cadman

Wow very informative. Learn something new all the time.

I have both molds and I personally like the ZV bait better, just personal preferance, as it seems more balanced and doesn't dive nose first. You will have a choice of a raw brass(gold looking) or brass silver plated blades. I have used both and If I paint them I use the plain brass one. You can paint the plated one as well. Now when I say painted On the brass one I have painted the blade itself and the lead head. On the plated one I only paint the lead head. One thing to remember is this, if you paint the blades, you can use powder paint , however it softens the vibration. This can be a trial and error for you. I would suggest spray painting them if you decide to paint the blade. The lead head part doesn't matter. With that said I have posted in the past about having the blades made out of 6061T6 aluminum. The reason for the aluminum, is that it is lighter and should vibrate more. Also the 6061T6 alloy is a very hard alloy, so the blade won't get all beat up and bent. Brass is soft, but the aluminum is pretty hard to bend in this alloy. I have not had any of the aluminum ones made yet, as the quantity would have to substantiate the cost. E-mail sent

Thanks for the info guys.

Dlaery and JSC, On using the grease or the soap, what if any effect does it have on powder painting them after the fact.

Clint, Not mad here, I guess when the chatterbait craze came out, no-one in our area was using it as I was the first one to try it out, and being first using it I thought that I would at least catch something with it since the fish have never seen it by us. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I may have used it religiously for about 2 weeks and then sporadically after that with no success. After the first year I never went back to it. Now when I was making them back then, a guy from our club bought 5 of them from me in all yellow chartreuse. He was smokin' fish like you wouldn't believe and he came back and bought more. So apparently they do work just not for me or maybe not with my prsentation. At the time I was using the chatterbait I was a diehard crankbait user and was catching bass with my cranks, however I wasn't bringing in the quantities and quality my fellow tourney guys were. So I spoke to one of my friends and he turned me on to a jig/pig or jig and plastic trailer. I stopped throwing cranks and started catching more bass and better quality of bass with the jig/pig and have never looked back. Now I have thrown the chatterbait on and off last year but nothing to show for it, however I will throw it occasionally.

Yes I tried release on the pull pins. The 1st couple of pulls works effortlessly. But like you said it comes off after that. Because of the friction of the lead on the pull pins. I have also tried different lead composites mixing tin with soft lead. Sometimes it worked better than others. I did find that once you get the mold and the pins hot, the easiest way the pins free themselves is to pull immediately after you fill the cavity, when the lead and pull pin is still hot. I am working on some other materials for pull pins which may be easier to work with.

Fuzzy, I have used this mold extensively, and I found some things that may help you. #1 definitely use mold release, as it is hard to get full pours without it. #2 Pour only one cavity at a time. I tried to pour three cavities on one side of the mold and they poured beautifully, however when you do this it is almost impossible to pull the pull pin out. I thought I would save time as once I used the mold release every cavity always poured flawlessly. But like I mentioned it is hard to pull the pull pin from one pour let alone three. Too much friction between the steel pull rod and the ppoured lead.

Hey John, I saw all the hype with the "A" rig, and I didn't make any to try out as it didn't do anything for me. Maybe I'm old school. Although I don't have anything against them as long as the guys in the tourneys fish them acoording to state and tourney regs. With that said the "A" rig brings me back to the chattwerbait craze about 3 years ago. Although everyone and their mother was making them and selling them, I had tried them and heve never caught a fish on them, so that is probably why I didn't pursue anything with the "A" rig as it didn't do anything for me and I definitely wouldn't throw it. After years of fishing crankbaits, I finally started fishing jigs and my numbers have doubled these past two years along with fish quality. On your chatterbait idea, that is unique and seems like it would add an extra wiggle to the flukes (or whatever) on the back of the bait. let me know how you do with it when you get to really try it out. I am always curious about baitmakers that try out different things. Have a Merry Christmas as well. Ted(Cadman)

Dan and TJ, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the both of you and to all the TU nation. Also I like to send out those wishes especially to to Jerry for running this site. May all your stocking be filled with fishing tackle for next year's season. Ted (Cadman)

FuzzyGrub is correct, I use it extensively as well and never had an issue. My suggestion to you is to not use candle smoke as a release agent. From my experience, it has never worked for me, it is very messy and gets all over your hands and clothes, and finally the smoke emits an oil from the candle which goes on the mold and then onto your jig. The mold release is so much easier and it works.

All the info above is good, so do some research on the web. I know Pro-Tec is good quality powder however it is expensive. I use some of their colors, as many places do not have the color selection that Pro-Tec does. However, they are not the only place out there. For your standard colors white, black, blue, red, etc.... you can get these colors for around $10/ lb and they are just as good as Pro-Tec. Let's face it guys there isn't just a powder paint for painting lead jigs. It is a commercial powder paint that everyone in the industry uses for other powder paint applications. So don't be afraid to try other companies, the prices are usually a lot cheaper in price and more affordable.

I have all 3 of them as well, and have had no problems pouring them however, they are a little tricky powder painting them thogh.. Yes mine also do not make the original silver buddy.

That is a hard question to answer, as it is all subjective. Everyone has their own preferance. I can tell you I have had Worth blades and I think they are excellent. Now I have had Barlow's blades and Jann's Netcraft blades and the Barlow's blades seem to me to be of a better quality. You also have to take into consideration material. Most really good quality blades are stamped brass and then are nickel plated. Stamped steel blades don't even come close to a highly polished nickel blade. Also when I compare these blades, I look at the premium line of each company. Each company has a cheaper blade as well. There are other companies that make quality blades which I have not used. Hopefully you will get a lot more info here from other member's experiences.

Hi Jerry, I tried your suggestion and it works for me. When I have it set for the TU theme, I get all the ads and side banners which at that point I have to click the back arrow (3) times. When I go to the IP.Board theme, I don't have any ads or side banners, but it works with one back ckick. See pics below The top pic is in TU theme. The bottom theme is the IP.Board theme. This works for me Thanks for looking into this Jerry.

I have the problem as well. I have IE 9 on Windows 7. Thanks for looking into this Jerry.

I buy it in bigger bottles, as it is cheaper. For a clear coat top coat you want to use Devcon 2 Ton 30 minute. Do Not use the 5 minute. I get it from here see link below http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0095p?FVPROFIL=&FVSEARCH=devcon+30-minute+%3CB%3Eep%3C%2FB%3Eoxies+9

Bagger, Yes I apply it with a brush. I buy the 100 pack cheap kid's craft brushes from Walmart or Hobby Lobby. It's about $2-$4 for 100 count. I can use the same brush about 5 or 6 times, before the bristles start to curl. I clean my brush with lacquer thinner. When you clean your brush from epoxy do not leave your brush in the the lacquer thinner, put it in swish the brush arouind to clean then take out , dab dry and let air dry. If you leave the brush in lacquer thinner, the lacquer thinner will slowly desolve the bristles and curl them. You can use acetione as well. I'm sure others will reply with some more ideas and suggestions. These are only the things that work for me and I've tried. The drill bit idea works really well, and I've used it on many occasions. If you don't care about the hole size, I have also used the 1/8" hole in the Poison Tail, painted the jig, then put some glue or epoxy in the hole, put in the smaller weedguard and let dry. Then clearcoat your entire jig with epoxy. The trick to doing it this way is to use double sided tape, stick the tape onto the side of the hook and leave about 1/2" sticking past the hook. When you put your glue in the weedguard hole, then put your weedguard in it, it will be loose, however what you will do is stick the weedguard lightly against the tape. The tape will hold the weedguard straight and in the place for you until the glue dries. The reason for the doublesided tape is that it is stiffer than masking tape, and it will hold form. I've done this many times as well, this way if I have a lot of jigs to do (500 or so) I don't have to waste time with the pouring aspect of the drill bit. Also once you clear coat it you can't tell if there is a 1/8" weedguardjhole or a smaller one. The fish don't care, and I've never had any customer complaints.

bagger, I use Loc-Tite Gel super glue for my weedguard installation, when I'm not epoxying my jigs. If my jigs have 2D or 3D eyes I epoxy the jigs. In this case I use a dab of Devcon 5 minute epoxy to set the weedguatrds in place, then come back and clearcoat everything with Devcon 2 ton 30 minute. Let dry 2 days or longer if you can. You're done. On the weedguards, you can take a drill bit the size you want your finished weedguard hole to be, and wrap tape (preferably teflon heat resistant) around the shank of the drill bit. Leave enough room on the end to stick the drill bit into the jig cavity, but only so far as to not have a space between the tape end and the jig finished head. Wrap enough tape around the drill bit to keep it from falling out of the mold when you turn it over. Once your done put your hook into the mold along with your taped up drill bit, then close and pour your jig. The lead will fill all around your drill bit and the tape will keep the lead from pouring past your jig head. This by no means is a production application. But once you get in the rhythm of doing it it goes fairly easy. If you don't understand PM me your e-mail and I will send you a pic of what I'm talking about.

I use the same one as Gloomisman does. Also when I need a Gami hook I was fortunate to get a 30 degree hook in a Gami as well. If you are looking for Gami's PM me and I might be able to help you out.

Ute, You got that right. They're half the cost of all the other sites that carry them.

Mags, They probably didn't put them on the site yet. But they do have them as I know that for a fact. Just call them up. here are the part #s: .020 Spring Keeper..........MSTK975-008 SCREW......... $30/1000 .024 Spring Keeper..........MSTK975-239 SCREW......... $30/1000 LARGE..........MSTK975-403 HITCH HIKER SCREW LOCK WITH CENTER PIN......... $50/1000 SMALL..........MSTK975-404 HITCH HIKER SCREW LOCK WITH CENTER PIN......... $50/1000

Toad, I'm not understanding what you mean by "Shoot a bait with the spring loc in it" ?

Lead, mold and hooks have to be hot, hot,hot. This mold has a bigger cavity and pouring has to be fast as it cools fast. I also have this mold completely covered with mold release as this was one of my problem molds. I don't understand your second question. Are you using 5/32" dia teflon pins in lieu of metal base pins? This mold will not take a 1/8" pin unless you modify the pin, as it is too small for the stock pin it takes. You can use 1/8" pull pins in lieu of the 5/32" ones by adding tape to the base of the pin and then making sure it doesn't fall out when you pour. Once you achieved that the lead will fill all the voids and you will have a nice 1/8" pin hole instead of the big one they cut in the mold.

Ok guys here is the feedback on the keeper springs and screw locks. I have the following molds for the spring keeper: FBB-6-SLA, SRH-6M-SLA, SRH-6G-SLA AND WRM-6- SLA. Now these keepers come in two wire diameters .020 and .024. See picture above. The 1st spring from left to right is a Do-It mold spring. The second spring is the .020 wire diameter and the 3rd spring is the .024 wire diameter. As far as the other two springs are concerned, you can see that the .020 spring is about the same height as the Do-It spring. The .024 spring however is much taller which poses the following problem. In all of the molds that I have mentioned, the .020 and .024 spring will work in all the cavities except the 1/8 and 1/16 oz cavities. Now the .020 spring will work in the 1/8 and 1/16 oz cavities however you may have to bend the long leg a bit as it is too long and sticks out too close to the sprue hole which may give you incomplete pours. The .024 spring will not fit in the 1/8 and 1/16 oz cavities because as you can see in the picture below, it is longer than the .020 spring and it is harder to try to bend to make it fit. If you look at the picbelow, you can see what I'm trying to explain. In the 1/16 oz cavity, the .024 spring breaches the sprue hole, in the 1/8 oz cavity, the spring is very close to the sprue hole which may cause pouring problems. This happens to all of the molds I mentioned to all of the 1/16 and 1/8 oz cavities. Now as far as the quality of the springs they are excellent, they fit in the molds with no problem as far as sitting in the cavity. Also the .024 diameter wire matches within (.001) of the original, and the spring outside diameter is with-in (.002). So this spring can be used in the Do-It molds I have mentioned with the exceptions noted. Now on the other screw-lok neither of them would fit a Do-It mold, as their outside diameter far exceeds the cavity it needs to go in. See last pic. However I don't believe they are meant for that anyway. If anyone needs more info or dimensions, PM me and I will help you with what you need.

Swank, I sent you the fluid bed instructions today via your e-mail. Let me know if you need more help.