cadman

I used to fish those years ago in the 70's when I fished for perch in downtown Chicago. It sure made a difference back then. I always had one rod with a wedding ring and one without and my buddy didn't have any. I definitely got more fish with mine. They were about 79 cents back then for a snelled hook with a small spinner, wedding ring and beads. I thought it was expensive back then.

Gami's 604 will not work in that mold. However Mustad, 32746 3/0 will fit in the 1/4 oz and the 1/2 oz. On the 4/0 you can make it fit in the 1/4 oz with a little effort but it fits fine in the 1/2 oz. Just a note, the hook eye portion on the mold halves seems big for the 32746 hook eye. In my experience, when you have that much space around the hook eye in the mold the hook eye wants to fill with lead. However, that might not be the case. I just got this mold so didn't have time to practice.

I have that mold. I can check tonight to see fitment .

Probably Gamis 604. It's a 90 degree hook. I don't know if there is a thicker hook. What mold are you putting this in and what size hook in which cavity?

If you are referring to a ball bearing swivel. Some come with 2 split rings on each end, others come with jump rings. Depends on what you are looking to do with it.

Thanks for the update. This is a first. I've never seen anything at Barlow's on sale for as long as I can remember.

I would put it in the middle of the lower barb on one half of the mold.

Did a quick search and looks like Luremaking. com may have some. Give them a call. You might be in luck.

I checked my stock on both brands and I have none. I also have a note on my spreadsheet that says not available since 2016. May have to look on line or e-bay.

Yes you can pour with the weedguards in place. I bought some different diameter heat shrink tubing. So for 1/8 " pins in a mold, get 1/8 or slightly smaller heat shrink tubing. Stick your loose strands in the heat shrink tubing. Make sure that the bottom of your strands that go into the mold cavity up against the hook shank is not covered by the heat shrink tubing. Close your mold half and pour your lead. Quickly open you mold take out your jig and take off your heat shrink tubing and re-use. Also make sure that you leave about a 1/4" of heat shrink tubing sticking out past the top of your strands so you can pull the heat shrink off of your weedguard once you pour the head. Just so you know this is a very slow process. If you are doing 20 jigs Ok, but I wouldn't want to do 500 jigs like this.

How big of a piece do you need? I have plenty and it's stainless steel.

You have a PM

There are several ways to do your weedguards for all the jigs that take an 1/8" pin, I would suggest using teflon pins like mentioned. For the jigs that have a smaller weedguard hole, you can use smaller diameter teflon pins if you can find them. Now if you want to use a jig that has a 1/8 " pin and you want to put in less weedguard strands, then you can use a reducer. Please contact me via PM and I can explain this easier. I do not like heavy weedguard strands(personal preference) so all of my jigs have 15 (.018) strands.

I like the .018. Reason being (just my opinion)the bass doesn't have to chomp down as hard on the jig, and the softer weedguard will depress easier to reveal the hook point quicker.

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.