Ogajiga

Sponge is a good idea, thank you.

Is it possible to cool down a hot Do-it mold with water? I have a brass single cavity on pliers 1/4 oz jig head mold that quickly gets too hot to release castings that I carefully squirt with cool water using a rubber bulb syringe. Most of the water will evaporate & I swab out the cavity & gate with a paper towel to make sure no moisture remains.

Arne, I got more than I'll ever need, PM me your address.

Crane swivels vary in spin quality. Dunno about current production, but I stocked up many years ago finding best available ones (China mfg) from an eBay seller. EZ to test by holding the barrel between fingers of one hand and rotating the eyes with the other hand. Good ones are smooth spinning, lesser ones are gritty or may even jam. Hobby/craft store jump rings are quicker & cheaper to attach blades to swivels than split rings.

Sounds like you're describing incomplete fill out of the mold cavity when the inlet gate hardens prematurely and restricts melt flow?

These molds were made to accommodate 32833. https://barlowstackle.com/do-it-steelhead-jig-molds-p336/

S'wat I use for my tied jigs. Cheap stuff works as well as Sally's, one coat ain't enuf. Bout halfway thru a bottle, the solvent evaporation causes thickening which hardens into a thicker coat.

Yes, customer rep service can make or break, Matzuo was the worst IMO and they are gone. On the other hand Harry Simmons affable communication prompted me to retry Victory jig hooks which are serviceable within their limitations. Quality Gamakatsu hooks I use have no alternative other brand replacements of similar quality. Are you able to elaborate on Gami customer service issues? PM me if you prefer confidentiality.

Just checked my Gami EWGs which I stocked up on - all made in Thailand. Haven't had a problem with Superline 2/0 for catfish up to 30+#, but the 1/0 light wire would frequently snap when dehooking small bass.

Used to be Gamakatsu hooks made in Japan were dependably the best hooks available, but I've gotten quite a few boxes of non-fatal but still annoyingly bendy jig hooks (all at bargain prices on eBay). 604s in particular #6 & #4 black and 2/0 & 3/0 red + 114 similar with different model #s 2/0 & 3/0 black. It might be possible to isolate the bad from good Gamis by checking the boxes or bags. Quality ones specifically state "Made in Japan" and the questionable quality ones lack that and do not specify country of mfg. Part of the blame could be on lawmakers who decided to eliminate the country of origin requirement on imports. I would guess the USA distributor knew about the QC issues and dumped those hooks at give away prices to whoever would buy them including eBay resellers. Should have been a red flag that the hooks were half the going legitimate wholesale prices but I didn't realize that Gami had switched to outside of Japan mfg. Mustad does the same and I've gotten stuck with boxes of slightly defective jig hooks again bargain priced on eBay. Still using those non-Japan Gami jig hooks because they don't catastrophically bend out, but slightly deflect outwards during high stress fish fights not quite enuf for the fish to drop off. The points fold a bit easier but after the first resharpen tend to be more stable. Certainly not lesser quality than other hook mfgs, just maybe not worth the Gamakatsu price point. So maybe not necessary to completely shut the door on Gamis, just make sure they are made in Japan. Thanks to Slammingjack for posting that Gamis can be made in China. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't understand your missed hooksets issue? Are you T-rigging the plastics using the keeper coil to pin the nose of the baits? If so, misses are to be expected, & if not in my experience open hook EWG does miss slightly more hooksets than straight point parallel to shank.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352502807265?epid=17011109535&hash=item5212cdfae1:g:wDwAAOSwj5BcNP20&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8IAn2lG0sl2tqRvUQ8Z9sU4ZeE2JpNDECB%2Fut2DE%2B%2BNdWdf8Zxtq2p%2BKt4kDKyu%2Fxod18vVkAJHdwW3rNmw6FnwCPugE9w8D%2B%2B5KTp4nuAjWNM7bBfrLixbHpJhncsDpZL%2FaOlc0P0T1X%2Fjx%2BLBJEHxUNmuhktDtKe4m1YmnBFu294hz1SQftfPPGWkVo4T7Ein4f66I%2F2E3JQy7%2FrtQUKORkZGJM2rvZJ8HAcQzVYqRNmyJslQJ2sIUg63oK5VheAn6usDtq4dHER0Q5jqvVcsiyyLTgB9wIpos3Z4ZN1OdWLwczAjRsh19AkgK4lJG1w%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6Sf8q3-YQ

Right now on eBay there is a glut of Sufix 832 at suspicious low prices? https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=sufix+832+braid+300&_sacat=1492&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=sufix+832+braid&_osacat=1492&_sop=15

Tho I've not personally encountered any, there have been complaints of Power Pro and Sufix braid counterfeits circulating for years. I got some not available in USA Gami 604 #6 & #4 years ago that were more bendy than what I expected (on eBay haha). Has anyone experienced quality variations in batches of Gamakatsu jig hooks, especially wire strength?

Thanks for the concise history of commercial tackle. Yup, sellouts & mergers. Do the vintage paint schemes work as well as modern holographic flash ? As for jig paints, I'd like to mention that my preference for raw metal jig heads was influenced by walleye jigging expert Doug Stange who also was also a pioneer adherent of boot tail soft plastics for that application.

No magic EZ pour solid set alloy eh? Thanks for the experiences.

I was wondering what others prefer for their melt metals? Is there a consensus on an ideal alloy or do some prefer pure lead or other casting metals? My preferred lead casting metal was Pb96(lead) Sn4(tin) for maximal pourability and corrosion resistant storage. As a pot & ladle caster antimony added alloys often created problems with complete mold cavity fill out especially in small gate molds.

Thank you JD for the comprehensive details on why lures fade away from popularity despite their effective attributes. Guessing you are or were an industry insider? I liked your observation that tail action might be counter productive to a head design. Since I'm a 100% jigger had to look up the Mudbug. Never would have guessed that the seemingly awkward reverse retrieve design could be anyones favorite.

Thanks for posting details and pics of blade jigs I never knew existed. I'm guessing that being no longer available (?) is because they didn't work well enuf to continue production? Anybody try them out?

While not an anywhere anytime tactic, sometimes at shoreline accessible high pressure small water spots which are bombarded with all manner of 3-5" softies, cranks, and live baits, a downsize can work for me. Current faves are 2" Berkley Powerbait Ripple Shads and Bobby Garland Baby Shads pinned on #2 hook jig heads. Due to continual harvest pressure walleye at these spots tend to be on the smaller side up to 20" tho larger are occasionally caught. Once I surprised both myself and the minner dunkers with a 27" on an aforementioned 2" Ripple Shad.

In my experience a 10% tin lead alloy doesn't have any advantage over 3-4% tin and is a waste of $. Tin does not significantly harden lead like antimony does. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've got some homemade Lyman #2 bullet casting alloy Pb95-Sn5-Sb5 that could be ideal as a soft lead hardener with equal parts tin & antimony.

Seems like some mfgs are precisely knocking off other mfgs hook designs. Is the VMC 7219 as strong as the 32729?

Guessing you don't like the EWG design VMC 7321 or Gami 2014? Also guessing you've found Mustad 32729 incompatible. So your modified 32746 might be your best/only option. Different strokes, I'd prefer a standard gap version of the 32786. The Victory 10360 was supposed to interchange fit 32786 but the 2/0 needs bent to fit my mold.

Looked it up, never needed to skin hook since presentations are in open water above rock bottoms. Still, it seems the ideal T-rig hook design would position the hook point leg parallel with the bait body for skin hookiing, which would be my preference for the MWF mold.