Kasilofchrisn

I have that same mold as Andy1976. It is the Shawn Collins fish jig mold. I have it in 1,2,3,4,6,8,10,12,and 16oz.from 2 different molds. You can order it from Shawn and he CNC machines it for you.The sizes you are looking for will determine the price but certainly not cheap like a Do-It mold His work is first class though and my molds from him pour great.

Please send some cold my way I definitely need some. It was 37* here in Alaska today. Me and the wife went icefishing but there was a bunch of overflow due to the warm weather. Still there was 12"-14" of good ice. We did manage about 15-20 fish. I got the biggest a 17" rainbow then we each got a 15" bow and all the rest were small fish. Where I work we have had a bunch of -50 weather but here at home it has been way to warm for my taste.

BLT,I bought those Skirts at a local tackle shop at an end of season clearance sale at 4 for $1. They normally sell them for $1 each. The only other source I have for them is Alexi Express online and they are ~$.58 each and I haven't yet bought any there. They are a 2 piece double skirt. Not the skirt tabs like the bass guys use. The skirts are similar to a hootchie or squid skirt. What I have been doing is to separate the 2 skirts and use the smaller inner skirts on smaller jigs and the larger outer skirts on the larger sizes. They are ~6 inches long.

These are some saltwater jigs I made using the powder paint airbrush to give them a 2 toned effect. I just wasnt happy with the salt shaker results but the airbrush works great.

X2 There are others I use but LPO is our forum owner and they do stock a lot of lure making parts and components. The service is good too.

Maybe he could dress up as the jig pictured in your avatar?

I use the powder paint airbrush on my saltwater jigs for a two tone effect and it works great. I have also done the brush tap method on top of that. It works good also. I have done jigs dipped in one color in my fluid bed and then only halfway in the next color for another two tone effect, I don't really care for this method as much but It does work especially on my longer saltwater jigs. Not sure how it would work on small bass fishing stuff.

I use stainless steel aircraft tie wire. I forget what size it is off hand. On my saltwater jigs I use big skirts and use a wire twist tool to put them on. I used to use a standard wire twist tool but now I use a special one called a clamp tite. I am not sure it would work with bass sized jigs though.

I do all my pouring in my Garage. Usually with the garage door open. I make all my ingots from scrap outside and do my initial fluxing out there as well. I understand the need to protect our health. And we do need to consider the health of our families as well. I don't think I would do this at home if I had small children but since I don't.... Ventilation is a very good idea for all of this type stuff. I use a toaster oven from a garage sale for my powder paint. I have used my kitchen oven when I first started for a couple of times. But it was a big hassle so I decided the toaster oven was the way to go. I found a good one at a garage sale for a reasonable price. I also like that I can have a batch going in the toaster oven where I can monitor it while I paint more jigs. I think we all need to be careful with all of this stuff. But I don't think we need full on toxic spill cleanup gear.

Thanks for the ideas. I use a boot box and have the vac hose in the corner just to collect excess dust. Most of it does fall into the box. I do some really long saltwater slab type jigs so I may have to play around with the bag idea to make it work for me. Like I said the illusion paints look cool I just don't like the price for the size jigs I make it would be quite expensive. But If i do ever try it the powder paint airbrush might work well.

I use a box with a shop vac hose in it and do recover some of the paint. My issue is that usually I don't do enough spraying of one color before switching. So I will do 3 jigs with blue then switch to green for 2 or 3 jigs then switch to the chrome for 5 or 6 etc. etc. So dumping the paint out of the box after just three jigs is a pain. I do use the powder paint airbrush on many of my jigs usually the bigger saltwater ones. But looking at the cost of these illusion paints I am not convinced it is worth it for that price. Usually a few of one color is all I need. I don't usually need to spray 50 jigs with blue accents at a time then do 50 jigs with Green etc.

You might look into buying a mold from Shawn Collins of Collins Customs. He makes world class molds and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him. He makes a lot of larger saltwater molds including a similiar shad head to what you have pictured in multiple ounce sizes. Where are you from Houla? I am in Alaska and make a lot of killer lingcod jigs in all kinds of sizes all the way up to 48oz. My most popular lingcod jigs are 16,20,and25oz slab style jigs as lings really like a big bait.

Another option is this Shawn Collins mold. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Freshwater-Worm-Weight-Concave-sinker-mold-1-8-1oz-CNC-Aluminum-/111228917015?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e5c29517 A bit spendier but does include all the sizes you are looking for. I have several of Shawns molds and they are first class molds. I have never had any issues buying from shawn and I own at least 8 or 10 of his molds.

I use a fluid bed and for smaller jigs I use forceps and grip the eye of the hook. Heat then dip. I get paint on the forceps but the jig eye is clean. I then put them in the racks Tj's tackle sells so any excess paint runs down the hook shank where it is easier to peel off. On my bigger jigs I dip them then clean the eyes out real well then cure the paint.

Yes definetly moisture for sure. I take it you added more scrap to an already liquid batch of lead? That would be where the moisture came from. I always start with a cold pot when melting scrap. When the first batch is done and the pot empty I turn off the heat then reload the pot and start over. That way any moisture trapped inside will evaporate out as the htemperature rises long before the metal turns liquid .

I wonder how it would work using the powder paint airbrush for the top coat? The powder paint airbrush also wastes a lot of paint so that would add to the cost per jig. If it wasn't so darn expensive I might give it a try for some of my saltwater jigs but for those I need 6oz of paint just to fill the fluid bed cups.

Just curious how you guys who sell tackle price your stuff? Do you use a percentage over cost? If so what percentage do you normally use? I can ballpark what my jigs cost me in materials but how do I account for mold cost and such in regards to the price? Especially since most of the stuff I would like to sell is from Custom CNC machined molds that cost me a lot more that your standard Do-It mold. I was thinking of using comaprisions with jigs for sale online but being some of the jigs don't have a lot of comaprables that sometimes becomes difficult. I am talking about my Larger saltwater jigs mostly some of which are over 20oz in size. When selling multiple sizes of jigs in the same designs I am guessing you just increase price a set percentage per size? Some of my mold go up 2 oz in size at a time so it would have to account for that. For instance I might make one in 2,4,6,8,10,12,and 16oz. or 16,20,and 24oz Any help would be appreciated.

I see it embeded in my post and your quote of my post. If not go to youtube and search for "Cast Industries" and watch the video.

My vote is to do what they do in this video. It apparently works well for mass producing baits.

Thanks for the tip Smalljaw. I was having the same issue as Felix77 myself. I already have the powder paint airbrush and some extra jars so I will give this a try.

I don't see why not. It is just simpler and easier for me to load them into a cold pot and turn it on and wait for them to melt. Baking just adds an extra step as I have to heat my pot anyway and I know that by the time the lead in my pot is 500*+ there will be no moisture left. I would make sure you bake them to over 300* to ensure no moisture remains. The only lead I put into a hot pot is clean dry ingots and I do so very carefully.

I remelt when I have a bunch and like others have said it isn't a problem. Start with a cold pot so the moisture burns off before the lead comes to melting temp. The metal parts melt at substantially higher temps than the lead so they will just float to the top to be skimmed off. If they are painted jigs I use the same pot I use for melting scrap into ingots and do it outside. I melt wheel weights all the time also and never have problems. melt then remove clips with a magnet on the end of a 3' piece of all thread. Then I skim all the dross off. I flux with beeswax then skim again before making my ingots.

The problem with Tungsten is it has a melting point north of 5,000*F Not something your going to mold at home.. I have heard you can buy unpainted Tungsten jigs. My understanding is they mold the Tungsten jigs with a slot for the hook and either epoxy or solder in the hooks before painting. The soldered variety would most likely be able to be powder painted. You can easily make soldered teardrop style jigs. One of these days I may take some pics and post on how I make various style teardrops. You could make these with non-lead solder but I would think the drop rate might be too slow for many people.

I think I am going to go with the clip on rattles of some kind. What are the loudest type of rattle? Glass, brass, or plastic? And what type of attachment would you recommend inside a tube bait?

I have a Burbot trip planned this winter. We will be icefishing for them. Burbot typically feed at night and we usually set lines for them that are left out all night and checked in the morning. There are rules to this that we strictly adhere to. Anyway this year we are going to try some night fishing on the ice for them. I was thinking of adding a rattle to our baits and I think it would help the fish hone in on our baits in the dark.. I found a mold that would allow me to cast the rattle as part of the tube jig. It is cheaper to just add a clip on rattle, or possibly epoxy one to a jig. I have never used these type rattles. What is your opinion on rattles as far as what types sound the loudest and how well do the clip on rattles work? Is it really worth it to cast one with the jig or do the clip on ones hold well enough?