Jeff Hahn

I recently bought a 3/4, 1, and 1 1/2 ounce cavity Sparkie mold from Jann's. They list them as "available for order." Which means that they don't carry them in stock but will order one for you. I had mine in 10 days.

I took all of your advice and stayed away from the HF powder paint.

Like Munkin said, I think it's probably the weedguard more than the hook. After the weedguard bends a number of times it gets more flexible than when it was new. Also, the weedguard material might be absorbing a tiny bit of water into the material, causing it to have more flex.

I would bet that's a custom made jig head.

Any problems with Harbor Freight Powder Paint? Does it work in a fluid bed as well as Pro-Tec or as well as Jann’s brand? It’s certainly less expensive than those other brands.

You are correct about the original blades being thinner than the blades that you can buy from lure parts suppliers. I've looked for thinner aftermarket blades without success. But, I don't think that's a major problem in terms of running depth. I would think that the shallow running is primarily a result of too much water resistance on the blade or reeling too fast for the depth you want the bait to run. One thing you might do is use a reel with a lower gear ratio to help combat you (and my) tendency to reel too fast. I have recently been using a 6.4:1 reel, but have caught more fish when using a lower gear ratio reel, which I'm going back to this year. Personally, I want the blade as close to the head as I can get it when I reel fast. This makes the blade bang on the head much more and wear grooves in the head. This makes the bait "hunt" and gives it the erratic action that Mark pointed out, above.

The Sparkie head is wider and flatter than the Arkie head. I have no experience with the "s"hed.

Update: Mustang Wire makes these weedguards. I spoke with a guy at Mustang Wire today. He can make the weedguard I want in a longer version, but the minimum order is 10,000. I don't need that many! And, the cost for making me just 1000 is far to much to justify. And, he would not just sell me 50 feet of the twisted wire so that I could make my own. But, after doing some begging, he is sending me a couple feet of the twisted cable that these weedguards are made from so I can make my own. I'll just have to use it very sparingly.

I've used the plastic coated cable on some jigs that I only use when fishing rocks. And, it works great for that application. But, at the length I want, It's not going to be stiff enough to work well. The stand guard cable guard works fine on up to a 4/0 jig hook. But, it's just a tad short when using it on a 5/0 hook, which is what I want to use.

http://www.lurepartsonline.com/Onlin...Weedguard.html I use this wire weed guard on the jigs that I fish around vegetation. They are 1 1/2 inches long, which is just a tad short when I use a 5/0 hook. Does anyone have an idea where I might find a wire weedguard like this only longer? I could make my own, but don't know where I could get the same twisted type cable.

Barlow's, Janns Netcraft, or Lure Parts Online will have all of the materials that you need. A pic of the jigs that you're trying to duplicate would help us give you more specific info. One thing about making hair jigs..."less is more." That is, people tend to use way too much hair when starting to make hair jigs. I'm as guilty as anyone on that count. Less hair gives far more action.

When I power coat, I never have to coat the heads with anything else. Instead, just bake them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. The paint won't ever come off.

I bought a pack of the swivels that I linked above. I got to try them out over the last two days when fishing a swim jig in pads and grass up here on Georgian Bay. FYI - They work fantastic!

The Do-It Sparkie head is about as close as you can get without having a custom mold made.

I thought about the tie-able wire. But, I've never used it so I don't know if it would fit my needs or not or how well it works. The Spro swivels that I ordered arrived yesterday. It looks like they are going to work great.

Thanks for the help.

A narrower head would probably allow more side to side movement of the blade. If that's what you want, then I'd go with the Arkie head. On my baits, I want the blade banging the head.

A Sparkie jighead is what you want, if you want the blade banging on the head. I think that Do-It makes two Sparkie molds. Do-It makes a weedless Sparkie mold, too. https://store.do-itmolds.com/search.asp?keyword=sparkie&search= But the head looks a little narrower at the front that the non-weedless Sparkie mold. https://store.do-itmolds.com/Sparkie-JigbrSz-116-18-316-14-38-12-58brHk-410-or-413brCollar-Ball_p_433.html

There is a very healthy largemouth population where I fish in Georgian Bay, Ontario. The problem is that there are a lot of pike, too. I get tired of losing jigs to toothy little pike. So, last year I started using a plastic coated wire leader on my jigs. It didn't affect my catch rate or the size of largemouth that I caught at all. I make my own leaders. Instead of using a snap on the end that attaches to the jig, I attach the leader permanently using a leader sleeve. The problem is on the other end of the leader where I tie my line. Last year, I used a split ring. The problem is that the split ring catches a lot of weeds, ruining the presentation. So, I tried a barrel swivel. It was better, but not by much. So, I'm looking for an alternative. Here's the best option I've found. https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/spro-p...ls/335801.aspx I know these will still catch some grass. But, I bet a whole lot less than the split ring or barrel swivel. Anyone have any experience with these heavy duty swivels? I wonder if the smallest one, 150 pound test, will be too big? Thanks for any help you can offer!

This is how I make 90% of my vibrating jigs. But, I made a few weedless vibrating jigs using an Arkie mold and wanted a shorter hook so the weedguard would work. I used a regular 60 degree Mustad jig hook and had to open the eye to attach the blade.

I laid the hook across a vice and then used a punch to open the eye. In my experience, lighter "taps" with a hammer worked much better than hard "blows." I tried the hard "blows" on the first couple hooks. But, given that hooks are made of such hardened material, I shattered the eye on a couple hooks before I backed off.

I have taken a couple of the larger Figure 8 Links and cut them, bent the wire into a smaller loop, and made baits out of them. In theory, they should act like the small Figure 8 Link, but they don't. I suspect that it's due to the larger ones being made of thicker wire.

Yes, I have some of those, also. They are larger than I want.

I never heard of that outfit. They do have a lot.

I have some of those from Barlow's. They are smaller than the Jann's Size 3, but much larger than the Jann's Size 1.