Jigs For A Friend

So I had made up some jigs for a fellow club member, as per his instructions- gold head, brass under spin. I handed them to him the other day and he seemed to really like them. Then he said he would like pink heads this time. I asked about the details, of course, and he wants 1/16th oz, 1/0 sickle hook, pink heads, half with nickel blades and half with brass. Well today I am waiting to go to work to go cook the meal for a couple getting married, and figured I would fiddle up some jigs for the guy to kill time.

Here is what I made for him.

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There are twenty in total. My under spin design allows for the blades to be tuned to the size of the plastic. Moved in closer for skinny baits, out to accommodate fatter baits. I have no idea of what plastic baits he will use, so I guessed a little. The blade at first glance looks too close, but the jig doesn’t swim with the bait horizontal, rather cocked at an angle. This moves the blade further away from the bait, and these should work with whatever baits he chooses.

Again I dip and swirl in a jar to apply my powder paints, first bright white then neon pink. No baking. I carefully apply the 3D eyes while jigs are captured in a jig holder. I have three of them and each holds about ten jigs ( Dr Nip’s trick and it works great ). No glue to hold the eye in place. I simply place then use an overcoat of UV resin. The cheap eyes lack staying power but will stay put for a soft brush to coat them in place.

I had been using a UV resin that worked well enough but now have something that works even better.

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I like this much better than the previous UV resin and I got it off Amazon. It is a top coat for finger nails and is thin and very shiny and CURES QUICKLY. That last feature is why I especially like it. There is a finger nail bottle brush inside the bottle that allows me to control where and how much gets applied. I am able to coat the entire head and still avoid the hook’s eye. Resin in the eye becomes an issue after curing as removing it from the eye can break away the coverage over the head. After a first coat, I hit it with the UV flashlight for a few seconds and the resin is frozen in place. This speedy process allows for two thin coats to be applied. Then out on the deck to sit in sunlight for the final cure and done. Cures much faster than what I had been using and is very slick. Now the eye is sealed inside as well as the powder paint. Had two of them with excess resin but it dripped to a spot that will not need cleaned.

Haven’t used jigs made with this new top coat more than once, so I am hopeful this will be a permanent deal. I shall see if the eyes will pop free. Running my thumbnail around the edges of the eye I think the coating is good. Whether the resin holds up to water will be the only issue.

Well I also made a few jigs for myself, too. Obviously. :)

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1/32nd oz on left, 1/16th on right, the EC 571 in size 1/0. You can see that I am trying to use a head size that fits the bait. Those 2” curly tails on the left sure are small, and thin, but will glide through the water smoothly. They are the smallest baits I have, and maybe that is best in Winter. The lures on the right are 3” grubs and so the slightly larger head. I trim the tips off the baits and then after skewering apply a drop of glue to the shaft, and slide the bait up to the head where the excess glue secures the bait to the head. Good grip.

I had the pink paint out for his, so stayed with that color for mine, and made a few under-spins for myself as well. These are 1/16th ounce, EC 571 hook.

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You can see I switched up blades and for these are a small sized willow leaf. I went to a house recently to work on the A/C and as fate would have it turns out he is a member of my crappie club. HAH. Anyways I didn’t get the secret recipe to his hushpuppy mix, but did get to eye up some of his fishing poles. Yup he uses under spin lures. His were a version of the Road Runner but they were not Road Runners, nor Pony Heads, but similar. He had small willow leaf blades on all of his lures.

We talked about “things” a little after the unit was fixed and he referred to this lure here being good at this lake, and that one there was good for that lake, and so forth. So as you can see I decided to try my hand at making some lures that might work best at one of my lakes based on what I saw in his garage. Steal some of his magic. He also told me how he likes to troll for LMB and where, and what bait, and what speed. Hmmmmm

I realize now after having made lures for someone else just how much extra time gets put in to ensuring correctness. Obviously there is something amiss here. Jig makers have marketed themselves right out of a price. Charging $2.50 each doesn’t leave much for Ma and me, and I suspect most expect to pay only a buck. I believe I will stick to gifting jigs to my club members and close friends and be content. You guys who make and sell….. you need to increase your prices. ;)

I have been making my own lures for about a year now and still enjoy doing so. I can imagine an idea, and then quickly create a working model to test. Seems every time I make jigs they are the best ones I have ever made. Then when the newest jigs get made, they become my best evers. LOL. Now I have a collection of jigs, about a gallons worth that I will never fish with. I already unloaded a gallons worth on my kid brother. Oh well I guess it is just how things go with this hobby. Thanks to you guys, I can have fun even when I am bored sitting around at home.

Hope this isn’t one of them dry weddings. The people are so much more interesting at the ones where the liquor flows.