Hey old timers- help me out… old school do-it jig molds

[tdarin176]

Hey old friends,
   I inherited some old school do it jig molds when my grandpa met Jesus this fall and wanted to pick your brains before all your knowledge kicks the bucket as well.  (Just kidding)
I can’t find anything on these molds, maybe they’re really old or maybe they just sucked back in the day.   What do the different color handles mean?  I’ve got some orange, blue, and a lot of black.  Even seen some red.  Is there a timeline I can figure out from handle color?  The boys and I on our junior high fishing team are going to make these over the winter!

Now for some of the molds:

  1. Erie Rig mold ER-6-A- blue handle
Anyone have a pic of what this lure should look like completed?  Looks like I can still pick up .033 wire shafts for it.  Do I troll this for walleye?

2.  Weedless Wally- Jws-4-ay orange handle
Looks like a normal bass jig to me.  It’s not even unwrapped yet.  Is it any good?

3.  Weedless Stand up jig sub-3-ay -black handle
Anyone have a tip on finding 3/0 eagle claw 1623 hooks?  Is this a bottom dragging bait that stands up?  Maybe tip it with a minnow?

4.  Weedless Spinner wsj-3-a orange handle
   It looks like a spinner bait with a jig weedguard too?  Any ideas where I can find a short arm wire form wsa -1?

5.   Slide-along jig Saj-4-a blue handle
How do I fish this guy?  Do I need to tie some buck tail on the back?  Another 1623 hook mold

6.  Bass spin jig ark-3198fs orange handle
.32 nylostrand?  .070 connector sleeve?  What on earth is this science experiment?  Haha


Anywho-  thanks for your help guys.  I can’t wait to learn this stuff with my friends in outdoor rec class!

[cadman]

Welcome to TU. On the color handles, if I remember correctly. The different colored handles were the different price ranges for the different molds. For example all the orange handles were one price, all the blue were another and so on. I believe there were only five colors. Red, blue, orange, green and black. There might have been a yellow. Do-It stopped making colored handles prior to 2006, don’t know the exact date. They are all black now.

As far as the molds go if my memory serves me correctly:

#1. I believe you attach a hook at the back end of the wire form and you wire wrap the hook. I can’t remember if this is a free spinning wire inside the head. I also believe that you cast it out and reel it in dragging it on the bottom.

#2. It is a smaller profile jig that looks like a bass jig with a weedguard. Don’t know why they call it a walleye jig.

#3. I have its cousin which is a stand-up jig with a spinner blade on the back (mine does not have a weedguard). The correct 1623 hook has a crimp in it which kept the hook from turning in the mold. The 1623 CR hook is no longer manufactured by Eagle Claw. They do make the #1623 w/o the crimp. This jig is to be drug on the bottom, tipped with a minnow or a grub. Unfortunately this is a poor design. These jigs never falls flat on the bottom of the lake with the hook pointed up. They always fall over even if they do fall flat on their base. There are much better jigs for using live bait or grubs.

#4. Yes it is a Sparkie style head spinnerbait with a weedguard.  Weedguards on spinnerbaits are unnecessary in my opinion since the wireform will hit the weeds first. Interesting concept at the time.

#5. I have this mold. It is a good dragging jig for the bottom and a good choice for a minnow or a grub. It has a wider base on the bottom of the jig making it better for dragging.

#6 Post pic of mold. I’ve seen this before but don’t remember.

This is all the info I got on this. I may have forgotten some info and maybe some info is inaccurate, however someone will be on here to add more info or correct me.

There is a guy on here “SmallJaw” that has been pouring jigs for a long time. He may have more input on these molds.

[smalljaw]

Would you sell the weedless wally mold???  I do have to inform you that the weedless wally mold is very sought after. As soon as one hits ebay it is sold within a day. They can also bring a fairly high price. Not everyone likes the mold but I have a use for it. Shoot me a PM if you decide you ever wanted to sell that mold.

[cadman]

tdarin176

I found some more info for you as I looked at my Do-It catalog collection dating back to 2001-2002. All the pages in the catalog were all green and white. 2001-2002 was the last year they had colored handle molds. Starting 2003 all handles were black. See attached pics. some interesting info from way back in the day. It looks like t he black handle molds were the professional molds where they were better cast molds and the molds had multiple cavities of the same size head throughout the mold.

Edited November 22, 2022 by cadman

[tdarin176]

Cadman- wow thanks for ALL the info!  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.  That’s crazy, the handle color tell you the price haha.  I would have never guessed that!  I can’t wait to try these guys out!

 

samlljaw- thanks for the honesty!  I’m going to hang on to the molds, but if anything ever changes I will let you know!

[TerryF2858]

did a bit of research... here is a link to the mold pic

https://custombaits.com/index.php?topic=12180.0

from the 2nd pic you can see more of the items needed to make them, it says 60lb nylostrand leader and a swivel. more info in the top pic, I remember seeing them, they were never popular in my area. now they make them as underspins.  should be a fun one to build and try.

this is kinda what it will look like, except the one you have also uses the fiber weedguard. 

[tdarin176]

Terry- thank you so much!  We are going to have so much fun making these!!!