Ogajiga

That head certainly has a superior design for its intended uses. Are there different hook sizes available for different weight heads?

Nice color choices - I like the exposed red thread tie and flash fiber accent. Are you fishing them with or without the weed guards? Is the soft plastic twister securely attached?

Like the Brovarney site says, their Gami is a custom and not available to the public unless you can get them to cut some loose. Mustad makes a light wire 28* round bend 32724BLN jig hook in 4/0 & 5/0 sizes. I use the similar 60* 32729BLN in several designs and consider it to have excellent point sharpness and wire strength for a non-forged light wire hook

If you're gonna hand pour your own heads, a possible solution might be the Do-it JYS-4-A mold(I don't have one) allready dialed in for 1/8-1/0 and 1/4-2/0 sizes 90* O'Shaughnessy tinned EC 635. My JYV-5-A will fit a 2/0 60* 32786 BLN in the stock 1/4 slot, but I dont have any 1/0 to size into the 1/8. My guess is the 1/0 fit could be close enough to tweak if necessary. Both molds are salt water popular banana jig style. Standard 90* Ultra Point BLN might be a bit light in the ocean. The best solution might be to have someone supply you with their tested & proven head/hook combos.

I thought these were inshore species - my bud J-McK is at this moment throwing jigs on the Outer Banks shoreline for em. Is anyone else confused as to the actual value of this "law"? By the way, with the abundance of inland stripers, why aren't they a preferred target of yours? Although I've never caught any real stripers beyond hand sized in the Napa (CA) river, CO hybrids are tasty battlers and perhaps my fave inland "warm" water game fish.

Although I'm as far from the Atlantic Coast as is possible to be in the US, I thought both reds & stripers were coastal species? Meaning, are they even found and fished for outside of 3 miles?

Curious, I researched and found that federal waters are beyond the 3 mile limit. Does this mean that the "law" has no effect on commercial harvest 3 miles or less from shore?

I recently got my first custom jig head mold from Shawn Collins. Being a simple design the cost was under $200 and the mold was absolutely as good as it gets. If you can communicate your ideas effectively he has the talent and skill to make them real. http://www.shawncollinscustoms.com/

Yup, long sleeves might have prevented arm burns, and my safety glasses have quite a few burn marks from flying lead over the years. I'm being more careful to ease the cold ingots into the melt gradually now.

What it is, bros. I too want to create my own, rather than wait for a tourney pro to tell me how good a product is he's being paid to endorse. I feel like I'm in good company here.

Howdy Bing, back when Oahu surf was my obsession, Bing Surfboards was one of the top three. Just an idea from a jig man - in the time it takes you to shape, finish, & hardware a plug you can pour a coupla hundred lead heads and attach your choice of thousands of color/shape variations of soft plastic baits. And present em at your choice of depth rather than whats dialed into the plug design. So, what are you fishing for?

This may not happen often, but today when I (gently) dropped an ingot into the melt pot I got a nasty splatter which resulted in some burns on my bare arm. Like many of you I learned the hard way many years ago to be careful to keep everything going into the pot dry. Wondering what the f*** happened I looked in the pot and saw the blackened remains of a small moth that must have been stuck to the ingot and exploded in the melt. Thank God it wasn't a bigger bug!

Try Lakeland http://www.lakelandinc.com/

My original post ran out a month ago but I'd like to offer some updated info: 1.the spot price of lead on mineralprices.com is up to $1.69 a lb. 2.the Oahu junk yard I earlier this year bought cable scrap from for $.37 a lb. no longer ships to my outer island and the price was over $.70 a month ago. 3.one of my accounts mentioned that distributor imported sinker prices will go up even more and pointed out that 2 oz. banks allready retail for $.75 each. 4.my news and trade paper wanted ads have declined from very effective 10 yrs. ago to zero presently. I'd be stocking up if any were available.

You can enlarge eye slots and shank channels for oversize hooks but can't shrink em for undersize. If too much of the undersize eye sits inside the body cavity there might be an eye plugging problem from seepage. Not all of us have steady hands, and I had a real hard time controlling a Dremel - luckily Microlux offers a mini drill press just the right size for Do-its.

Some of you seem to be well pleased with Lee pots and the archives suggest that the commercial guys are using RCBS? My small lead head needs are modest at present - a few 100s 1/16 - 1/4 per pour although that may change when I offer custom designs. Any recommendations and what features & advantages justify paying a higher price ?

Thank you all. When I first considered pouring 10 years ago a pot & ladle old timer (gone now) told me he didn't like bottom pour melters. Guess its time to reconsider. Will start a new thread about melters.

Ladle pouring small heads I need the elevation pressure otherwise there might be only partial fill outs. I would say the stream is fast and solid out of the ladle with minor occasional fragmentation at the the inlet. The banana jig mold has bigger gates so can be poured close with the ladle resting on the mold.

I know this is a tough call cause none of us can afford the expense or time to comparison test all the rods out there...but...how much should one pay for a decent spinning rod? My high end now is Shimano Clarus IM7 and Fenwick HMG CV which do in fact feel a lighter and snappier than my "lower" grade rods. I know a lot of guys take pride in their high end rods like G. Loomis - are they really that much better quality and worth the $?

I would definitely be interested in a more sensitive foregrip without the damping effect of cork - not sure if I would want to pay more than $100 though.

I too have never tried powder painting. Is it possible & practical to spoon the powder onto the heated head?

Lets see, the molds with the most noticeable bubble pours are the Do-it RHB 1/16 and 1/8 molds, the Do-it Walleye Jig 1/8 & 1/4 combo mold, and the Do-it VMC Banana Jig 1/8-5/8 combo mold. The bananas were particularly bad using red hooks which paint finish I think was burning and gassing during the pour. For the others I use tinned EC 635 hooks in sizes #6, #4, & #2. With the tinned hooks maybe 10% and the red hooks maybe as much as 25% defective pours. Ladle pouring kinda limits me to an elevated fast pour to avoid gate freeze. For the same reason the melt is pretty hot.

I ladle pour my jig heads with a soft lead + 4% tin added alloy which is the most practical in my experience for ease of pouring with the added benefits of corrosion resistance and slight toughening. Sometimes there are bubble voids in the head where the sprue is removed - does anyone else encounter this problem and are these defects avoidable?

And what a coincidence the new molds are utilizing the same Gami and turned eye hooks I've seen in TU posted customs. Do-it must have dedicated research staff trolling for ideas because their versions of new designs seem to be released much quicker. Luckily the Do-it versions are seldom as good as the originals which keeps the real creative geniuses in business.

This might be a previously discussed issue but I couldn't find it searching the site archives. Lately other aspects of a commercial casting bizness keep me too busy to paint so I mostly use unpainted jig heads for my recreational fishing. Am wondering though if I'm shorting myself because painted heads work better? How about eyes?