Millerman

I had a pair of sloar bats as well....had to send them aback and had a replacement set within 5 days. highly recommend...as opposed to costas. Don't get me wrong, the costas a good...the company sucks though.

I have a pair of costas and had to send them in for repair. I had no responses to emails or pphone calls and it took months to get them fixed. This was one bad expeience. I would not but another pair from them. customer service was non-existant. This was about 3 years ago. maybe things have changed?

Here is a production jig with Owner hook in a 3/16 with a wire grub keeper. Kind of a knockoff of the bitsy bugs, look under "lethal bug" www.customlures.net

skipping jigs?....go with something light, like an 1/8 oz or 3/16oz. The other thing that helps is a broad trailer to help it "float" over the water. Pretty much any head type will skip as along as the jig is light enough. You can also mess with your skirt strand count to get more bulk which helps the float effect. I skip often with a St Croix 6'2" Avid MXF, 30 lb filreline and a Team Daiwa -x HSDF using 1/8 oz jigs with pork or craw trailer. My skip is more of roll cast than a straight side arm cast that "fires" the jig in there. Hop this helps.

Get an attorney that specializes in patents. Dig out your wallet and hope is has $10,000 plus in it. Once the attorney files for the patent, you are protected. This is a long process that costs big bucks. Good luck.

This guy is the one that wrote the article. email him for a copy. http://www.tritonmike.com/askmike.html

http://www.tackleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=737

a guy that goes by the name of "Triton Mike" provided an in depth article on this on another website. Ithink it was either tackleunderground or bass fishing home page. I didnt bookmark it but I would start there.

pic of swim jig

pic of 1/8 oz PT jig

swim jig barb--on the downside

please excuse the fuzziness.

Ebby, There is a guy in LaCrosse, WI that makes a PT jig with a grub keeper. You do not want the screw locks with a wide gap hook.your trailers will bunch up and not run straight. The keeper the guy has is a single L-bend that works awesome. Before you go further on trying to create molds and such, Please email this guy to see if he has what you need. I will post a pic a little later. His name is Brad Whitacre. his email is whitacrebrad at yahoo *

The guy out east will need an actual unit you want to copy. Once created, you can alter the mold with an exacto knife or dremel very easily. With buying the silicone direct from Polytek, you will need to create your own mold which is kind of fun. Again, you will need an actual unit you want to copy and alter the mold from there. understand that this really isnt as easy as you may think it is. I spent about 6 months trying to perfect what I want. As you taste changes, you will want to create more molds. After all the trial...I find it easier to use mass produced jigs or find a small tackle guy taht will pour somthing close to what you are looking for.

Silicone works well and lasts up to 1000-3000 pours per cavity. Taht should be plenty for any personal use. For 35 bucks it is worth a shot (no?). Beats the $150.00+ for a CNC'd mold. The silicone is specail heat resistant with a built in release agent. Please contact Polytek and ask them questions if you do not beilieve. CAll and tell them the use. They will tell you the tinsel 60-70 is what you need , I think (its been a while)

IMHO--Sickle hooks are junk. I returned the weighted ones from Venom..I keep most everything. I bent it out on a 12" fish. After 6 hours and 3 fish, I returned them. bad batch? maybe. Eighter way I stick with Falcon's or H & H Flutter heads for my weighted hooks. EWG wide gap gammies get my vote for unweighted hooks as well.

WWW.POLYTEK.COM Will get you silicone to make a mold. Or, George at Custom jigs and spin in NY will make a silicone mold for 35 bucks.

www.superpork.com and can be found at ***.com

Thanks for the info Jeff. I will get send Gman a PM. LOW, PM Sent!

I forgot the second part of this...how do you propose making that hollow core where the line goes? a guy could stick a rod in it, but how do you get the rod out once the lead is poured around it?

another pic

Okay guys, I dug these out of the archive. Who know what brand these are? These are about 1/2-3/4 oz, bullet style, line thru head design, line pops out below the hook similar to Vertical Lures, long shank, round bend hook. The line used to tie to an 0-ring that was slipped around the hook. This jig is about 15-20 years old. Just curious if anybody knows the brand?

Munkin, Where you able to get the fiber weedguard in any of those at all? I beleive the heavy gammy is a 5941? That is the hook I prefer if I have a choice.

Thanks guys, I didn't think of the solder trick. I have a silicone mold of a custom 1/8 oz but dislike pouring as I am not set up very well. I am always looking for other options.

I think I will stick with Uncle Josh or Super Pork after this conversation!!