timturr

Thanks JBarlow for the pictures and explain. I received my mold and the hooks do set in there a little crooked but I think they will work. Once I tie the bucktail on there I don't think it will make any difference. Cadman you are absolutely correct about trapped air. On molds with collars I find it is hard to get them to pour completely so use a triangle file and make a small groove from the point of the collar to the outside of the mold. This allows the air to escape with minimal spru. Then I just hit it with a file when I am cleaning them up. This helps a lot with molds that are hard to get complete pours. Also I use a lot of mold release spray also to help with difficult pours. Thanks guys for all the help. I will try to post a picture when I get one complete. Sincerely, Tim

Thanks Smalljaw, I hadn't thought of it that way. On a Mustad 32786 hook, the distance between the eye of the hook and the bend gets a lot bigger each size you go up. I am sure that is where the bigger hooks will get into a bind with the mold. This is the first mold I have bought in a while. looking forward to working with something new.

I just purchased the Do It Ultra Minnow Jig mold. I am planning on pouring 1/2 and 3/4 oz jigs. I would like to use a Mustad 32786 hook. According to Barlows this hook will work. My question is will this hook work and can I use a larger size hook such as a 4/0 and 5/0 respectively? I know these hooks are larger than what the mold calls for but I just have to try and tinker with everything. It is just more fun that way. Any suggestions, thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Tim

I do not have the A-rig mold. I use the same mold that Andy Poss used to make to original A-rig. It is the Do It H style spinner bait mold. I use the 1 1/2 oz cavilty. I just drilled out the bottom of the mold where the hook came out of the cavity to acomodate the wires.I filled the skirt collar area of the mold with J B Weld. It has eyes on it but not much other detail so it comes out of the mold good. it is a little larger head and takes more plastic but it is tough as a tank when finished. I use gate cutters to cut off the spru and an exacto knife to scrape the seams smooth. I don't do anything before I paint. I use and airbrush and start with opaque white base coat.

I use a mold release agent called Frekote 770 in an aerosol can. It is sold by Henkel Loctite. It works great. No mold build up and hardly any smell. You can lightly and I mean as little as you can spray in between every other pour and the Alumilite resin will almost jump out of the mold perfectly when you open the mold. I have a friend that works for Henkel that gave me a can and I have made hundreds of rigs perfectly without any sticking in the mold. Absolutely the best solution I have found. I still have 3/4 of the first can. I don't know what it costs but it is worth every penny. Here in middle TN and North AL most of the good fisherman will not buy one made of tin or lead. That is why the Yumbrella is the most popular one sold. Hope this helps.

I paid dearly for someone to do my website. I wanted it to look professional so my company wouldn't be considered a small insignificant business that wouldn't be around in a year. So many people get in and get out of this business. Just because you have a few molds and can make a quality spinnerbait and jig doesn't mean people are going to come to your site and buy. There is so much competition it is hard to overcome. I haven't figured out how to drive business to my site. I have expanded my product line to offer several different types of lures. If you have your products in stores then you can't undercut the store price on your website or the stores will stop doing business with you. Plus all the business tax, excise tax and sales tax that must be calculated and collected on your site makes it tough to do this project yourself. If you are going to take credit cards that brings in a whole other host of problems with security of your site. Hackers are constantly trying to get in. I am not trying to discourage you but I want you to know what you are getting into. There are alot of guys on this site that have wesites and I am sure can offer more insight than I have but these are just a few of the problems that I have run into. Tim

Cadman, Charlie at fishingskirts.com makes the finest rattles I have found. They have a hook to attach them to the collars and work very well. They have a glass bead glued in the end of the rattle chamber and are some of the loudest rattles I know of. If you order a large enough quantity he will make you a good deal on them.

I am currently buying the double eared skirt collars from Barlows. I think these are the best skirts collars money can buy but they are expensive. I was wondering if anyone knows of a source the I could buy they in bulk. I know they come in a big bag and then places like Barlows count them and package them into retail quantities. I would like to buy one of those big bags if I could find a wholesale source. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Tim

Thanks for mentioning me in your post but the real experts here and have already given you better advice than I ever could. Cadman and Smalljaw are two of the finested tackle makers there are. I have modified the Poison Tail Jig mold into a spinnerbait mold. I do exactly what smalljaw said. I use it exclusively for nighttime spinnerbaits and I think it makes a fine one. I think the wide head pushes alot of water and the heavier weights are good counter balances for large single colorado blades. I personally paint extra detail onto the lure rather than try to make the head have more detail. You can do this using Cadman's method or you can do it using an airbrush. Either way fish don't care but I have to do something to make my baits to stand out in the stores so I try to fancy them up a little. There is alot more to a spinnerbait than the way the head is decorated. Not all spinnerbaits are equal. Hooks, wire, swivels, blades, blade spacing and skirt all play a critical role in making a quality spinnerbait. This is a tried and true lure that has alot of room to make changes and improvements. My best advice is to experiment and have fun doing it.

Tackle Warehouse now has five different manufactures selling Alabama rigs on their website. They even say on their home page pre order your " Alabama Rigs" today. They are not afraid of getting a letter and neither are the companies selling them.

I am buying straight wire shafts with a hook bent on the end. I use a Twist Tech wire forming tool to make the loops at the end of the wire shafts where the swivel goes. I use the same tool to form a loop at the end of the main wire shaft. Using the preformed hooks on the five wire shafts, I bend them closed on the loop of the main wire shaft just like you would close the hook of a spinnerbait frame on the hook before you pour it. The plastic is very strong. Just about any way you can get the wires connected together long enough to get the plastic poured will be sufficient. The palstic will keep everything from coming apart. Tim

Here is how to make the A-rig. Use .041 straight wire shafts, 7.5 inches long. Take one wire shaft and bend a small loop in it with the tag end coming out the top.This will be the main wire shaft. Take five more wire shafts and bend a closed loop on the end with swivels and bass snaps inside the loop. On the other end of the 5 wire shafts bend a loop like at the end of a spinnerbait arm but don't close it completely. Using the first main wire shaft with loop on end attach the remaining five wire shafts to the loop on it closing the loops on each shaft to the main wire. Take a Do-it Spinnerbait Mold and drill out the area it the bottom of the mold where the hook would come out. place you wire rig into the mold with the main wire coming out the top and the five wire shafts with swivels and snaps coming out the bottom. Use Alumilite super plastic ( Alumilite.com) to pour the head. It will come out of the mold in five minutes. After removing from mold, clean up head from extra Alumilite with a knife. Then bend a loop in the main wire coming out of head to make a line tie. Paint head to desired color. It is that simple.

Check out this website. http://www.alumilite.com I have purchased some of the white and it is very easy to use. Just pour out equall amounts mix and pour into mold. In 5 minutes you have a replica of whatever you poured it into. The clear may work better for you. There are some videos to watch also to explain how to.

Try www.hobbyclub.com they sell D2T in 9 oz packages. This has been the most affordable way I have found to buy it. The service was good and shipping was reasonable. Tim

Any type of super glue will leave this white residue. The oil from your fingers on the jig and the weedguard seems to really attract the residue. I wear gloves when I remove the jig from the oven after baking and I wear gloves while gluing in the weedguards. I don't handle the weedguards with bare hand either. I buy latex gloves and they are very cheap from Uline. I also have a fan the is 12 inches in diameter that I leave on the jigs while they cure. All of this helps but some residue can still be seen but can be taken off with you fingers when putting the skirt on. I usually try to glue in the weedguards last thing at night so I can leave them to cure for at least 12 hours before I package them. I do about three hundred of these a day. I would prefer to use D2T but it sets up so fast and gets stringy. Super glue gel is the best option I have found for strength and productivity.

Try waspifly.com give them a call and speak to Pat Neuner. These are super nice people to do business with. If they don't have what you need they can direct you to a small company here is the USA that can make anything you want of course for a price.

Bassin75, When I powder paint jigs I use 1/8 inch wood dowel rod in the weedguard hole to keep the paint out of the hole. Dowel rod is easily found at any hardware or home supply store. Just cut a small piece 2 inches long and place it in the weedguard hole after the jig is heated but before it is swished through the paint. I use Titebond gel superglue for my weedguards. It is very thick and dries clear. It can be purchased at Woodcraft.com. I use water bottle caps to quirt some glue in then I dip the weedguard in the glue and place in the jig. This technique seems to work better because glue is not forced out of the hole as the weedguard is pushed in. Plus you don't use an excessive amount of glue. Just my 2 cents hope this helps Tim

I use super glue gel made by titebond. Put the smallest drop possible on the jig and then stick on eye and press it in. I use a piece of wire to press with. Also a good tip is to wear latex gloves. Super glue fumes really bad and will turn any finger print white. I wear gloves when handling my jigs from the time they come out of the oven until the eyes and weedguard are glued into place. Then give the jigs plenty of time to dry completely before storage. The gel super glue takes some time to dry. Hope this helps, Tim

Thanks guys for all of the suggestions. All of you make good points and with all of your suggestions, I think we have solved the problem. This is what I did. I changed the clevis from a #2 to a #3. I made sure that the clevis was good and square. I removed one spacer bead leaving three 5/32 solid brass beads. I bent the frame making the bait more compact to change the angle the blades run in the water. The blades do spin now but it is still not a slow moving bait. It will still take a moderate retrieve to keep the blade spinning. I went back and read the previous posts as suggested. What I took from the old posts and this one is that there are many different opinions about what works. I don't know which suggestion fixed my problem because I implemented all of them at once. This could be an experiment for the future. I want to thank all of you that responded and helped me. This is what makes this site the best tackle builder site out there. I am sorry that I don't have a picture to post showing all the changes. Thanks again, Tim

Thanks guys for the compliments and suggestions. The blade is turned with the concave side toward the wire arm. Could it be that the 3.5 is too small and will not rotate around the shaft? Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Tim

Hey guys, I need help. The blade on the arm of my spinnerbait will not turn. Not even if I jerk the line hard to get it started and burn it back. The spinnerbait in question is a 1/4 ounce ultra minnow on .035 wire. The blade on the arm is a #3.5 willow. The blade on the swivel is a #4 willow. Both blades are Lakeland premium finish nickel. The bearing is from Worth Co. and spins freely. The beads used for spacing are solid brass, nickel plated from Worth Co. The clevis is from Worth Co. and it spins free on the shaft out of the water. I have done everything that I know to do. I cannot figure out what the problem is. I have included a couple of pictures and can take more if that would help diagnose the problem. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Tim

Yep, Smalljaw answered all of your questions. Great answer Smalljaw. The only thing I would add is that you can buy Worth ball bearing swivels for 23 cents apiece. Then add your split rings which cost about 2 cents apiece. For that price there is no reason not to put a premium, American made swivel on your own baits.

Hello, I was wondering who makes the best buzzbait blade and where to purchase them. Has anyone used the Worth buzzer blade? They advertise it to be the best buzzer blade but every manufacturer thinks there's is the best. Also does anyone pour double bladed buzzbaits? I would be interested in purchasing some for my fishing partner and myself. Thanks for any help, Tim

Champion202, These are custom hooks. I have been looking for a mold also and the only thing that I can come up with is to have a custom mold made and that is not something that I am prepared to do. It is a great looking hook and I would love to use it. Hope this helps, Tim

sdsaw, I use a piece of 1/8 inch dowel that can be obtained at any home store. I cut a piece of dowel about two inches long, heat the jig, place dowel in weed guard hole, dip and remove from paint, then remove dowel rod. When the dowel gets old or covered in paint, simply discard and cut another piece. This is very inexpensive and works for me. Tim