Basseducer

Cadman, Both of those hooks will work nicely. TJ

Dig-D, I spray my powder onto a hot blade and it comes out flawless. PM me with your address and I'll send you one. I get a lot of my blades from Hagen's, they have a large variety in stock most of the time. TJ

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Does it have one of those string livewells? TJ

Then you can use a weedless ball jig and cut the collar off if it just has to be without a collar. Do-it Molds: Weedless Ball Jig - Fiberguard TJ

SPAZ, You can make the same thing with the Do-It shaky head mold just substitute a straight wire or mono weedguard for the screw-loc. Do-it Molds: Shake-It with Screw-Loc TJ

Spaz, what are you referring to by whack jig? Is it a ball jig without a collar? I make tons of those for whacky rigging Senkos or worms. TJ

You can find different shank lenghts and you can have a little adjustment by positoning the hook higher or lower in the mold. However you may not have much room to play with on a 1/4 oz bait. Standard 5/0 puts it right at the end of the skirt when using standard tabs. I usually tie the front part a little longer than the rear part so when the front folds over it is the same lenght as the rear. You can also get musky sized skirts if you need it longer. TJ

cubswillwin, I have had up to a 5/0 in my 3/8 oz mold. As far as interchanging brands, it is a whole lot easier with spinner bait hooks. Almost any spinnerbait hook will work. The only thing you have to watch is the eye size. In smaller baits a hook with a lagre eye may show through the sides of the body or hinder the pour. For the wire you can certianly go smaller and in many cases you can go up a few sizes without modification. If you drill out for a bigger size it woun't have to great an affect other that the smallet sizes will be loose. Nothing that a little masking tape won't fix. Good luck TJ

Senkosam, I don't usually use salt unless it is requested or the bait is going to be used weigthless like soft jerkbaits. Worms, jig trailer and creatures are usually used with some sort of weight so unless you want taste you don't need it. TJ

Didn't mean to scare you off Ghost, All the arm mechanics are still the same, you just have to educate your thumb. Like LSC said, it's a great tool and you can't beat it for accuracy. Stick with it you might like it. TJ

Ghost, welcome to the world of baitcasting. You got what is commonly called a birds nest or professional overrun. This happens when the spool is spinning faster than the line is paying out. Baitcasters are delicate creatures that have to be handled gently. Try these tips; 1. Fill your spool only to 1/8 inch of the top of the spool and thread your rod. 2. Tie on your desired lure. On the opposite side of the crank handle is a spool tension knob, loosen this knob until it turns freely. 4. Holding the rod parallel to the ground depress the thumb bar, the lure should fall. 5. Reel the lure up and tighten the spool tension knob about half a turn. 6. Repeat #4 until the lure no longer falls. 7. Next if your reel has a breaking system, dial it to the max setting. At this point it should take some effort to cast the selected lure. You will still need to use your thumb to feather the spool. When the lure starts to slow or just before it hits the water you’ll need to apply a bit of pressure to keep the spool from over-revving. Then Practice, Practice, Practice. As you become more comfortable you can start backing off the spool tension knob and decreasing the break to get longer more effortless casts. I usually adjust the spool tension for different weight lures. Until you get really good DON’T CAST INTO THE WIND, this changes everything. This should give you a starting point so have fun and Practice, Practice, Practice. Oh, you may want to get a spool of really cheap line to practice with. Good luck TJ

BassAddict try Short's Hooks here is the link. Follow the link to Captain Hooks Warehouse. Shorty TJ

jimcline, It is Shorty TJ

Thanks guys, as usual your are too kind. I'll be hitting the local hobby stores this weekend looking for a knife and I can see a whole bunch of other stuff. And yes 76gator this really is my first foil. TJ

I usually lurk in Wire Baits and Soft Plastics, but with all the great stuff here I thought I would try my hand. Not brave enough to start playing with knives and start whittling so I got some of Jann

boomah21, Your problem may be that you are not topping off. When you fill your mold does the plastic suck down into the pour hole? If so you need to fill the hole again to keep it from sucking air and causing the hollow head. You have to keep topping off until the plastic stops going in. Hope this helps. TJ

boomah21, I used it all the time on my wire baits before I started powder painting. I sprayed it with my airbrush. I thinned mine to the consistancy of water and sprayed light coats. It would take a couple of coats, but they did not drip or run. Your pot life is greatly extended over devcon. If it starts to thicken just add a little thinner and you're back in business. Wear long sleeves, latex gloves and a resperator. You will soon see why. Good luck with it. TJ

Oh now ya dun it cadman.......Double Whamy TJ

ss, I get mine from Do-It and have never had one break. They bend and distort depending on the size of the fish, but none have broken. I just jinxed myself. TJ

Have you tried Lisa's Eyes, she is on of our advertisers. Animal, Cut, Cat and Comical Eyes TJ

Happy Birthday Jerry!!! Good luck fishing. TJ

Sagacoius, The more I ponder this thing, the more I am inclined to agree with you. The material is paper thin and the dust is so fine that it would take a lot of material to recover a significant amount of lead. The smell alone is enough to discourage me, not to mention what toxins could be released when burned. I’m going to try for a swap with the local metal recycler. Thanks for your thoughts. TJ

I may have been given a reprieve. I dropped a 2”x2” piece of the lead material into my melting pot and stepped back. It sizzled a little, smoked a bit and smelled like burning rubber. It shriveled up and turned black (was gray) and remained floating on top. I scooped it up easily and it crumbled to dust and didn’t seem to have any lead left in it. It seems like it is going to be a time consuming project. TJ

I just fell into a similar situation as Ghost did at the beginning of this thread. I went in for a routine X-ray and asked the tech if they had any old lead aprons to get rid of. To my delight, she said that they had a bunch. We quickly loaded them in my van and I made my getaway. When I got home, I started cutting. Well let me tell you, that lead dust is suspended in a foam rubber liner. Now I have to figure out how to get that stuff out of there, any ideas? TJ