timbass

I tie the skirt on before I set the weedguard. It wont hurt the jig to do it after, but it is a bit of a pain to have to work around the weedguard. I use the superglue with the brush applicator and after I tie two whip finishes to fishing the jig, then I just touch the knot with the glue. You don't have to do this, but its cheap insurance. You don't need much and if you get carried away it will leak down and glue the skirt strands together. I either use heavy thread that is tough to break or used 20lb braid. The braid is great, but if you pull too hard you can score or even cut through the silicone as it is rather soft. Also, make sure when you are getting the braid/thread started onto the jig collar that you wrap a single layer all the way across the inside of the jig collar. Then you can lay your skirt tabs on top and finish tying on top of that base layer. It creates a layer that gives your braid/thread something to grab onto. Braid has no stretch and without a layer to grab onto, when you pull tight the skirt will be able to spin around the collar since its just smooth paint which will mess up your carefully placed skirt and accent colors. My other tip is a way to keep your skirt strands nice and flat and even which will keep the strands from dangling all around the head and hook which makes it hard to get your colors even and some of the strands will overlap the other creating a messy look to the skirt. So, get some masking tape and cut two pieces that are about two inches long. Lay them on the table parallel (like and equal sign) with the adhesive facing up. Then take your skirt tab and pull it fairly tight so that all the strands are perfectly straight and even. Then just lay your even tab on the tape perpendicular to your "equal sign." You want to have a piece just in from each end of the tab so that there will be about an inch and a half space in the middle so that it wont interfere with tying the tab on. This will make the tab somewhat stiff and much more manageable and the strands will be much easier to position on the collar. After you lay the tab on the tape, keep it flat and then just fold the tape around the top of the tab and smooth it out and trim the excess. This has saved my sanity many times when I start to lose it when the strands keep sagging all around the head, becoming uneven and making it difficult to wrap the thread around the skirt and collar. Also, yes it has to be masking tape. I have tried them all and only masking tape will stick to the silicone. Scotch tape will slide right off and wont hold at all. When you are done, the tape will come off without a fuss and wont leave any gum on the skirt. I hope something here will help you. You will make a few really ugly jigs until you get the hang of it, but stick it out because its very satisfying to put your own colors together. Once you get it down you will wonder why you didn't get into it sooner. Post us a pic and lets see what you come up with. Good luck.

I assume since Randy and Aaron Martens are buddys down in Alabama, Randy seem to take a liking to Aaron's shaky head design that came out several years back. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Davis_Baits_Shaky_Head_5pk/descpage-DBAS.html It is a very close match including the keeper barb facing outward from the back. Aaron's jig has the same issue of using the Gammi 111 O'Shaughnessy bronze hook. I would say it depends on what you want to use for your plastics. I have gone through several packs of Aaron's jig heads and that little bronze hook is sticky sharp and it really does hook and hold the fish very well. As you can guess the bronze is a little softer and more flexible and as you said it is a smaller gap for its size as O'Shaughnessy hooks tend to be. If you are using basic worms like a fat robo, zoom finesse, havoc bottom hopper and the like, then that hook will suit your needs very well. However, if you like using bigger worms, creatures like smallie beavers or bulky worms like a Hag's tornado or grande rattlesnake then you will run into problems from that small hook. So, for you basic finesse worms I actually have good things to say about the hook, but for anything bigger then you will have to do some experimenting or modification. I looked around and don't see any other option for an O'Shaughnessy that will fit and outside of that hook it looks like the mold's hook options are quite limited. The VMC is a sharp hook, but I don't know about the length or size compared to the 111, but it does look to be a lot stronger. I will keep looking and let you know if I find something that would fit that mold without having to modify it.

Thank you so much for all the great advice. It is easy to get sucked into the "dogma" of buying specific things to get the job done right, but this proves that your best tool is knowledge, so thank you for some of that good knowledge. Bass100, thanks for breaking down your process step-by-step. Your insight is going to be a huge help for me getting started. Thanks everyone.

So, I am just starting to airbrush crankbaits among other things and I was wondering what you all like to use for paints. I see Createx gets lots of mentions, but I am curious who else gets the nod for good paint. Also, what style of paint is best. From some articles I have read most people prefer to use the pearlized, fluorescent and iridescent paint, but typically do not use opaque colors. However, I have seen one guy who uses opaque white, but only to base coat all his lures. With that said, I was wondering why you don't you opaque paints, but on the other hand if you do, then why do you? I know its a goofy question, but I am just looking for some insight on how the paint will turn out when finished and maybe save a few bucks on rookie mistakes. So, please enlighten me if you would. I would love to hear what works best for you. Thanks. -Tim

Howdy folks, I was wondering if any of you have done business with dakotalakestackle or specifically if you have ordered any of their unpainted lure bodies? I am just getting into airbrushing my own baits and have seen posts on here that warn of poor quality and leaking in baits from certain sites. I see that predatorbassbaits seems to have lots of supporters that the owner seems to back his products which is great and I will order from him in the near future. Dakota has some things I would like to try as well so I was just curious if anyone had any insight about their quality. Thanks for any info you can offer. -Tim

Kasil is right on here. I fish in Oregon and our reservoirs are full of rocks. I started making my own football jigs for the sole reason that when I pay $5 for a jig and the paint will be completely chipped off the bottom of the head within 10 casts and I just couldn't do it anymore. When you don't bake the jigs the paint will begin to chip off right away(if you fish rocky places) and the bottom of your jig will be straight lead within an hour. It may not bother the fish, but it sure does me. If you bake them, you will lose the jig before it chips off. Instead, after fishing the jig a while, the part of the head that drags in the rocks will begin to dull slightly, but it won't come off. It also gives the paint a nice luster when you get your baking method down. You can get a cheap toaster oven at walmart for about $20 because you obviously don't want to use anything you eat out of. Also, I accidentally used the broil setting the first time and it causes the paint to bubble on the head so don't do that . Give it a try, you will be glad you did.

I have been experimenting with fishing skirts' silver/blk foundation and it does come out really nice and it really stands out after you bake it. The baking makes the black dots come out more. However, they do not recommend using a fluid bed for it as the paint is bonded together and the fluid bed or excessive shaking will cause the paint to come apart and not give you the effect you are looking for. I usually just put a small amount in a little Tupperware type jar and roll it around to coat. Dipping straight into the jar can cause it to cake on a little too heavily and it does not come out well. On the other hand, after you have used the silver/blk foundation and baked it on, then you should use the fluid bed to put the candy paint over coating on there. The fluid bed helps to get a really thin coating and everyone who has used this stuff can tell you that if you put too heavy of a candy coat on there it will completely cover the foundation and you will lose the effect. I have tried the blue and purple candy paint from fishing skirts and the blue works really well, but the purple masks the foundation no matter what I have tried so I encourage you to experiment and if you have good results please post some pictures and let me know what you did to get it to come out. I have been a tad frustrated with the inconsistency of this style of paint. Actually, I have really just started using the silver/blk foundation as the whole paint job on chatterbaits and swim jigs and have had good success fishing with it. Anyhow, I hope this helps a little and let me know how it goes. Good luck.

Hey Thanks for the heads up. I am going to go ahead and try the blk/blue and blk/purple and hopefully they will turn out nice like your blk/blue did. That is a little surprising that the watermelon didn't turn out. I would think the blue would be darker and cover up the black, but that's clearly not the case. I will try the fluid bed or maybe just dip a small art paint brush in the paint and blow it across the jig a little bit at a time. I have done this with accent colors before and seems to coat more evenly than holding the jig below the brush and tapping the paint off of the brush onto it. That usually just drops a "clump" of paint onto one spot where blowing it off the brush really spreads it out. It does lead to a little more waste though. I will try it all and see what happens and I will post a pic. Thanks! -Tim

Sounds like great customer service DaBehr. That would be great if you could post a pic and maybe any observations about using the stuff would be really helpful. I really like the look of the stuff, but have seen a few pics around the internet that were of really poor results. I am hoping for the best because I would like to get some myself. -Tim

Thank you for the input willowblade.

Ok cool, so the overcoat works will the candy coats from other companies also, that is great to know. Thank you for making sure Smalljaw that I get the correct foundation. Dabehr, if it is not too much trouble can you post a picture of two of what results you are getting? Thank You all for your input.

Hey folks, Have any of you tried the illusion powder paints from fishingskirts.com. I am just getting into powder coating and have tried some of the pro-tec, spike it and a few from commercial powder coating suppliers. I am pretty happy with some of the combos I can create, but I am intrigued by the layering and texture that the illusion paints look like they make. I know you have to use the white base coat, but do you have to use the top coats they sell or will any colors you have work. I assume they wont because if my assumption is correct the top coat looks like a thinner "dye" that colors the white layer, but doesn't cover up the black spots. Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone uses it, is it worth the money and easy to get the desired results? If it is not worth it or if it is difficult to achieve the desired effect are there any good insights for beginners for how to create the layered or textured appearances these paints are supposed to get? Thanks for any advise you may have.

It looks like they really improved the site. Before it took me a while to get used to how to navigate the database effectively and now it is much more user friendly. Anyway, the update seems to be all set and is working find for me now. Hope you are able to get in there now rustedhook.

Thanks for you input guys. Smalljaw, thanks for clarifying that the 32798 is standard and not light. I was concerned it would be pretty light and flexible since the shakey head molds use them. I will just have to order some and see what they look like. Cadman, I will just try em out and see if they fit or if a little bit of modification is needed.

Hey guys, I have a question about 60° jig hooks for the do-it football jig mold that accepts both the vertical and flat hook eyes. So far I have used the standard mustad 32786 (vertical eye), but I am looking to pour some flat eye jigs. I have never used one and I want to see which I prefer. My only concern is that I do a fair amount of fishing around heavy cover and I worried that the mustad 32798 that the mold is made for will be too flexible and the bite "looks" narrow in the pictures. So, I am assuming that heavy wire 32796 will not fit the mold without some modification? And I am pretty sure the flat eye trokars will not fit either, but I have heard the TK800 vertical eye hooks will fit. If you wouldn't mind, can you guys tell me what hooks will fit or that you are using and maybe some of the pros and cons? Thank you in advance for your expertise and experience and I am sure you have to answer the same questions over and over again for us newbies so I am sorry about that.