference is as stark as nigh and day.

I had a business making and selling lures, but it was more of a hobby because I still had the day job. The only way I would have been able to go full time was to invest a lot of money and that would have required either hitting the lottery or getting a loan. Manufacturing can make money but it has to be done on a large scale, most companies that have soft plastics get manufacturing plants to make their product, like D&J or Harry-O, you pay to have production molds designed and made and they will shoot your baits for you and send them out for you to package but it takes a sizable investment to get started. My advise would be to go to college and get a degree in business administration or marketing and save up and go from there. A lot of guys have businesses like mine was, and that was low volume specialty products and my business catered to a small group of tournament anglers. I made jigs just like you can buy in a store but because of the low volume I could focus on detail and it gave me a small amount of market share but it is a niche market and you don't make enough like that to quit your day job. I don't want to discourage you, if you have a strong enough desire you can make anything work, but you have to be smart about it, go to TW and click on hard baits and then scroll down and look at the list of manufacturers and realize that is what you have to compete against. The good news is that we, as anglers are always looking for the next greatest thing and all it takes is that one bait that could change your entire life, RAD lures had it happen with the chatterbait, but the odds are very low so you need a strong desire, good luck.

Lead melts at approximately 621 degrees F, it does not vaporize and go into the air until it gets over 960 degrees F. So having good ventilation is recommended but it is due to impurities and the odor and not lead fumes. That said, when people want to get into casting lead, I always makes sure to tell them not to go cheap, buy the best melting furnace you can afford and I'll tell you why. The first reason is safety, molten lead will splash and get on your skin and instantly stick causing a nasty 2nd degree burn and possibly 3rd degree if you can get it off fast enough. The next reason is the learning curve, the gates on jig and lure molds are small and melting lead in a pot on a stove or hot plate means you'll be using a ladle to pour, this takes time to get it right and be consistent so you end up with having a lot of hooks with partial pours that need to be done over by melting the lead off the hook and trying again. The other problem is temperature control, lead can vaporize if it gets too hot, but it also changes color and becomes brittle when overheated and it is tough to keep it in the right zone. Now, there is a product called the "Hot Pot 2" from Palmer, it is an electric ladle, it has pouring spots on the sides and you can melt lead in it and pour with it. The problem is that it will only hold 4lbs of lead and if you use it to pour, it is a lot of weight to try to pour a 1/4oz jig with, this is the hardest way to pour. You can buy a small ladle and a precision melting pot from LEE, it holds 4lbs and lets you dip with a ladle, I use it for pouring spinnerbaits because I pour those with a ladle, but my jigs are now poured out of an RCBS pro melt. If you want to get into pouring jigs, the precision melting pot and a small ladle will run $50 shipped, it will be safe and relatively inexpensive and it will work but the downside is you will need to learn the ladle on your own and it may take some time to get the hang of it. The next in line would be the 10lb LEE Production pot IV, it is a bottom pour pot that runs $60, these work great and I used mine for years, the downside is they can drip after a bit but as long as you melt clean lead you shouldn't have a problem. That brings me to my last point, the lead itself, be careful of scrap lead, there are different types of lead, some of it is hard lead, and some of it is soft lead and you need to be aware of what you have so you don't ruin your pot. Wheel weights are what a lot of us, including myself, use to use but lead started getting beat up by activist groups so the lead content got lowered and zinc was added and to tell you how bad zinc contamination is, a single 1/2lb ingot I made with a zinc wheel weights, ruined a full 10lbs of lead, it became a thick consistency and I could not pour with it, so I had to dump it out and clean my pot, and I was lucky. Some guys I know actually had like 5 or 6lbs of them they melted down and it actually ruined a friend's pot, it stuck to the liner and inside the spout and he had to send it back to LEE to get it refurbished. When you buy a new pot from LEE now, they include a warning in the manual and on a separate paper that tells you not to use wheel weights, and so if you don't know the good from the bad, don't use them, as for hard and soft lead, hard lead is more difficult to pour in molds that have tight spaces or extra fine detail but it is something you will learn down the road. There is a lot to know about casting lead, and if you start out on the cheap it can get frustrating, so do your homework and get a decent melting pot and join Tackle Underground, you can get a lot of help with casting in the wire baits section.

The idea is you get a rod made for you, and only for you that you plan to keep. Not everyone plays that game of buying high end rods and then sell them 3 years down the road to get something else, that is like leasing cars.

I told them that and they said that was what their customers wanted. I said that the only cavities of use are the 1/8oz, when you go to 3/16 and 1/4oz it is no longer a NED rig. They should have made it with 2 cavities at 1/16oz, and 2 at 1/8oz and if they wanted to make it 6 cavities I'd love to see 2 cavities at 3/32oz and built around the Owner 5313 or the Gamakatsu 604 hooks. When I saw it I thought about it but paying that kind of money for a mold that I'll only use the 1/8oz cavities is out of the question. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that, I know guys are wanting to use a beefier hook for heavier line but not at the expensive of making the heads to heavy for that rig but that is just me.