Jig Man

If you can get some tin based babbitt it works as well as lead. I use it for pouring jigging spoons.

No I haven't. I have used Jann's stuff for quite a while. It works just fine for all but this application. I only use these baits in the winter and early spring. One quart will make hundreds of baits so I'd like to get it right the first time.

I make some vertical baits and would like for them to be a bit harder, something like the consistency of a slider grub if you are familiar with that. I have tried hardner without success and without hardner my plastisol is too soft. I am looking at Calhoun 2901 and 2601 but have no experience with either. Any suggestions.

Not all molds are equal or even good. I have an old spinnerbait mold that has made thousands of spinnerbaits as it was originally from a spinnerbait company. It has to be so hot that I have to have gloves on to get a collar pour. Sometimes I even have to take a propane torch and heat up the hook and wire just before pouring and that is with plumbers lead which has been fluxed and is as hot as I can get it in my Lead pot.

One thing you might want to do is loosen the drag just a bit so it will give a few inches on the initial hook set. I use a lot of 10# line on jigs and have been doing this drag thingy for years. You don't want it to be so loose that you don't get a good hook set but loose enough that it will slip just a bit.

Llama hair ties pretty easy.

If you know any doctors, nurses, or lab techs. you might be able to get the lead containers used to transport radio active medicine. I got about 100 lbs free. I also got the lead lining from an Xray room. I now have around 300 lbs of lead at 0 cost waiting to become jigs.

A friend of mine used a Dremel to make an additional barb. It works ok. I use my gate shears and make 3-4 cuts along the shank. It holds bait close to as well as Super Glue Gel.

J B Weld will hold almost anything.

I have had that same problem with a spinnerbait mold. For it to work properly, I have had to smoke the mold, and get the lead as hot as possible. Sometimes I have even had to heat the hook shank for a good pour.

I set the thing to manual. Set the sensitivity to around 80 (if you get it too high it will black out the screen). Turn the ping speed up to 100%. Set the upper and lower limits to say upper 10' and lower 20' or so deeper than you will expect to be fishing around here 80' (gives a much better pic than zoom). Check your asp if it is off turn it on, if it is on turn it up a notch. Some also turn the scroll speed up. Then put your bait under the transducer in calm water let it down some and jiggle it around. Keep messing with it until you know how your transducer is pointed. I have one of mine inside the boat angled 1/8" to starboard and 1/4" to bow. It shows the bait under the driver's console at 25'. Another one I have on the tmotor and it is supposed to be aimed straight down. The one in the back (inside) wasn't installed by me and I have yet to get a bait in its cone.

I am running the LMS 480 on the console. I like it a lot. I use an X125 on the tmotor. Both are 480X480 pixels.

I use Surflon from Barlow's. I like the 90 lb.

Check out p. 33 in Barlow's catalog. Surflon is what I use. I like the 90 lb.

I tried that method and didn't like the results. I have no plans for selling these things at this time. They are way too hard to do to sell them at a reasonable price.

My system is totally home made. I am using cattle syringes and brass tubes injecting to lead plugs. I want end color differences instead of back/belly colors.

I am not sure what you mean by the hand injectors. This is a start to finish project which I have done and have 24 different injection cavaties with a lot of time invested. I have already tried cutting them and putting them back in the cavaties. It didn't work.

They are solid baits which I am injecting so I can only inject one color. I have tried cutting them down and reinserting them and injecting another color. It does not work so I guess I am trying to piece them together now.

I have been making some slab knockers for my crappie fishing neighbor. I would like to get 2 colors but have been unsuccessful so far. I have tried putting them together over a flame like I do on bass baits but it hasn't worked well. I have also tried several different types of glue. Anyone have any suggestions?

I want to make some blades from stainless steel. I need it .010 thickness. Can anyone give me a source??

I use a Dremel tool to clean the edges of the mold then go over that with 600 grit wet dry sand paper. When pouring I spray the mold with garlic spray. The baits release easily and smell like garlic.

I use copper wire from my old table saw motor. If I were going to use thread it would be flat waxed because it is very strong.

I use enamel over the powder but I don't try to bake it on. It will scortch.

I don't smoke any of my molds. I just be sure to preheat the mold and use candle wax to flux the lead.

I am leaving next week for a lake in Arkansas which has stripers in it. I made up some spoons this week so I can give them a try while I am down there. I can't decide whether or not to dress the hooks and if I do, what colors to use for stripers.