Leaderboard

On the bismuth or tin, all you have to do is empty your current pot of lead and put in the tin or bismuth. If you are going to do a couple of jigs for samples, take an old tablespoon or a small ladle, put a small chunk of tin, and heat the spoon/ladle with a torch and pour it into a hot mold. You can heat the cavity of the mold with a torch to to warm it up as well. Tin has a low melting point about 425 degrees lower than lead. I don't know how strong it is though. Bismuth is very hard, as I have poured bismuth jigs for the guys in Massachusetts. On the jigs, the walleye jig has a 90 degree hook, so I don't know if that is an issue for you. The other two are 60 degree hooks. You can incorporate a weedguard slot like Jig Man mentioned it is not complicated.

It’s easy to make a weedguard slot. All you have to do is cut a piece of wire just bigger than the weedguard, tape it in place, put the mold. In a vice and tighten it down. I have several molds modified this way using Sevalon or Surflon wire in 25, 60 and 90#.

How about Do-It's BAT-7-A, Bat Jig Mold #3504. Maybe you can modify the hook eye to fit your hook.

Pour the 1/8 oz Snootie jig in tin. More than a third less weight than lead. Lead 11.342 grams per cubic centimeter Bismuth 9.87 grams per cubic centimeter Pewter 8.5-9.5 grams per cubic centimeter Tin 7.265 grams per cubic centimeter

Sometimes we have to experience things to find out why that lightbulb didn't work. I found that if you take a clean plastic pocket comb and use the larger end first and the smaller next, the strands of skirt making material will separate. Tip of the day.

I’m very much still looking. Your help would be most welcome

Commercial screw eyes are vulnerable if you put them in balsa baits without also epoxying the hole they’re in. A hard knock can loosen the eye and cause it to rip out. If it loosens but doesn’t rip out, water will infiltrate and ruin the bait anyway. I prefer hand twisted screw eyes epoxied into pre-drilled holes. I’ve never had a failure with them. Making a durable balsa bait, or any wood bait for that matter, is mostly about stopping water infiltration.