cadman

I buy my eyes from there as well. I have yet to find any other place where the eyes stick as good as from WTP. It is cheaper to buy from them direct.

RS, Forgot to mention, that if you want to match that color on your jig head. The perfect color would be brown crustacean with green and orange glitter. O black bottom with brown top and then green and orange glitter. Finally you can also try rootbeer powder paint and add some accent glitters. It will come out dead on.

My choice would be #378 Big Texan. Problem is I'm looking at the skirts and they match to your picture really close. The pics on fishingskirts.com and the ones in my hand don't match. So other than me physically holding your bait in my hand and matching it, it's a crap shoot. Every color monitor portrays colors differently. BTW nice color bait.

Jeff, This is what I would try if I were to make these from scratch again. If this idea works you will owe me royalties as I thought of it first. LOL #1. Find the hook you want to use. #2. Find a mold that will pour a small round or cylindrical weight on the hook as a ballast. This mold might have to be custom made. #3. From this point on, you will have to make a silicone or RTV mold, that will be cut out for the profile of the jig you want, in which it will have the head profile cavity and also the cavities for hook clearance. #4.Place hook with molded on ballast into silicone mold. Probably a two piece mold. Pour in or inject the hot glue into the mold. #5. Weight for it to cool. I am sure that you will be able to separate the new jig head out of the silicone cavity. #6. Finally take it out and see if it works. If it does send me a check, if it doesn't start over.LOL I would try this whole process above with what Nathan mentioned and that was silly putty. See if that works first before making a custom silicone or RTV mold. Some other thoughts on this. I don't think that an aluminum mold is your answer to your final pour for your hot glue. Reason being, is that many of the current Do-It molds are not as polished in the cavities as the old molds. These molds are sand cast and they have craters small imperfections in the cavities. So what happens is, as you pour hot glue (and I've seen this happen in lead as well) into the cavities, everything in the cavity gets filled, even the small craters, which makes the jig difficult to release. To solve this problem, you would have to polish the mold cavity, so it would be as smooth as a baby's a$$. With that said, if you insist on using aluminum, the better choice would be to have a mold machined, as machining if done correctly from the tool path is smooth and flawless. Using a mold release agent does help for lead and I am a big proponent of using it as it makes life easier for everyone who is a beginner to the expert who has that one problem mold. The release I use is for lead and it is called Drop-out. You can buy it at all the places you buy your lead molds. However I don’t know if it will work on hot glue. Try it and let us know. Also there was mention here from other members of using baby powder or unscented talcum powder, maybe even Gold Bond. Try these as well and see what happens. These are my thought on how I would proceed if it were me. No guarantees here. Let us know how it goes

Your analogy on colors is somewhat true. I personally only fish three colors black/blue, green pumpkin and brown. These have been the most productive for me most of the time. I will toss in a all black jig and a all white jig in the mix once in awhile. I also believe that many colors are lake specific and many colors are confidence colors. With that said I too believe that many of the multi-color jigs and spinnerbaits you see out on the market are there to sell to fishermen. I guess that's why we keep buying and trying we want to find that one color that will load up the boat all the time. We all know that, that is not the everyday scenario. I agree that many of the big companies overcharge for powder paint and many colors don't even come in to play in catching bass, but people like colors and that's why it sells. However one last note and that I strongly believe that walleye are color sensitive. When I started out fishing for walleye, sauger and saugeye years ago, they seemed to like very bright colors, so color might be species specific as well. Lot of info and choices out there for guys.

If you are referring to their illusion line-up, it is a silver vein powder paint base and then a candy color applied over that. The silver vein and candy color powders are available anywhere ( Dupont, Sherwin Williams, etc...) The thing with these two powders are that they are private labeled, and some companies have good powder and some is poor. You don't know what you are getting. Dupont and Sherwin Williams are very good powders, however now you run into quantity. Buying from these companies, usually requires buying a 55 lb box if you want good pricing. So now what are you going to do with 55 lbs? All the other colors of Boss Armor are just custom blended powder paints made to someones color choice. To me it is no better than anyone else's. I'm not saying anything negative about their powder paint. They are all good if you do your homework and follow directions. Let's face it we all have to pay what the market value is, unless you have a source to buy your own. I am fortunate to have many powder paints available to me, therefore I rarely buy from CSI and have never bought the Boss powder paint as I can have my own made.

Better is a relative term. The best or ideal powder paint formulation is TGIC powder paint. I know that CSI powder paint is a TGIC powder. Now I also know the formulation of Boss Armor paint, however I will not reveal the chemical make-up. Let's put it this way. Both companies make very good powder. The question you have to ask yourself is it worth $8 for 2 oz. My answer to that is no, however if you don't look for other companies to buy powder from, than you will have to pay their price. The most critical element of powder painting is to bake it properly to get the correct hardness.

I've only seen it there. I had a chemist looki into having it formulated, and not worth my time, money and effort. Everything can be done as it's not magic. Anyway I don't personally use it. I know some guys do and they like it.

X3

If you tell me what mold you have or are looking to purchase, I probably have it ans can post pics on how the screw-lok fits in the mold

I heat the jig swish it through the paint, and hang on allthread by the hook with the head down. Like Jig Man said if you don't overcoat them you won't get paint in the eyes and you won't get paint to sag and look like tear drops. Practice make perfect.

Stephen, Here is some info for you. Read the PDF first, then take a look at the pics. If you need more help just ask, and I will get the info for you. 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf 3 Screw Locks.pdf

I hold mine with forceps and they don't slip at all. Grab the foot ball head by the ring, while holding hook in hand. Heat head, swish, tap hang on rack.

I have both of these if you can wait a couple of hours I will have a ll the info you need.

Below is a skirt from fishingskirts.com #276 (Missouri Craw) with a matching jig head. You might like this skirt as it's an all in one, instead of putting strands together. Just a thought. There are a lot of interpretations of a Missouri Craw, some darker and some lighter depends on what appeals to you, and the biggest critic the fish.

Dave, Thanks for everything. I replied to your PM with my info.

Yes a 28° or 30° hook should fit. However all hook sizes will not fit all mold cavities.

Dave, I only found 1/0 not the 1's. I'm still looking.

Yes they are compatible. The EC version is less costly than the Mustad version. I have also found that the EC version is slightly thinner in diameter than the Mustad version. Don't know if that matters to the OP

I haven't seen this hook in awhile. Maybe someone has some old stock somewhere.

Yes there are three alternatives. Mustad #32886 or Mustad #91768 or a 30 degree Gami, will fit that mold. The Mustad #32886 are strong hooks.

Devcon 2 Ton works much better, bu tit is not as clear as E-Tex.

Hey Jig Man, those are smokin.hot. When I used to fish walleye, sauger and saugeye, my tackle box looked like that. Man 'o' man that makes me drool. Excellent job on the ties. PS: Glad you got your pic situation to work.

Hey Jeff, I tried this awhile ago, except i didn't get the good results that you did. Here is what I did. I originally tried the glue stick to put in weedguards, only to find, that after awhile the glue would soften from sitting in the water and the weedguards started to pull out. Then I started to make them in my molds. Had a few come out ok, but the cure time was very long. Seemed like a very messy time consuming process. Also another failure was that I originally didn't paint them and again they softened. I then air brushed them and although somewhat better definitely not bullet proof. Your info is definitely interesting. Some other things I have tried: Expanding foam: Very long cure time, a mess to use with Do-It molds. Concrete: Very hard to get in mold hole. Definitely would need a new way to pour. Many bad non-filled pours. Drywall compound mixed with fiberglass strands: Pours really well, too soft, breaks easy. Bondo easy to pour, too soft. Durham wood putty, too soft All 2 part epoxies. Not too difficult to pour. Cure time time not too bad, hard as a rock, but doesn't want to release from a mold. Probably need to make molds out of RTV, silicone or some soft flexible rubber. On all of these attempts, to speed up cure time air holes placed in strategic places would solve many issues for complete drying and curing. Just some stuff that I tried.

I am going to go with Living Image #370 Spotted Tabasco as I have that color in house. However your color looks a lot brighter than my skirt. It could be your excellent photography and lighting or like mentioned differing monitor colors.