Jeff Hahn

I have had a Hot Pot and Hot Pot 2 for as long as I have been pouring jigs...like 40 years. A bottom pour unit would be nice to have, but my old Hot Pot 2 works fine and is a whole lot cheaper to buy.

Since you have Rattleback jigs,they likely have plastic rattles molded into the head. You don't want to use chemicals to strip the paint that might melt the plastic rattles. Similarly, you can't head the head hot enough to use powder paint, let alone bake it on, without melting the plastic rattles. If I were you, I would go to Walmart and buy some cheap fingernail polish and paint the heads with that. It may chip off, but at least the rattles on thejigheads will be intact. If you want to spend a little more, buy the Sally hanse Tough as Nails fingernail polish. It's will chip far less than other rands.

During the press confernece, Casey said his Dad uses a plain old Do-It Pony Head mold.

FWIW, someone on another forum suggested using teflon in a spray can as a mold release. http://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Non-Stick-Dry-Film-Lubricant-Aerosol/dp/B003UTX0R8 I wonder if this would work?

Jaw: The ones that I have powder painted turned out just like yours. So, I just started painting them with fingernail polish. Most recently, I bought some of the blade stickers that are sold in the lure parts cataolgs...MUCH easier!

Glad that it worked for you. It's amazing how large they appear and how light they are. Maybe I try the "cold mold" thing. It might solve the residue problem I had. Thanks for the tip.

Cadman: Thanks for the feedback. Before I make any more, I am first going to see how well the fish like them. That will be 3 weeks from now on my annual march trip to Santee. If they work well, then I'm going to give those suggestions a shot.

Bored around the house, so I thought I'd play with the Hot Glue jigs. I added a Super Chunk Jr., filled the sink with water, and dropped a jig in. It sank really slow, but did not always sink vertically and wanted to lay slightly on its side. So, I thought that maybe I should make some more and add a tiny bit of weight for a keel. A small split shot would go around the hook, but blocked the back end of the cavity so no glue would get back there. So, that was a no go. After playing around, I settled on wrapping some lead wire around the hook shank near the front of the hook. That worked fine. But, by the time I got some test baits done, the mold got too hot, and I had to let it cool. Several times the mold was still too warm and caused problems. But, the biggest problem was the jig sticking in the mold once it cooled. As I noted in my original post, the soot from smoking the mold when pouring lead got all over the Hot Glue jighead. So, I took a toothbrush and got most of it out...mistake! Plus, after a pour or two with the soot still in the mold cavity, most of it was gone...adhering to the Hot Glue jighead. With no release agent, the jig was tough to get out of the mold without tearing it. I tore a couple back by the skirt color. Luckily, they are easily repaired with a shot of Hot Glue and trimming with a knife. Any suggestions on what release agent might be the best? I have some silicone molds that use baby powder as a release agent. I wonder if this would work on an aluminum mold for these Hot Glue jigs? (By the way, when a Hot Glue jig tears, it leaves some glue in the mold. I tried to scrape it out, but could not get it all. So, I poured some lead in the mold several times and that got most of it out...but there is still some residue.)

I use that same Figure 8 link, too.

One additional thing I was considering was if these jigs are too light to effectively flip or pitch, I bet that I could add a very tiny bit of weight to these Hot Glue jigs. Perhaps I could wrap the jig hook with lead wire to add some weight or maybe insert a BB or two in the mold cavity next to the hook. Any other ideas?

I debated about using RTV silicone, but a lure maker on another board said that it would not hold paint as well as the Hot Glue. And, of course, the silicone would take over night to set up. What is the reson that you speak of? Would it be added to the silicone?

I bend out some paper clips on both ends. Put one end through the hookeye and hang the other end on the rung of the rack in the oven. If you get a run in the paint, it will run toward the hook and can easily be broken off or cut off with small side cutter.

I did a little experimenting this afternoon and created a few Hot Glue jigs. This will give a super slow rate of fall in the water. I wanted a large enough head that once the trailer was attached it would still have enough weight to at least be able to flip, and possibly pitch, the bait accurately. I went with the Arkie style 3/8 oz. head and a 4/0 hook. I made these with twin wire weedguards. The Hot Glue worked fine. But, I discovered a couple things through trial and error. First, the mold must be warm, but not hot. It should be warm enough that you can hold your hand on it without getting burned. Any warmer and it takes forever to for the glue to cool. Any cooler and the glue doesn't flow well. Second, the soot in the mold cavity that acts as a release agent when pouring lead is not a good release agent when shooting glue. But, with a little care you can get the finished jig out of the cavity without hurting it. The soot coats the outside of the jig, but does not interfere with painting. Within a couple pours, the soot is gone and the jighead is almost clear. Third, the glue sticking out of the spru must be opaque white before you can open the mold. Open the mold too soon and the jighead tears in half. Fourth, the Hot Glue looks pretty good when painted. Obviously, you can't powder paint a Hot Glue jig! But, fingernail polish works pretty good. Fifth, these jig don't sit up very well...not enough weight, I guess, so in the pic below I sat one against a pair of line clippers so you can see it from the top. Sixth, the unanswered question is if the rubber skirt collar and silicone skirt with chemically react with the Hot Glue...we'll see. In the one pic, I have a 1/16 oz. jig setting next to the 3/8 size Hot Glue jig. On a balance beam, they weigh exactly the same.

Welcome Michael! I'm pretty new here to, but have been making tackle for a long, long time. I tie a similar jig for smallies for fishing in Canada. Mine are made with a black head and white bucktail, usually 1/8 ounce. I tip it with a Uncle Josh #210 white Spin Tain (which I don't think they make anymore, but I have a case of them).

I like the EWG hook for texas rigging plastics, but prefer the old round bend hook on jigs.

I've also made some jigs using stainless wire bent into a loop and hooked under the tip of the hook. Those work fine, too. But, as you noted wire weedguards will grab onto weeds. I tend to fish a lot of wood, where they work fine.

I made a few more and learned one thing...it's best to tap, tap, tap on the hookeye, rather than using a much harder single blow. The eyes on the highly tempered super sharp hooks will snap quite easily! DUH!

I use a double wire weedguard on many of my jigs. You can buy a braided cable type weedguard with a small bend in the bottom at Lure Parts Online Buy a length of 1/8 inch (outside diameter) stainless tubing at a hardware store. Cut it to about a 2 inch lengths. Insert two of these wire weedguards inside and lay the tubing in the slot in your mold made for a weed guard (or pull pin). Make sure the loops on the end of the wire lay around the shaft of the jig hook. Then pour the lead. Some lead might get up inside the stailess tube, beside the wire weed guards. If so, use a pir of small pliers to pull the tubing off the weed guards. Then, spread the wires and paint the jighead. I usually paint the wires of the weed guard the same color as the jig.

Sound like you can entertain the wife and paint jigs at the same time!

I don't worry about the exact weight of my baits. If the mold says 1/4 ounce, for example, I don't care if it's a little light or a little heavy. As long as the 1/4 ounce is smaller than a 3/8 ounce and larger than a 1/8 and 3/16 ounce, I don't care. And, I bet the fish don't care either.

I use a Do-It Sparkie mold for making my bladed jigs. It is almost identical to the RAD Chatterbait head and the Z_Man head.

I think you could trim down a LPO blade to one that size. If not, you could cut your own from stainless steel stock. A friend buys a lot of material from www.mscdirect.com. They have a very think stainless stock that would be perfect for making blades.

There are a bunch of custom jig makers in my area. But, only a couple sell their baits. Most make their ownbaits for themselves and their partners and close friends. I make a custom jig that has the characteristics that I want in the head, weedguard, and skirt colors and materials. No mass produced jig on the market has all of these characterics in one package, so I make my own.

I made some using the blades from LPO. I just ground them down farther on my belt sander. But, I must have gotten some of them too hot as the blades had a tendency to crack just about the time that I got them to the right size and shape. The blades that did turn out OK worked fine on smaller baits. But, I don't catch near the numbers or the quality of fish that I do with a regular size bait and blade.