Thread: July

Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Shows 51 folks have viewed the thread. Been kind of slow around here lately. Been a fairly hot up this way. Of course it rains most of my off days. All the rain means the grass has to be cut twice a week.

wish we could get some rain. Been hot and dry here. My grass actually crunches under foot right now...

Great write-up Micanopy...

Well…… I just couldn’t stand it. That new mold got me wanting another new mold. I placed an order for one of these with Print A Lure.



I selected style Number 5, in the 1/ 16th ounce size. I like the Screw Loc system, and pouring without the insert would leave me a collar less jig head. I can also make a slight mod and run a wire for a spinner blade very easily. I can do my modification with adding a wire, or my Tickle Me Elmo trick using the Screw Loc.

The photo is completely misleading. Notice that the head size remains the same while collars are extended or not. Not sure if this is their system, all the heads the same size and the jig weight varies dramatically, or they just drew this picture that way not actually representing what the jigs actually look like. Number 5 will leave me as much lead in the head as possible. I end up cutting away most of the collars on my jigs anyways.

I will use the Eagle Claw 571 hook, if it fits. They make them very dependent on a hook style and size. I requested mine for an Eagle Claw 570, figuring the 571 would fit right in.

The home page tells me it could be two months before it shows in my mailbox.

I tried to see what size the eyes were but alas the site offers no information about such. Lots of explanations about when and how to complain though. I was going to order some new 3D eyes and want them to fit as close to exactly as possible. I also will be painting eyes to see how that turns out.

The axe shaped head jig that is round on the sides, no eyes, looks nice when you guys paint them up. I thought having eyes on the sides might make the head slightly larger. It looks like I could powder paint the head Glacier White with powder paint, cure it, then go at it with fingernail polish to enhance. I see eye holes, and I see a beak, so there are two areas where I can apply bright colors. Three colors total.

I wondered if the beak would make the stupid thing wobble a little as I troll it. It is probably designed for going through weeds or some silly thing like that. Somehow I doubt that, but the shape does appeal to me. I almost went with the 1/8th ounce size but in the end decided to go with the most popular size- 1/16th.

The mold looks like it has a nice gate, and being CNC cut, should leave a clean head with no slop to clean off. Maybe a quick pass on the file where the sprue separates. I suspect that it will be seven cavities in total. I really wanted a mold that offered lots of different sizes, but they say they don’t make those. I guess people who buy these types of molds want to sell their jigs, and so making seven at a time makes sense. I am used to making jig heads one at a time and I seriously doubt that I will be pouring seven at a time.

I don’t know why anyone would want to sell jig heads when folks can get 100 of them for $10 or so. Greatly underpriced if you ask me. I mean based on the effort I put into a jig head. Of course I don’t plan to sell anything, but if I ever did it wouldn’t be cheap. I have a motto you know- The customer is always right, and should be prepared to pay a premium for that luxury.

Maybe I should look around at some new colors for powder painting operations. Maybe a nice purple or something cool. I have yet to find a blaze orange that satisfies me with it’s brightness. That is kind of why I like using fingernail polish highlights to get my orange enhancements.

I bet I am going to wish I had ordered the 1/8th ounce size. Not even sure why I want to make more jigs when I already have way more than will ever get dipped for a swim. No way most of mine will ever get tied onto a line. Always chasing the next best thing I guess. I did that with surf fishing, too. I kept refining my style until one day I had something that no longer needed improving. Most folks can find satisfaction much more easily than I. Contentment doesn’t come easily to me.

So I wait for the stupid thing to show up, and it will one day. Right now all I have are ideas of what might be nice. Probably should sell my Do-It molds and stick with just my CNC molds. I got kind of tired cleaning slop every time I wanted to make a jig. Trim with cutters, file and sand. Whoops didn’t see that the head was misshapen. Oh well toss that one. It is important that the jig swim correctly, and not pull at an angle or spin or look funny as it goes past the fish. I want smooth and sleek, like a minnow.

We are all hobbyists here, and waste or precious monies on things we may or may not actually need. Some of you have taken it to the next level and sell jigs and stuff, but no way you are getting rich doing that. I just gift away my junk. Might as well because within a few months I will be onto something completely different anyways and will need some room in my storage containers for all the new designs.

I certainly have learned a lot so far. Been a year and a half that I have been fishing for crappie and making my own lures. While I enjoy the vice and wrapping channeils and such, they just never seem to match a very nicely applied plastic bait. If I held my rod still, I probably would be using hand ties much more than I do. My baits swim around at about 1- 1.5 mph the entire time so I want some action. A little liveliness. Something cool happening near the rear. That and the bright colors are very appealing to my eye.

I am glad I have managed to avoid pouring my own plastic baits. I know I would not be satisfied until I had a collection of molds. It would be fun but expensive. I mean I could have skipped pouring jig heads and saved a fortune by just buying them ready to go. It isn’t like I lose very many. Maybe six a year or something similar. Anyways, I do enjoy making them.

My wife said something to me after I was terminated from my job. She said- Don’t find a job doing something that you like to do already. You are going to learn to hate your job anyways, so you might as well find something cushy. I did and she was right. I would worry that selling jigs would spoil my enjoyment of the hobby, and that I would start to dislike doing it. She of course doesn’t know about the cushy part. Getting the CNC molds so I don’t have to scrub away the slop. Oh well.

If you want to raise that lost jighead count. I suggest shooting docks. Always something under there the cut a line off and lower ones tackle inventory

Originally Posted by Jamesdean

wish we could get some rain. Been hot and dry here. My grass actually crunches under foot right now...

Been having to cut mine twice a week. Usually this time of year it is once every week and a half.

Well it is kind of tough having to wait on my new jig head mold to arrive. They warned me. Here I will share it with you so you can see it again.



Number 5……. Yeah and just look at those eyes.

Well it got me to thinking about what I would like to see for eyes. I had planned on painting the head one color, and then the eye sockets another. Figuring that a chartreuse Atomic Yellow fingernail polish in there would be a good addition. I really don’t care to buy any more of those Chinese eyes. They are a hassle to install. So I got to looking about and watched videos showing how folks make their own 3D eyes. Yuck !!!! Talk about miserable stuff.

Then I got an idea. What if I print out, on paper or film, the eyes that I like. Hmmmmmm…. I could size them on the confuser, print them out in sheets, cut them out with a hole punch, and then lay the jig heads on their side, ease the paper in the cavity and simply dabble some resin in to fill the cavity and seal them in. Make the 3D eyes in place vs. making them and then attaching them.

So I got to looking about and there are those that sell printable eyes but no where near the sizes I would expect to use in my 1/16th ounce jig. Number 5 above you know. So then I thought to just search about and see what I could find and found these lovelies.







The trick will be the paper/film stock. Can it replicate when the picture is reduced in size. Will it look acceptable ? I think it is worth the old college try. So I plan to try to print one of these when I get access to a confuser that has a printer and just see how things go. Testing on regular paper will reveal my errors in thought well enough to see if it is worth buying some nice paper.

I also looked into vinyl sheets the girls use for crafting stencils and such. Hologram stuff, neon stuff, irridescent, all sorts of stuff that can be hole punched, placed in the eye socket and then layered over forming a dome with resin, creating the 3D effect. Foils, and cellos and sequins and all manner of things can be fit in and then poured over with resin.

I really like the look of jigs with these wild eyes they call Dragon eyes, and reptile eyes, but these are just printed dots layered in resin. We have to then take those and figure out how to seal them in. I glue them in and then coat in resin to secure and seal. I think it will be just as easy to make them in place, and they would be cool.

UV resin works OK but it kills any UV presentation. They go from WOW to dull once the UV resin covers them over. So I am looking into resins that are clear and do not alter the UV effect. I also want to try glow in the dark effects. I understand that hardware store epoxies do a good job. I bought my wife some resins for pouring molds and such.

If this works I can create jigs that are truly one offs and works of art. Maybe even add letters in there like M for Micanopy. People say eyes don’t matter to the fish, but I say so what. They matter to me when I pick up the jig.



While I am waiting on the new mold, I started a gift box for a friend.



Old man set in his ways. He likes pink heads. He likes 1/16th ounce sizes. He likes eyes. He likes the little hook thingie to keep his bait slid on tight. These were made on my latest mold. A CNC mold from Collins. I suspect that he will enjoy these and the price is definitely right. He did not do well with the last batch of gifted jigs because he has issues with the Screw Loc system. I love that way of securing my baits, but he shys away. I plan to fill the other side with Free Style heads with the wire keepers and complete his box. I assemble my jigs at home, but he likes to keep a small box of baits and add them as he goes.

Also, a member was selling some of his baits yesterday. He had Slab Curlys and Slabalicious baits from Strike King for sale. 9 packs of each style in various colors, shipping included for $30. So I needed more like I needed a new mold, so I leaped at it. After the math it is something like $1.25 a pack. The colors are those that I haven’t tried yet. I get excited when buying baits and certain colors always get me. So it might be good for me to try something new. Both of these bait styles are very nice for my trolling operations. Lots of action.



I want to know if any of you have the Number 5 Print a lure mold, what sizes are the eye cavities ?

Perfecting your craft some more. Awesome. I don't know about fish's relation to eyes. Most animals can tell very quickly weather you are predator or prey when they make eye contact. I turned my head to look at the Shep. Sounds asleep she opened her eyes and turned her head to make eye contact. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Me too.

I figure fish relate to the eyes of their prey items. I know they enjoy a brief moment of superior vision for a period each sunrise and each sunset. They gauge the angle of the dangle for the approach based on the overall shape and direction of travel of the bait fish or jig, but all minnows swim forward to escape and they know that. Animals use vision in ways we don’t fully appreciate, and not just for eating related activities. We can add a spinner blade and enhance the appeal of the jig. We can add lifelike appendages and shapes to our plastic baits. Everything tackle related these days is a move towards realism. More real looking, both to us and the stupid fish.

So we make jig head shaped like salmon head. The jig head has a cavity for an eye. Seems silly to just ignore all of this and stand firm on the wrong side of the curve here, just because there is some other thing, we just happen to do, that is actually the key. Eye ball shaped just so, or no eye, or no paint, probably never entered the scene. That doesn’t mean that it won’t next time either.

I guess I am just disappointed in the lack of variety and like when I first starting pouring jigs, figure I can make better than I can get. Thanks for the encouragement. You have really made a big difference with your moderating. I appreciate what I see you doing around the site. Keeping the old traditions alive is important to me, too.