Jig Man

Thank you gentlemen. The stabilizer is on its way right now. Today I'm going to see if the shop micro has a reduced heat setting and cut the warm up time to 15 second shots.

What the hell is heat stabilizer and where can I get it?

I hope this doesn't bore you to tears. But here we go. I have been making bass plastics for years and have not had the scorch problem as I am making big baits. My boat got Tboned in September and is not fixed yet. So I have been bumming rides to the water with anyone I can get to take me. An old friend who has quit tournament fishing and started crappie and white bass fishing has been taking me to a new world. We are fishing 30-40' deep and catching lots of crappie, walleye, white bass, as well as a few spots, smallies, and once in a while a lmb. Yesterday those picky peculair picky, did I say picky crappie would only hit on pink (of all things) and cotton candy. I had to borrow stuff and that chafed my behind. I have made 9 individual molds and some home made injectors to remedy this situation (I called some places which make this bait and was told they are 1000s behing). I mixed us some stuff and got the pink and cotton candy colors that I want. My big problem is reheating the plastic. The colors don't stay. My pink became orange and my cotton candy just got really nasty. So bait gurus what do I need to do to reheat without scorching. I have been doing it by 15 second intervals.

I am between jobs so I check it several times each day when I am home.

For two days I could not get on this site. It would not recognize my mouse at all except to let me log off, then, I couldn't log back on until Friday evening.

I leave mine in the pot. Most of the time I add a little lead back as I shut down but not always. A couple of times per year I take all the lead out and clean the pot out.

X2 That is where I buy all of mine.

Do you think painted aluminum soffet would work. I have a bunch of it from tornado damage this spring. Also can someone post a pic so I can see how you have fashioned it before you glued it in?

You might save a few bucks and get replacement parts. I have one pot that is close to 20 years old. I just rebuild what ever is needed to keep it going.

Check Barlows, Stamina, Jann's

I have been wire tying different skirts to baits longer than most of you have been alive. I have been using the windings on an old table saw motor for 15 years and have thousands more to do. It will work on anything I have ever used except for craft hair and bucktail. It isn't as easy as the rubber bands but won't rot or rust.

I have both and use both. The draw back for me on the twisted is line wrapping around the wire. The draw backs for me on the R bend is line sliding up the wire and the wire bending out when I am using braid and get hung in some brush. That said I like the twisted best.

We had 20# of it and it all stuck together and was completely useless. We tried all kinds of way to get it to seperate but nothing worked. It is now making methane.

Do-It has them for $74 per/1000. If you can use more than that, maybe they will cut you a little slack. They did for me a few years ago on some drop swivels. H2Fishing do you have any pics of your method. I use Surflon sometimes but glue it in after painting.

When I use wire I use copper. I'm not sure of the gauge as it is out of an old table saw motor. You want it strong enough to be able to pull it tight with 2 pairs of pliers.

The only thing holding me off is the price for a 1 cavity mold.

If they have salt in them it will go to the bottom even if you stir it. I have been using a bunch of old plastic lately to enlargen some tubes. When the old stuff is cooled off I have to cut a bunch of salt off the bottom even though I stir it often.

I have made a few in the past but never quite got the hang of it. I'll check out Bear's setup. I am sure it will be light years above my home made injection walleye baits. Thanks for the input guys.

I make most everything that I use except tubes and brush hogs. My normal tube supplier runs out this time of year and doesn't reorder until about March. I'm getting kind of tire of this and he has gone up 2 or 3 times this year. I normally go through 2-300 tubes in a year's time and only use 4 colors all in 4". What say you tube makers, should I get or make some molds and do my own or buy from one of you guys? I use what I call melon/pepper but the store calls it green/pumpkin, smoke/red, black/neon, and pumpkin/seed.

I am glad that you got the problem sort of isolated. Different metals sure do have different reactions. During delivery I used to always stress to the customer about steel nuts and aluminum wheels and the need to check the nuts often on their boat trailers. I don't know how many did but I always felt better for letting them know.

The last time I looked into having a custom made mold it ran into the hundreds of dollars for what I wanted so I passed. If you want someone to make the mold then make your baits you better open your wallet widly.

Here is one with gold flakes. Smelly Jelly Scent Impregnated Fishing Tubes

Places for lead: Home remodlers take 40# out of old shower stalls Hospitals have lead containers for radio active meds that they have to pay to get hauled off Some roofing companies have used lead flashing Any hospital remodling will have lead from lining X-Ray rooms Metal recycling places sometimes have lots of it laying around and it is usually cheap From those places I have gotten over 300 lbs in the last few years.