kingfish

I experimented a while back on suspending bucktail jigs for walleye and ended up using a 3/8 oz roundhead mold with the regular aberdeen hook and instead of lead I used a hot glue gun to make the jighead. Paint and tye with bucktail and ended up with a fairly neutral bouyancy, using more bucktail made the jig more bouyant. I tried different molds and hooks for different rigs and although it is light to cast by itself the idea worked quite well.

Thanks Party Crasher that would be great

Hey Folks Any ideas where I could get a lead mold similar to the Do-it mold Walleye Jig WHJ-7-AR that is in the 3/4 - 1.5 oz range? Still useing the aberdeen hooks, recessed eyes, and a decent sized collar. Thanks

Practice and use what works for you, all the comments you get are great and will work but you will develop your own style with time. Personally I tye with large flat nylon thread and one clump for each colour of bucktail I want with a solid knot and very little cement. I get small collars with what most would say is too much bucktail but it works for me.

I made a bunch a few years back with the glue gun method and a 1/4 oz Do-It mold, painted the heads three tone with rattle cans, tied on a sparse amount of bucktail in three colors and sold them as suspending bucktails for walleye. The glue is fairly neutral bouyancy and the air cells in the bucktail compensates for the weight of the hook.

I've used strips of cardboard about 1 inch wide and 12 inch long, put the hook through the cardboard and bury the point into the other side. I've used rattle cans for primer then paint desired color and finish with dots of different sizes by using the back end of small drill bits and then clear coat.

I have been using stainless wire, 0.009" and rated 12 lb test. Made by Williams and called Duro-Lus, it came on a spool of 500 ft and even with that amount it still fits nice with a large fly tying bobbin.

Try drilling a small hole in the bait and epoxy the feather shaft into it. I've used small finishing nails with bucktail tied to them with good results, just drill a hole and plug it with the nail and bucktail combo along with lots of epoxy and make sure the nail head is inside or flush with the baits exterior.

Bucktail I can dye it to almost any color, two tones whatever. It's tough, commonly fish for Musky and Pike that are very toothy. I can get a good number of lures tied from a single tail so expense is limited.(dependent on lure size of course) Overall I prefer the look of well tied bucktail, either in the water or dry. Lapala hope I'm not too far off center with this reply about bucktail but this is my preference.

I like to use spinnerbait molds with stainless wire to mold the head onto a straight section of wire, make a loop for a split ring and add solid metal beads for extra body in front of the molded head, tye bucktail to the back and a blade and clevis to the front with a loop and you're done. Brass bodies are nice but I like the beads, first I think it distributes any possible damage to the wire shaft by having the lure flex the whole length of the lure and you can get a whack of beads relatively cheap and use them for many lure styles.

I've used the head cement available for tying flies with good results but found the cost to be a little high due to the number of bottles I'd go through and so I started to experiment. Clear nail polish works well but smells and is also more than I'd like to spend, the brush worked well for application to the threads. The past several years I've been using a product called Fabri-Tac that is clear, waterproof, fast grab, and quick bonding, it's made by a company called Beacon in Mt. Vernon NY, www.beacon1.com. I thin it down with a reducer for automotive paint called Centari and use head cement applicator bottles to apply to the threads. You'll find many different methods of doing the same thing from the people on this site and all will work, this is just a method I've used that is fast, inexpensive, never comes undone.

Has anybody experimented with putting eye screws into 16 lb foam? I'm thinking of using a good two part epoxy glue, also has anyone used foam in Do-It molds? Did a search and ended up with a weeks worth of reading. If the answer is available I'm sure it's from some of you guys. Thanks Dan

I use the DO-IT mold for 2/0 snag trebles to make wieghted inlines and spinnerbaits, I use stainless wire from the eye of the treble and mold it in place with the lead and an eye in the wire at the bottom of the treble to attach the next hook. I also tie bucktail to the hook above the lead.

I went with the place noted in the tutorials from Florida, the broker fee was almost as expensive as the foam. I didn't look too far for a local supplier, good luck with the search.

I've tied bucktail jigs in an all white and used partially filled cans of dye over a camp stove with the hook on the rim and the head with about 2/3 of the jig in the dye just hanging in grooves cut in the can. I was going for a red body with the bucktail tips still white, I'm sure they would take on any combination of color, they will bleed up the hollow hairs so keep an eye on them.

I made a pair from needle nose pliers by heating one side of the plier tips with a propane torch and slowly bending to a 90 degree then shaping with a file to a sharp some what rounded point. The other side of the pliers was then shortened and shaped with the file to allow small rings to fit over and allow the pliers to barely close without the tip touching and allow the rings to be seperated when the pliers are closed. I started out with the inexpensive slit ring pliers and soon bent them then fixed them and finally tossed them, with needle nose pliers from cheap tool stores or yard sales you can make a set that will last for cheap. Sorry no pictures but I'll help if these instructions are too confusing.

You might find it easier to move the lure rather than creating current by moving the water, I've worked with a couple designs with one for topwaters and the other for divers. For topwater lures it was a circular tank about four feet wide and one foot deep with a motor in the center and a rigid spoked wheel that we tied lures to at the end of the spokes, the other was a 35 gal aquarium with two wheels and a fan belt sitting over top of the water that had bike spokes punched through the belt and the other end of the spoke below water level this is where you tied the lure onto a clip and the belt ran between the wheels. Both set ups ran very well with variable speed adjustments, easy lure changing, and very good visibility for customers since these were made to demonstrate new product lines at sportsman shows. Lure size is limited however, I don't think a seven inch plus lure would run well in the diver tank due to the turning required at each end. These designs with the tank, variable speed motor, aquarium filter and so on ran in the 1000.00 plus range. I hope this isn't too confusing, I don't have access to the tanks anymore so I can't even send photo's but I'll try to answer any questions. Dan