Midwest Finesse Wire Weed Guard?

[riverrat88]

First of all, I am new to the forum but have been reading the wealth of knowledge on this site for some time now!  A few previous threads have mentioned the use of  wire weed guards with your modified Do-it Midwest Finesse molds.  It looks like many are using single or double wire, coated and non-coated 7 strand leader wire for weedless heads.  Hoping you can answer a couple questions on it...

1)  What are the benefits of coated vs. non-coated 7 strand in this mold/application?

2) What diameter or lb. test  have you found works best for single or double wire?   I will be pouring primarily smaller 1/16 - 1/8 oz. heads with lighter wire #2 and #1 hooks for a finesse application.

 

Thank you in advance!

[ARCFLASH]

Was just starting to look into this as well, just ordered one recently.

[21xdc]

I use this one

 

http://www.lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/Mold-Insert-Components/Wire-Weedguard.html

 https://www.barlowstackle.com/Wire-Weed-Guard-P3836.aspx

 

Edited February 14, 2019 by 21xdc

[cadman]

Here are some things about wire weedguards. I found the best non-coated wire weedguards are  solid wire and the twisted wire shown above by 21xdc.  Most of the wire weedguards are  (.021) thick whether solid or stranded. You can always go thinner if you do not like stiff wire weeduards.

Now, I have used seven-strand, nylostrand and a few others. SevenStrand comes in coated and non-coated. I do not use non-coated stranded wire. Reason being, it has a tendency to separate after some use and your SevenStrand  becomes seven separate strands after awhile. So I always use coated. Now what thickness you buy is up to you. I like my weedguards more flexible, so when the fish picks up the jig, the weedguard collapses and the hook point gets exposed, so I can get a good hookset.  The only (negative) not really negative I can say about any coated wire weedgard is that when you put it in the mold, the coating will melt about a 1/16 of an inch up from the base of the head. This is due to the hot lead melting the coating on the wire weedguard. However, I have never had any real problems with this.  Also SevenStrand or Nylostrand seems more supple than solid wire or double stranded wire as shown above. The choice is yours on what you want. It is a matter of personal preference. If you need more info you can PM me and I will try to give you more insight.

 

BTW Riverrat and Arcflash, welcome to TU.

[ARCFLASH]

34 minutes ago, cadman said:

Here are some things about wire weedguards. I found the best non-coated wire weedguards are  solid wire and the twisted wire shown above by 21xdc.  Most of the wire weedguards are  (.021) thick whether solid or stranded. You can always go thinner if you do not like stiff wire weeduards.

Now, I have used seven-strand, nylostrand and a few others. SevenStrand comes in coated and non-coated. I do not use non-coated stranded wire. Reason being, it has a tendency to separate after some use and your SevenStrand  becomes seven separate strands after awhile. So I always use coated. Now what thickness you buy is up to you. I like my weedguards more flexible, so when the fish picks up the jig, the weedguard collapses and the hook point gets exposed, so I can get a good hookset.  The only (negative) not really negative I can say about any coated wire weedgard is that when you put it in the mold, the coating will melt about a 1/16 of an inch up from the base of the head. This is due to the hot lead melting the coating on the wire weedguard. However, I have never had any real problems with this.  Also SevenStrand or Nylostrand seems more supple than solid wire or double stranded wire as shown above. The choice is yours on what you want. It is a matter of personal preference. If you need more info you can PM me and I will try to give you more insight.

 

BTW Riverrat and Arcflash, welcome to TU.

Thanks for the advice! You may or not know me as MaineBassFishin on bassresource, but it's been a little while since I've posted

[cadman]

3 minutes ago, ARCFLASH said:

Thanks for the advice! You may or not know me as MaineBassFishin on bassresource, but it's been a little while since I've posted

 

The name looks familiar from BR.

[riverrat88]

Thank you for help and advice, that was exactly what I was looking for!

[kbonanny]

   Does anyone have links to the source material for making your own wire weedgaurds? I'm especially interested in a way to make a double wire weedguard for use on modified Do-It molds, such as the ball head, tube head, mushroom headed jig heads.

 

    Thanks!

[Jeff Hahn]

Here's what I use.  https://barlowstackle.com/Wire-Weed-Guard-P3836/

 

Jann's has something similar  https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Search/wire weed guard.aspx

 

You can also use stainless wire to form a loop that clips underneath the point of the hook.

[mark poulson]

You can also use weed wacker line.  It is stiff enough to keep the hook weedless, but soft enough to collapse on the hookset.

[smalljaw]

17 hours ago, mark poulson said:

You can also use weed wacker line.  It is stiff enough to keep the hook weedless, but soft enough to collapse on the hookset.

What diameter weed wacker line do you use?

[mark poulson]

On 4/28/2020 at 6:00 AM, smalljaw said:

What diameter weed wacker line do you use?

.065 inches

[kbonanny]

.065" nylon works for you? that's far "thicker" than what I'd figure to use. Do you have any of these jig heads made up so you can attach some pictures? Thanks!

[mark poulson]

On 4/29/2020 at 5:03 PM, kbonanny said:

.065" nylon works for you? that's far "thicker" than what I'd figure to use. Do you have any of these jig heads made up so you can attach some pictures? Thanks!

Here are a picture of an arkie jig, and one of three chatterbaits (I hope).