smalljaw

As redspinlures pointed out, the Ultra Minnow from do-it is similar, a little more sleek but similar and the 1/2 and 5/8oz versions use .041 wire and 5/0 and 6/0 hooks, I'm sure there are alot of people here that would be willing to pour some for you.

I use 1/8" dowel rod I got from home depot, I cut the rod into 1" pieces and after I heat the jig I place the dowel rod in the hole and dip the jig. The nice thing about that is the paint doesnt stick to the dowel.

Wire is the best way to go but thread will work. Your driend is correct about the thread cutting into the silicone but is it's tied correctly with a good number of wraps it becomes a non-issue but wire is faster and easier plus you don't have the wear factor, most people that tie silicone do so because of the fact bands do have problems with dry rot and breaking but be aware that thread will also break down although it takes a long time but I've had hand tied jigs that weren't done properly that the head cement broke down and left me with a frayed tangled mess.

Take a look at Barlows web site for that mold, often they list several alternative hooks that will work with the mold you want. I'm noticing a trend that alot of the newer molds can accept Owner hooks without modifications.

I would rather use the mustad hooks over VMC or Gamakatsu for a couple of reasons. The Gamakatsu is shaper than the VMC and they both are a bit sharper than the mustad but if you're fishing around any kind of cover you can't beat the durability of the point on the mustads, one snag with either the Gammy or VMC and the hook is junk.

Thats part of the fun of making your own skirts, it allows you to make your own version of what it should be. I've seen roughly 50 bluegill patterns and they're all different including my own. I have a few different ones my self from green sunfish to bluegill to shellcracker, have fun and mix it up a bit and see what you come up with, who knows, you may find a pattern thats killer on what you're trying to catch!

.041 is the heaviest wire I use but I prefer light wire .031-.035, I've caught muskies on light wire and while they are bent up, they haven't broke but thats because if I do get a good strike or big fish, I make sure that if the wire is bent too much I switch baits. The smallies I fish for rarely exceed 5lbs. but they are in current so the fight is always hard and I have yet to see a good smallie break my spinnerbaits.

I've done it both ways and found that pour, paint, cure, and glue the weedguards in place is the best way to go. It sound like a lot but it's much easier and faster that trying to tinker around putting teflon or foil on the weedguard then trying to paint and then using a low temp for a long time to cure.

I did find a place to buy titanium wire a few years ago but what you must realize is that titanium has to be tempered in a complicated process. If you would be able to find titanium wire that was tempered, you would not be able to bend it. I've had terminator spinnerbaits that I lost the blade and swivel because the loop wasn't closed all the way, thats when I discovered that you can't close the loop, it simply will not bend, so after some research and talking to a few reps from a tackle company, I discovered that the titanium wire used to make spinnerbaits is formed from untempered wire, then it is tempered to give the metal it's flexible property. I was lucky and found that out before I purchased the wire.

I like to use a bit of flashabou on my swim jigs to mimic the flash of scales from baitfish. In clear or lightly stained water I use either a white jig with a few strands of silver and gold flash or watermelon color jig with some green and gold flash. In dirty water it's black/blue with blue flash and a few strands of silver or an all black jig with silver flash, it works for me as I've seem to have had more success fishing the jigs with a bit of flash than without but again, I only use on swim jigs.

The 1/8oz uses 3/32" eyes and I haven't found them in 3D only flat and only at Barlows, the 1/4oz uses 1/8" eyes and the 3/8oz uses 5/32" eyes, and the 1/2oz you can use the 5/32" or 1/4" eyes, thats as far as I go but thats what you need for those jigs.

I go with 350 degrees for 20 min. but I have an infared thermometer that I use to make sure the temp. is accurate. I know someone who casts his jigs with the weed guard in place and he cures his at 270 deg. for 42 min. and they are pretty hard but they still chip easier than mine so I guess the higher temp setting is better.

I pour all my 1/2oz spinnerbaits with .035 wire, I just use a small piece of masking tape on each side of the mold, this holds the smaller wire firmly in place. Munkin is correct about the owner hooks, I like Mustad but I also use Gamakatsu and owner on occasion and if the mold calls for a 3/0 hook I use a 4/0 gammy, or mustad but a 3/0 Owner.

They look real good! As for making your own jigs, I'd say go for it! Once you make your own jig and you set the hook on a fish that took something you made entirely yourself...You'll be hooked too!! Great job.

The snootie jig makes a great swim jig and it's what I use if I'm fishing grass because it comes through it really well. I like the 1/8oz poison tail for making finess jigs, it has a nice fall and I have yet to lose a fish on it after they're hooked.

I'm sorry if you might have misunderstood, I'm looking for info on counter rotating SPINNERBAIT Blades, not buzzbait blades. The Booyah counter strike spinnerbait has them but I haven't looked at one in person and I was wondering how they get the blades to spin in different directions.

This may be a stupid question but here goes. Since I've been making my own baits I haven't purchased any mass produced baits but I have seen a few ads for the booyah spinnerbaits featuring counter rotating blades but the pics aren't enough detail to see how they accomplished this, so I'm hoping someone here might know how it's done or if I need a "special" blade?

I've done the same thing as reeves, a few carefully placed wood blocks glued to the bottom of the mold and suprisingly they haven't fallen off...yet.

Fish eyes has it!! Starflash skirts are round like living rubber and they have brilliant colors, I think you'll be happy with them.

The crud on top was "slag", and I believe the colored stuff you mentioned was also some impurity, all of the impurities float to the top and needs to be scrapped off. I use a lee pot for pouring and it has a temp control, if your mold is hot and you pours are incomplete then your lead temp is too cool and if you pour a jig and it's "soft" after you open the mold then you're probably too hot but you can usually tell when you run to hot as the slag on top will begin to burn or glow orange.

I like the Worth BB swivels, I have around 300-400 of them and about 20 or so Sampo swivels for those that insist on them. I haven't seen any difference in performance enough to justify the big difference in price but if you're getting 1000 Worth swivels for 250, then I would guess that the same amount of sampo swivels would run at least 375 if not more.

I got the same ad from Barlows so I e-mailed them about availability and they replied that they are in-stock.

A 40 strand skirt consist of 2 skirt tabs which is how they are sold if you're using silicone. I make my jigs with a 60 strand skirt and spinnerbaits over 1/4oz with a 50 strand skirt. The deal you are getting on those skirts aren't bad but did you pick those or are they what the seller is offering?