Kasilofchrisn

If I decide to buy these molds I will post up a report. It appears for molds they only list sinker molds but that is what I was looking for when I found them. I am considering the Do-It claw sinker molds. I had a bad first experience with zeiners so i am looking at alternatives. Barlows has always treated me right but I can't argue with saving a few $$ if this conpany treats me right. I am also one of those guys who likes to buy multiple molds so I have various size options in the samer jig or sinker.

Thanks Cadman thats what I was wondering is how hard it is to get complete pours with the wires sticking out like that. With the tides we have up here in Cook Inlet I would think it might hold well. I guess I need to price some wire. I know I can buy stainless tig wire locally but the price runs close to $.50 for a 36" stick. That might only do a couple of weights if that. I suppose there is a bulk discount but it has to be cheaper online somewhere for a similiar stainless wire. I'll google it and see what I can find. for sizes and prices. Hopefully sombody who has this mold will post on it.

Just curious for those who have this mold how do you like it? Does the mold cast ok with the wires in it? Also I know Do-It does not make wire inserts for this mold. How hard was it to find a good wire and how difficult is it to bend them for use? I have the hilts Storm sinker molds and I need to polish them so they release easier but they work real well. I also have the Hilts Claw sinker molds they pour fine but I wasn't as happy with them for where I usually fish. I just ordered a couple of Frog Tongue molds from Shawn Collins. I am getting into making surfcast sinkers a little more and have had some people interested in trying the Do-It claw sinkers on our local beaches and thought I would order the molds if they pour well and wires aren't that difficult to make. Surfcasting is starting to take off in my area but they don't stock a good selection of sinkers locally. Hopefully I can make my own and have a good variety for differing conditions and different bottom types. Thanks again Chris,

Has anyone used Bottom Dweller Tackle before? I found them via a goole search for some Do-It molds I am interested in and they have great prices and very reasonable shipping charges. They even beat zeiners prices on the same molds by over $2.40 per mold. Let mer know your experiences good and/or bad. Thanks guys.

My personal preference is charging enough for your products to cover any handling charges or credit card or paypal fees. That's what I did on my one and only jig sale. They paid actual USPS shipping and my jig price included any fees or handling charges. Some companies have great prices but extra shipping and handling charges negate any savings or even make the item cost more in the end. I once bought a fishing rod from a mom and pop store that had free shipping on orders over $200 on a $180 rod. I bought $20 in extra tackle and they shipped for free.. For the same rod at the same exact price Cabelas wanted to .charge me the base shipping rate.of $20 plus an extra $50 in oversize fees. The owner of the mom and pop store told me he had added $25 to his price to cover his free shipping guarantee. The next year I ordered 5 more of those rods. I checked around and after shipping he was still the cheapest I could find. My box got damaged by the USPS and he was johnny on the spot sending a new box of new rods and he was going to inspect the other ones before he put them back on his store shelf. Great price free shipping and top notch service. A company I have used again and will continue to do so. I am not sure how a shop in Ohio can give me in Alaska the best price and service I could find on standup saltwater fishing rods but they sure did. This was on a rod I could not find instate so I had to order the ones I wanted. I do understand small order fees. I think Barlows has a $15 minimum. Thats fair IMHO. It seems silly to order $2 or $3 in merchandise anyway. But IMHO shipping should be only that and the rest should be reflected in your product prices.

Thanks for clarifying that Cadman. Shipping to Canada is a whole nother price range I am sure. I often see companies charge shipping and "HANDLING" charges. That way they can charge over the shipping price in handling fees. In some cases I would rather pay a little more so my goods arrive well packaged and undamaged. As long as the fees are not extreme If Zeiners had wrapped some old newspaper around the items in my order like Barlows always does for me I would have never had an issue with them and they would have gotten a lot more business from me. Sometimes the cheapest source isn't always the best source. Thats just my $.02

Yep the same flat rate box goes anywhere in the US for the same fee. A small flat rate box is only $5.80 ANYWHERE in the US. A medium box ships ANYWHERE in the US for $12. Thats up to 70 pounds of goods. I wish more companies would use those flat rate boxes for shipping. The USPS will also deliver the empty boxes to your house and pick them up from your house when you are ready to ship them. If A person wnated to charge me $20 for a $10 jig order I would tell them they are crazy and look elsewhere. No offense Cadman but I just can't believe AK and Hawaii shipping cost you that much. I will only ship jigs to people via USPS flat rate. What is a bummer is my bigger jigs are 10" long so they don't fit in the small 8" long boxes.

When you live in Alaska you might as well just bend over when it comes to shipping charges from most companies. Amazon will ship to me for free but others want to charge an extra Alaska fee above and beyond the rate for the L48 states. I like conpanies that will fill a USPS flat rate box as they are cheap. Barlows has always charged me actual shipping not some overinflated Alaska flat rate. When I find a company that treats me right I remember and stick with them. Also it is a long way up here and I like to get my stuff undamaged. I am willing to pay a little more for stuff if It is packaged well and undamaged when I recieve it as a result of that. Just wanted to give readers of this my $.02

I tried them once and I wasn't happy with how my stuff was packaged. Had powder paint all over the inside of the box and all I got was an apology. One of the molds I ordered was on backorder two or three times as long as they originally said. The date kept changing on when they would get it and ship it. On the other hand I have had toatally awsome service from Barlows. Everything is always well packaged. I would gladly pay more in shipping if my stuff arrives in one piece. All containers of paint are taped so they stay shut and individually wrapped in newspaper so any molds or heavy items in the box don't break or crack the containers.They charge me actual shipping to AK which is nice. Any issues and I get an email right away. They always seem to have what I ordered in stock too. I am glad Zeiners has treated you well. I have since decided I would rather deal with Barlows. I do occasionally order some stuff from TJ's tackle and they have done good for me also as has Janns netcraft.

A small vibratory motor or palm sander. A piece of Aluminum plate. some spring feet. I bought the components but havent found the time to assemble it yet.

Not really. Where I fish in cook inlet we have the worlds second highest tides. When the tide is at it's worst there in nearly 30' of water difference between high and low tide with the current running nearly 4 knots. Our average tides aren't that bad but still can be ripping at times. So when you are fishing bottom fish and are trying to hold bottom you need heavier gear and thinner braided lines. we also fish as deep as 4-500' at times. Not usually but some guys do all the timet often depending on where they fish. We still catch smaller 15-20# fish on a 24oz big mojo bullet head all the time. Some guys I have talked to online have electric reels and target blackcod in over 1,000'+ on occasion. Again another reason for heavier gear so it gets down faster. I refuse to run weights bigger than 3# on my boat but some charters who are out there regardless of the tide will run as much as 5#. I also don't fish more than 200' usually but have found some deeper areas to try for rockfish this summer. Good luck finding your hook Andy.

On my 16 and 24 oz bullet heads I use a Mustad 12/0 34081 and a #3 long eye in stainless. I snap the bottom of the #3 long eye to the eye of the hook and it works well. That might work well for you. I know they work well for us and we usually add an 11" Boneyard grub tail to them.

I haven't had flash problems with dropout. If I have some overspray I just wipe it off with a little mineral spirits on a rag and it comes right off.

I have ordered molds from the UK before and although shipping was high it wasn't outrageous at least not in my opinion. You would think they could order it from a us vendor and have it shipped over. If a few guys went together on a bulk purchase it might be fairly reasonable compared to $18 a jar. I looked and found this company in the UK has powder paint for 6 british pounds for a 4 oz jar so about $14 american for 4 oz or about the same as the protec at bass pro. http://www.fishingweightmolds.com/shop.php?viewcategory=111 Might be crappy paint who knows but I wonder if he really has shopped around much over there? I know until I started following this website I didn't know automotive powder paint would work for jigs. All I had ever seen in stores on and off line was the protec paint.

Not usually like other have said to avoid the red tape and I don't need/want a second job. I have been talked into selling a handfull in a one time only deal another oudoor forum I am on just because people really liked my stuff and were asking me to sell them some. I do enjoy making them and can easily make lots more than I can use. I figure if I sell a few off the record every now and then just to cover costs for coworkers and friends then I can buy for a new mold or more supplies with the money. A full time business? No way not for me. I need my fishing time!

I was using 2" PVC mainly because it requires less paint. The jigs I am doing are longer and skinnier and I don't have problems doing them in a 2" cup. I did some accent colors using the spray gun and brush tap methods and after doing a few jigs I can see where I would not want to do the whole jig with either of those two methods. Too much waste and hassle(yes I did build a box and recycle some of the paint). I dont mind using them for accents though. Here are some pics of the longest ones I made. They are in the 10" range or so and weigh 25.5oz with paint and hooks. These were made for fishing bottom fish in Alaska's Cook Inlet home of the worlds second highest tides. Big jigs and weights are standard fare here. This jig is called Cook Inlet Candy. Oh and for the record I did switch these to one assist hook setups.

So I tried the dip flip then dip the other half. It worked OK but on some of them it definetly left a seam because I couldn't be precise with the overlap. so part of it in the center had more paint then the other parts. Then I made some 12" tall cups and I was really happy with how that worked. So I guess taller cups was the best answer.

No I havent made any yet but I did make some 25oz butterfly type jigs and some of the fish jigs from the Shawn collins mold. I'll send you the pics in a PM.

Pipe jigs are used a lot for halibut. We were just discussing making pipe jigs on an alaska fishing forum. A poormans jig that can be made to any desireable size relatively cheaply.Scrap copper used to be easy to acquire but not so much anymore with the price of metal at the scrap yard. A lot of butterfly style jigs are rigged with the solid ring and split ring for the assist hooks. You need the solid ring because split rings have a small possibility of cutting the assist line. Assist hooks run from the top eye which is also where you attach your line is good for several reasons. One is less lures snagged on the bottom and lost. Also many fish like to attack bait fom the head and some like to eat them head first. Fish can't swim backwards so a struggling baitfish in their mouth only swims farther into their mouths. So more hookups on those fish with hooks from the head of your bait. Also the assist line, instead of a straight split ring and hook, eliminates a lot of leverage a fish would use to pull a hook out. The line twists instead of the whole jig twisting. Either way I do like butterfly jigs.

I realized I forgot to post a pic of my butterfly style jig. I use a #3 long stainless eye. They are 1.3" long. The stainless #3L eye on top comes down to about the center of the 3D eye on the jig. I havent tested these yet But I don't forsee any problems with them pulling out at all.

I have a 25oz butterfly type mold (Thanks Bob) that I just used to make a few jigs. I use the #3 long eye in mine and I am not worried about pulling out. The eyes are flared on the end so they should hold well. I think alot depends on how thick your jig is. In a Do-It fluttter jig the jig has a thru wire that isn't twisted closed and they hold up real well. But they need the thru wire as the jig is thin. Mine is a bit thicker. Also I used wheel weight lead for mine. I will be trying them on Halibut this summer. I hope to land a 100+ pounder (or maybe 200)on one of mine.

I already have the PVC bought for the taller cups so it will be easy to cut them. I hve a bigger than usual Aquarium pump so I hope I have enough air. If not I guess they make bigger ones. Like I said this will mainly be for a base color and possibly a UV blast coat. The accent colors will be with the powder paint airbrush.

Thanks Andy I figured you might have some good advice. I will try both of those. Thanks. I have some jig holders from TJ's tackle for my small ice fishing jigs. Have you ever tried making one for bigger jigs like this? I guess it could be as simple as a couple pieces of angle iron and a couple of vice grips. That way any excess painy runs down the hook shank where it is more easily removed. Curious of your thoughts on this.

I use the protec super glow powders. They do glow the base color. I have the white, blue, orange, and green. I like them. I bought mine by the pound from TJ's Tackle.

The plan I have is to do the base color in the fluid bed then the accent color/colors with the spray gun. White with a green or blue back are a couple of popular patterns up here.