AUGUST

Last month was named in honor of Julius Caesar, this month for Augustas. Hot baby hot. North South East and West it is hot.

Quick pointer for you. Gas pumps down my way make you suffer through horrible commercials while you pump your gas. Look at screen, 8 buttons, 4 on each side. Right side, second button down, mash it to mute the commercials.

Got another hot tip. When pouring jig heads it is best to use a well warmed mold. No need to pour molten lead in cavities 5 or six times to pre-warm it. Flip a Do-It mold on it’s side and fill that large cavity. Mold will be good to go in 5 seconds.

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Gift to my buddy.

He swears by pink. Likes eyes. Says 1/16th ounce is best. I prefer pre-attaching my plastic baits but he likes to configure everything as he goes. As he guesses really. He suffers from jigs slipping down the hook shank. I made him jigs featuring Screw Locks, which we know is the final solution. He can’t stand them. So these are some jig heads with the lead hook like thingie, and some with the wire hook like thingie. These should prevent his fouling his trolled lines due to baits binding up. Big help.

I have studied him and have come to learn many things. Gifting these is not without some consideration. I am thrilled to make the gift and will be honored if he uses them.

Top left Arrow jigs 1/16th
Top right Free Style jigs 1/16th
Bottom left 1/16th Free Style my custom blade
Bottom right 1/32nd Free Style

I am insatiable about the prospect of my new mold. It is gonna be awesome.

Very nice work

Nice, Micanopy. Well done!
Bob

Nice!

I like to put my mold on top of the pot when I refill. Take a break and mold is ready. Jigs look really good.

Everyone has a way to warm their molds. This is the one I came up with. LOL

I presented the box yesterday morning and he really liked it. I had a few extras that didn’t quite fit inside, so I will keep them for myself.

I ordered some baits from Bob’s Jigs. I have all sorts of curly tails and paddle tails and such, but was lacking just the plain old Stingers. He is having a sale where you can get a large amount of them for just a little bit of money and free shipping comes with the deal. $9 gets you 120 baits. Man that is a deal there. I got my favorite colors, too. He has run out of the tubs and is sending mine in bags. Apparently I am not the only one placing orders for these. They come in several sizes if you ask him. Mine will be in my mailbox Monday.

I don’t have much experience trolling these, but the times I did use this type of bait they seemed to work. I am thinking they will make a great alternative to present to the fish on days when they don’t want my regular stuff. I also think they will look very nice attached to my short shank hooks, and with my custom blade designs. I needed to try some new stuff anyways.

Recently, I saw where a member was selling a large assortment of baits, dirt cheap. Strike King’s Slabalicious and their Slab Curlys. These are typically the types of baits that I use, so I got 18 packs for $30, shipped to me.

I am considering ordering me up some of that plastic stuff they use to pour the various baits. No, I am not going to get started with that whole mess. Got enough stuff happening already. I am considering buying the clear plastic and use that for adding eyes to my baits. My mushroom jig heads would look great with baits that have eyes. Can’t stick eyes on those heads. I saw where you take the bait, attach some eyes to it, then dip the bait into the clear plastic enough to cover the eyes, let dry, and wham you got a bait with eyes that will not come off. I think I could get pretty creative with that.

So soon I will have more baits than I will ever be able to use. Thinking about making up some jig heads with baits attached, for gifts to my club members. I haven’t been able to attend the meetings because I am at work. Some gifts of free jigs might get those ancient minds to remember me. I cannot wait to see what jig heads come out of the new mold I have been so anxiously awaiting. Plan to make lots of those.

Of course it is so hot that I haven’t gone fishing, but might go tomorrow. I asked my buddy and he says no one is catching very many. A few is all anyone is getting at this point. Not that I am greedy or anything, just that those kinds of sentences are not much motivation to get out into the heat. I guess I am getting older as it is kind of hard to get motivated like I used to. Used to be I never considered such trivial matters.

I haven’t made much progress with regards to making my own 3D eyes. I really need a wireless printer and so I need to read some more about that. I plan to make a sheet of them printed like a picture would be printed. I am leery of buying anything until I can finger up that new mold ( that I am anxiously awaiting for ) and determine the exact size of the eye cavities. I will require them to sit completely down inside in order for my idea to work. So I will need to be able to size everything accordingly. If I can pull this off I will be able to get very creative with my jig heads. The jig head has a very large eye socket for it’s size, which means the eye socket can become much more than just an eye. For example, I could make some eyes that look like my avatar and have a jig head that looks orange when viewed from the side. Holographs, laser stuff, real world animal eyes, the list will be endless. I could even make some with my wife’s eyes. I could create a logo and use that as an identifier of my jig heads so long as the logo made the eye look cool.

My wife texted me Wednesday. She got a $5,000 bonus. That girl is amazing. She is certainly climbing the ladder and quick, too. Has her own office, which is kind of rare for new hires. She started in February. Promotions. I mean she is setting fire to her office. I worry some there will get jealous and target her with their inadequacies and hatreds. Those folks are present in every office I ever worked in. They see you get something, and that is something they could have gotten, deserved to have gotten. Basically someone else stole that from them and off they go down the trail of hatred. No, it’s true. They will not consider that they need to try harder or anything similar. It is that someone else has it in for them and they are just retaliating. I left a toxic environment like that and I understand that that place kind of fell apart after my departure. Seems there was really only one good producer, but a whole collection of haters riding me dirty. Yup.

I saw a deal at Winn Dixie. Tenderloins. Two pieces of a loin, packaged separately at $20 each. This practice of cutting up large pieces into smaller ones is called marketing in the world of retail butchers. Placed end to end they made up 2/3rds of a normal sized loin. I was worried they might spoil if I lolly gagged and delayed cooking them, so I soaked them seus vide style yesterday at 129 degrees, morning until evening. I took them out and rolled one around on top of my char broiler. I sliced off a nicely sized steak and had that for dinner with some salad. Man was that good. The char broiler added flavor, as I added no seasoning at all. So I have about twice that amount left on just that one piece of loin as a left over. Tonight or tomorrow I will make her kabobs using it and the other night I will slice the other one up and lay it atop of a salad. I will still have leftovers. It is so tender that it really just kind of disappears in your mouth. Mmmmmmm….

I was planning on making baby back ribs sometime this weekend but they can stay asleep in the freezer for a while longer. Bought something new to use when smoking them. I like to smoke at about 225 degrees for two hours, then wrap in foil for a while with some sauce, then finish for about a half hour to get a bark. Going to try smoking for two hours, but then wrapping in pink butcher paper instead of foil. Apparently it is all the rage. Can’t just use any kind of paper, but specifically that paper. Others have treatments that are not conducive with consumption. ;)

Smoke and then wrap in this pink butcher paper with some honey and some Chinese stuff in a bottle with a picture of a dragon on it. Then finish atop the char broiler. See what that does for me. The paper became popular in Texas where they call it the Texas Crutch. An aid to cooking biscuit. The paper allows some smoke to penetrate and keeps most of the moisture inside the wrapping during long cooks. The paper is not consumed at the temps we smoke at. Saw a roll on clearance at Wally World and tripped the light fantastic over to the register with it. Where I waited of course.

My wife’s sister’s husband’s mother died. Memorial Service is today so I will be expected to be on my best behavior all day. :( The plan is to have everything at their house, followed by a pool party. I am soooooooo grateful that I will be able to have some beer and move about the property some. The difference between In Laws and Out Laws are that Out Laws are wanted. LOL saw that one in Slab’s thread and well I like John Wayne so there you go.

Long day yesterday so we stayed home today.

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I wanted to do some experimenting. I made up a couple of dozen of the Bat Jigs in the 1/8th ounce size. I am using the size #2 Do-It Whacky Hook which is very sharp and has an aggressive posture. I had bad luck using the recommended hook, which is size #6, and lost way too many fish with that one.

I dipped in white, then white, then UV Clear. I am kind of tired of monkeying around with the eyes, so considered skipping them. But alas I slid one on and wondered if I could just skip glue and pour UV resin over top of it and let it reach the edges and then cure. I think it worked great. My first attempts had me using too much resin. Later I was able to daub it on straight from the bottle and once I had the right amount, it covered very nicely. Then a quick hit with the flashlight and out onto the deck they went.



The eyes are on solid and it was with a minimal amount of effort. Give it a try for yourself.



This serves as a trial run for my idea of using printed eyes. I see now that they will work great.

I did have one issue, and that was that I like to apply three coats of powder paint and that has the effect of filling in the eye cavity. My system would work best with a deep cavity and less paint.

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I made other colors and this is just a one dip into UV Clear powder paint. It had the deepest cavity and those eyes are encased nicely. Hit with the UV flashlight they glow a beautiful bluish color. The pure Glacial White heads also glow with that bluish white color. There have been some early mornings when I saw this bluish glow on other jigs made like this. Looked like little LED lights almost.

UV light is present underwater and at greater depths than visible light. To me it makes it easier for the stupid fish to spot the thing and lock on.

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I made some with my custom spinner blade design as well.

The idea was to get some ready for when my order from Bob’s Jigs arrives. I ordered up some of those Stingers and want to have something with a bit of heft to it to lead the way. Looking for something sleek. If I have guessed correctly, this size head should make a nice match for the baits and give them a minnow look.

I am still waiting for my Print A Lure mold. Didn’t realize the thing was made in Israel. Small wonder it takes so long to get one.

BTW- whilst studying the other evening I hit on something interesting. Seems people have issues with their CNC molds not completely filling the cavities. Somewhere I read to add a piece of tape to the mold’s surface, near the handles. That that will allow air to escape and let the cavity fill completely. Then after about 200 pours you remove the tape and use it normally from there on.

I was having issues with my new Collins CNC mold not filling completely. Next time I go to use it I am gonna apply some tape and see what happens.

Dr Nip once said that if he had to start all over from scratch that he would skip the Do-It molds and just buy CNC molds. I now understand what he meant. Currently Do-It molds run about $65 shipped, and a quality CNC mold about $130 shipped. So double the price. However when you consider your time, efforts and sanity cleaning off the slop from the Do-It molds, the CNC molds make perfect sense. I do realize some don’t care but hey…..that ain’t me.

My issue with them is that they make all the cavities the same size. So you have to buy multiple molds to cover the spread with a specific design. I suppose this is because hairy legged hobbyists don’t buy CNC molds. Professionals do, and they want to pour seven at a time. Still I would like to have 1/42nd up to 1/4 ounce offerings.

I can’t wait to get some eyes printed up so I can test my experiment. The idea being to make 3D eyes in place instead of elsewhere and then transferring them over only to have to then secure them in place. Today’s experiment has given me all the confidence I needed to proceed with my idea.

I also thought some more about adding eyes to my plastic baits. Grubs would be a little tricky to do, but I have plenty of baits with flat sides. I can make my Magic Mushroom heads and make a nice minnow looking bait.

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I played around some adding eyes and just looking at them. No sense in gluing as it will never last. I ordered up some Clear Plastisol so I can begin adding eyes. Easy to do if you don’t already know. Stick eyes in place, dip the head of the bait into Plastisol at 350 degrees. Just dip enough to completely envelope the eyes and remove, lay on a flat surface and allow to cool. No glues which don’t work anyways because plastic baits continue to leech out their compounds and this destroys the surface the glue was attached to. Cute little guy Huh ?

Everything in tackle making seems to be advancing towards realism. Making a bait look more like a real minnow. We crappie people like bright neons colors and such, but we might be missing out on the move towards realism, too. Subtle and subdued tones might be just as effective, and maybe even more so. I have never really given them an honest go. I see that chartreuse and that is the one I grab for every time. So I am gonna gravitate towards trying to create more realistic baits and see where that takes me.

Great work on the jigheads. The Tenderloin sounds like it was awesome.

Got more baits from Bob’s Jigs than I know what to do with. So I decided to try my hand at adding eyes.

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These are my first attempts.

The idea is you stick eyes on, then dip the bait into Plastisol enough to coat the eyes in place. This was very easy to manage. I don’t think I had gotten the Plastisol hot enough. I didn’t use a thermometer, but it did burn my fingers. It felt kind of goopy. Next attempt will have me using a thermometer and should provide more professional looking baits. These baits are 2” long.

I also made up some of my Magic Mushroom jig heads for these baits. The heads will be a good match size wise.

Attachment 434140

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I am not sure how I feel about these eyes. Having eyes on the head kind of looks more acceptable. Also, the eyes are on solid enough, except when using Screw Lock jigs. The twisting loosens the Plastisol. That might be because I didn’t get it hot enough to meld with the bait. The Plastisol kind of skins off on me.

Anyways, it was something new to try. Still waiting on my jig mold from Israel. No emails yet. They say they send an email when they ship it. Did I mention my mold isn’t here yet ?

I watched a YouTube video of a CNC mold producer up in Michigan. His shop was running like ten machines, and he was six weeks behind. Mostly he does the large injectable bait molds. I would think these guys would be more into making some jig head molds, too. Apparently there are a lot of folks out there making their own baits. At the cost of the materials and tools and such, a man could buy a ton of baits with that money. Same with jig heads. Same with building rods and such.

I actually enjoy making jig heads but want to stay far far away from making baits. That looks like trouble plenty. The way I change my mind I would have a small fortune tied up in molds that no longer fancy my eye. I already have way too many jig head molds. The worse ever was the Randy Howell Herring Head. Man that mold sucks.

Bob’s Jigs is keeping up with new designs and such and I wanted some of the 2” Stingers that seem so popular. They do look like a minnow. Also looking forward to testing out that Beaver tail bait. See how it swims alongside the boat.

Last night had to take her majesty to Lowe’s. Yup…..afraid so. She wanted to buy some paint. There are only a few things that I hate and painting is tops on the list. So this weekend I will be moving everything out of the bedroom, out into the living room, while she slathers paint all over everything. She already asked could we get new flooring for in there. So I guess the carpet is gonna act as her drop cloth. That’s the plan as it appears to me anyways. So no fishing for me again this weekend.

My buddies went a couple of times last week and caught a few small fish. I don’t understand why last year this time we were filling the boat and this year nothing. Weird little fish me thinks.

Enjoy the painting

Thanks Jack

I bought an airless sprayer. Certainly makes painting far more enjoyable. Plus you can get done extremely quickly

Painting went well yesterday. The bedroom looks great. We removed all the electrical plates, and taped off everything, and patched holes. She applied the paint. I slept on the couch last night. So hopefully we finish today and get the bed back together.

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I had another go at adding eyes to my plastic baits. This time I used a thermometer to ensure the Plastisol was at 350 degrees. I also dip a deeper dip action. That worked a lot better than my previous attempt. The eyes are on there and will hold up to most of the abuse likely to occur. Getting the Plastisol to the 350 degree temperature is the key to this working. A thin coat that adheres.

Of the ones in the picture, I like the middle one. It has an eye that stands out. This is leading me to think that this technique is probably best for a just a few of my baits. The rest will do better with jig heads with eyes.

I read that reheating the Plastisol multiple times will lead to it developing a brownish hue. So heating up just what will likely be used is the way to go. Also there are various types of plastic, and there are bad effects from over heating. Cook…..stir…..measure….cook some more if needed. Take your time in the warming process and apply quickly.

Some baits do not do well with the Screw Lock system. They just don’t. Others do exceptionally well with it. There is a learning curve with it.

I have had issues with getting that perfect alignment when attaching plastic baits. Just a little off one way or another will produce jigs that spin when trolled. I start by holding the bait in between my left hand’s thumb and index finger, straight up and down. Then in my right hand’s thumb and index finger I approach with the jig head, upside down. I ensure that the tip of the hook starts dead center. Then I slide the tip through the plastic, maintaining the straight up and down posture. I use the feeling in my left hand finger and thumb to ensure the tip stays in the center of the bait. Then I expose the tip a little further back on the bait than I would with a jig head without the screw. Bring the bait around to the screw and look to see that it will enter the face of the bait correctly. Then start screwing it on. It is important that the screw enter correctly.

It is a bit tricky to master at first, and to be sure I still botch a few. Some baits can be redone, others need stripped and tossed. I do have a recommendation with regards to Screw Locks. Buy a few jig heads with them before deciding to buy a mold that uses them. Some folks just cannot get along with them and I totally understand why. My new mold, which has not arrived yet, will have the Screw Lock system. I hate seeing baits slide down the shank and spin up the line. I have caught fish on spinning lures sure, but I am certain they would have taken a true running lure, too.

Trolling lures requires extra attention to the small details. I learned that holding the rod and watching the lure swim next to the boat doesn’t mean that is the way it will run back there when you are fishing it. The extra line out changes the dynamics of the swim. What looks good in close is not what you get when it is back behind you a ways. The faster you go the worse things get. Properly aligning the bait to the jig head is very important for this reason.

This alignment is easiest done without a Screw Lock head. No doubt about that. Screwing the bait on adds an extra element of error. Other things can also add errors, such as spinning blades. Often times I will test my lures with blades by ripping them quickly through the water. Seeing how they behave at faster speeds will indicate alignment errors. My custom blade designs can be tuned by simply bending the extension wire. This is handy as hip pockets when the bait proves to have been applied with a less than perfect alignment. The blade can compensate for the error. The lure can be tuned.

I want to design a jig to lay the bait into for applying the hook. Something that allows me to see exactly what I am doing. I have used my fly tying vice to capture the eye of the jig head and that frees up both hands to gently and slowly guide the bait onto the hook shank. This surprisingly works fairly well, which is why I am thinking about a jig to hold the bait. Having two hands free allows me more control. I can slide on a tad, then a bit more, then go for the final thrust and done.

Once a perfect alignment has occurred, it is still possible for the bait to work itself loose and spin some and throw everything out of alignment. I use glue to secure the head of the bait to the regular jig heads to prevent this. I attach the bait, then back it away and place a drop of glue on the shank. Then slide the bait into position. This carries glue along the shank and it damns up on the front of the bait so that when it reaches the jig head I can push it firmly and then hold for a few seconds to secure. This works well enough I suppose. The Screw Lock eliminates the need for glue. Once the screw locks in place, it stays in place and makes it very hard for fish to pull loose.

Once the bait is completed, I will examine it for proper alignment. A heavy jig head can easily overcome a plastic bait that is crooked, but when using lighter heads, errors get compounded. Yes, you can still catch fish on misaligned plastic baits. No doubt about that, but when a bait pulls cleanly it can dive a little deeper and run with less water resistance and provide a smooth pull. Minnows don’t spin as the swim, they are sleek and smooth.

A well installed bait will also swim better as far as tail action. I try to enhance this action by using short shank hooks. The Eagle Claw 571 is a great little hook. I can ease the bait on and leave more of the plastic bait free to wiggle. Easier to affix because there is less distance to guide the tip through the bait. The shank length isn’t so short that they might short bite and miss the tip. They also are sharp and have a nice barb that holds the fish very reliably. I hate losing fish and these hooks makes sure there are a very few that do that to me. The tip stands proud and no need to bend the hook tip up for a better hookup ratio.

It is tricky to swim a bladed design and have it travel in a horizontal fashion. The resistance of the blade cocks the jig nose down. This attitude is not natural. Yes, you can still catch fish but it is not natural. My only solution has been to use a 00 Willow Leaf blade as it has very little resistance. Heavier jig heads can take larger more resistant blades, but for 1/16th ounce, I have been using my tickler blades. They don’t really spin, they just kind of wobble back and forth and tickle the belly of the bait. Looks cool, too. Got them on clearance.

I still enjoy using the swivels that come with one eye open vs. both closed and cutting one open, or adding those dreadful split rings. I feel that the rolling swivels will work for me just as well if not better than the ballbearing types. A lot easier to install as well.

I guess I should buy some more fly tying materials. Try my hand at making some of those. I just cannot get past the fact that plastics just look more inviting to a dumb fish. I really don’t have any decent feathers. I got cheniles and stuff. Maybe some stuff to make minnow imitations. I rarely see colors in these things that are as bright and vivid as plastic baits can be.

Anyways got to go and finish painting operations. I must say that the colors she chose look very nice.

Great looking baits. Always good when you like the colors that she picked.

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I think I would take a swipe at this one.

Good thing I gassed up with ethanol free stuff, because it has been a month since I toured a lake. Fishing been slow anyways so kind of hard to get motivated to get out there. Seems every weekend something gets in the way.

The bedroom turned out very nice. I helped with the prep and she did all the painting. That’s the way I like it. However it did take up the entire weekend. Here it is Tuesday and I have yet to be informed of what I will be doing this upcoming weekend.

My mold has not arrived yet.

Nice jigs heads and jigs also, good work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Danny Lang

Nice jigs heads and jigs also, good work.

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Thank you very much Danny.



I received an email today from PayPal. It gave me a USPS tracking number for my mold. Tracking says Thursday.




Maybe I am too expectant, and placing too much into this design. Maybe this will become the best lure that can be found locally. To really know, I plan to gift the locals and then listen for the echo.

Here is what it looks like….variation number 5.

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The blade - like leading edge will probably be uncontrollable when trolled. I hope that this leads to an exotic action my local fish haven’t seen before. Screw Lock system. Without any collar the head must be larger than the others. I mean if it does weight 1/16th ounce. Which we will definitely discern.

My choice was really about the eyes. I wanted a large cavity for eye diversity. Sizes, shapes, and designs. Again, I look to place an object on the eye socket, then pour resin over top to seal and secure. This will allow 3D…..4D…..and 5D….eyes, too. Can be non-eye designs as well. The painted side showing, the eye cavity showing, and the third color highlighting the beak. If it works out that I can resin cover objects inside the eye cavity, that leaves lots of room to experiment.

You will know when this mold is in hand. Count of that.

Well it didn’t exactly knock my socks off or anything. The slop in the hinges is evident. I have to squeeze and realign it, then snap it closed. The mold is long and thin, so this hinge wobbling is very evident. For me this is an issue.

The sprue tears free and very clean, as if someone knew what they were doing. Very nice gate. Every dip of the ladle yielded a filled cavity. Even mistakes filled fine. This means the designer has knowledge and experience.

I grasp the sprue with pliers, while the jig is still in the mold, and I bend that stuff forward as I pull it free from the mold. This creates a nice fold, for breaking the jig free from the sprue cleanly, and without loosening the hook within the head. Don’t have to use flush cutters.

The cavities for the eyes is disappointing. The CAD drawing showed a more aggressive cavity rim. Deeper. Well after pouring and painting, I doubt it will do what I wanted it to do now. Why I bought it. To make my own eyes. Shame.

There are eight cavities and they can be modified as needed. I selected the nearest model available, to my preferred hook, and can only pour that special hook in just one of the cavities. The hook slips away and leaves the Screw Lock assembly being the only thing covered in lead. Odd. I used another hook and everything worked as usual. I am going to need to modify some.

The machining of the mold was world class. Absolutely milled beautifully. This mold took a lot of time to carve out. Each cavity looks exactly like all the others. No orange peel stuff. The jigs popped easily away from the mold.

I was disappointed about the slop in the hinge. I have a friend that might could replace the hinge for me.


The babies are in the oven. I am going to go look in on them.

Out of the oven and just now opening their eyes.


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I like the look of this jig.

While the eye cavities are not deep enough to please me, they seem to do OK with my lazy man eye application technique. Scrape eye from backing, place on jig, dab some UV from the bottle right on top, and let it flow down around the eye and onto the jig head. Forms a nice little seal. I think it will work for what I want to do after all.;)

You can see the resin enveloping the eye, and encasing it, if you look closely. Just daubed it atop and froze it with the. light after it had flowed enough to reach the jig head. The eyes are on and staying put, and it was easier than painting them on.

The jig head itself looks very nice. It incorporates several styles and fashions. The round head jig because the 3D eyes kind of take it there. Aspirin Head. Hatchet Head. Minnow Head. Kind of an amalgamation of various styles. Looks like he would be a graceful swimmer.

Clean up prior to painting was laughable. Nothing like a sand mold. Clean as any I have ever seen.

Wait time was three weeks or so.

The wooden handles are an absolute joke. Sorry to be that way but really ?

I suspect this is going to become my favorite jig. I need to put in some time with this mold to know what to do next. I am glad I bought it because it makes a cool head. Less than thrilled with how it made those heads.


BTW- I also am going to try a new UV resin. New to me. Picassio from Amazon. They say it is super clear and the price is good. The trick to daubing eyes is to apply an exact amount each time. Wait…..let it flow…then freeze in place…..then fully cure.

The resin I used in photo is some old chinese stuff. It dims the eyes. I want something to enhance the eyes. They make craft resins that are good but require mixing and timing and such. You can’t remove the eyes with your fingernail because the resin makes a slick edge.

I had issues with my daubing technique. Still the result is fine. I plan to use the printed eyes, but also other things what flat round and small. These eyes are 4mm, but I think larger eyes might be the deal. Especially when I run into adding extra color. Sequins. The way I affix the eyes to the head allows lots of room to finagle something in.

When viewed from below looks like a minnow head. Pointy edge flaring back.

Might be better suited for me in a 1/8th ounce size.

Makes me wish I was brave enough to sell every single Do-It mold I got. I don’t know why I waited to get a CNC mold. Didn’t save me any money chasing junk.

Yesterday, my wife decides she is going to go with her friend to Hippy Fest. Knowing that, I mentioned it to the boss on Friday. His wife was also planning to split somewhere, so he invites me to go swimming in the springs.

Well I make it to his lake house and ride in his truck pulling his boat. There is a boat ramp at Salt Springs and we put in there. I climb aboard and was a little nervous about the looks of the boat. Everybody is asking how fast the boat goes. People staring at the boat. Has a 300 hp Racing outboard on the back. It is a Daytona Avenger, I think.

When we made it out the creek and into Lake George, he opened it up some and Wow. We were going 60 mph and it seemed pretty fast to me. His buddy met us there and he had a Daytona something, too. Now we got two boats screaming along and the race was on. 80 mph is kind of fast on the water when the water is right there beside you. My wrap around sun glasses couldn’t keep the breeze out of my eyes and my ears were garbled with wind.

We arrived at Glenn Springs and the place is paradise. Even with the yahoos, it is still beautiful.

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We swam around a bit but mostly just kind of stood around in the water. Cold but refreshing. There were girls everywhere and some had on an “almost nothing there” bathing suit thingie. They definitely wanted attention. I must admit, I looked, but quickly averted my gaze so as not to offend the little things. There were lots of boats. Big boats, little boats, houseboats, you name it.

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I took a picture of my boss’s boat, and his friends is blue.

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Then we left and went for a run up the river. Screaming up the river was more like it. The blue boat was the first boat to break the 100 mph barrier. They are several decades old and have been refurbished. They leave almost no wake behind them no matter the speed. They bought them to water ski behind.

We stopped at a restaurant on the water and ate burgers while watching alligators beg for french fries. Well chicken wings is probably what he preferred. The service was OK and we sat underneath a tiki hut roof with large cooling fans blowing on us. Of course they didn’t have my brand of beer.

Back out onto the river and we screamed North even further and stopped at a wallering hole. These are sand bar affairs where you pull up and go for a dip in the river. I guess the idea is that alligators won’t attack if there are a bunch of people. I have seen the alligators that river harbors and couldn’t believe I was neck deep in it. Seeing dogs swimming around was a great comfort to me.

Then back in the boat and off we went again. They like to race a lot. Then we came upon a sandbar affair in the middle of the river and puttered in. I saw this one dude with his fishing boat and I said we were looking for people to race. For money. Yes, ours was the fastest boat on the river. Then we heard this sound, and I saw this thing coming towards us. Have a look.

Attachment 434853

This is his childhood friend’s boat. Two massive Viper engines. Unbelievable sound. I got a good look at it and the boat was immaculate. He said it got 1.4 mpg, that was if he didn’t get into it. We soaked in the river and he was complaining about the price of gas. I asked his wife how she kept her hair from getting caught up in the air intakes. Asked how they talked on the phone. I mean that thing was loud. Never did get the top end speed report, but it has to be 130 plus.

My boss’s boat will do 100+ when he is alone and conditions are conducive. I was soaking neck deep in the St Johns River, and thinking about my boat at home. Yup, I prefer mine. They can have all that speed demon stuff. My boat will got 50 mph when I do everything right, and that is plenty fast enough on the water.

Well it was a long day 9-5, with lots of soaking going on. Never got hot. The fishing still stinks. Got to see what it feels like to have people screaming and waving at me because I was in a cool boat. Having lots of money probably makes people buy such toys. Guess I am just not properly motivated to earn enough money to go buying such things. My boss has about seven boats, maybe more. I think the green thing is his favorite. He had to completely refurbish it. It looks as good up close as it does going past you.

Girls really like to ride in hot boats you know. Amazing.


Anyways, it was a great way to spend a hot day in August. He likes to fish and gave me some of his swim baits so I could put eyes on them for him. He is fishing with his Dad this morning. Trying for specks. I doubt they will catch very much. For several months now the fishing has been pitiful for long lining around here. Last year this time I was filling my limit and landing the boat within an hour. Not sure what the difference was, but it is remarkable.

Those types of boats are certainly fun to ride in when someone else is buying the gas. 80's on the water is fast. It will blow the glasses off your face if you look back. Lost a pair of Ray Bans that way. Hurt a little to learn that leason

So I got to messing round with the new mold and started turning out some nice jig heads. I had to make a small modification to suit my preferred hook, and got a complete pour almost every time.

I did some figuring and determined that 5mm is the exact right size for the eye cavity of this mold. Of course if one got the same jig head design, but with a lead collar, they could expect to have issues. I mean if the weight is to be the same, the head has to shrink to allow for the collar.

I had some 3D eyes in 5mm size in my stock and threw some on to see how they looked.

Attachment 434915

I wanted the eye to pop so I painted with one quick dip of Glacier White, then a daub of color to the beak and belly. I think it gives a nice effect. I was concerned about putting several layers over the eye cavity for fear it would goop up and prevent me from finishing the way I want. These eyes were just glued on.

I placed an order for some 5mm silver holographic 2D eyes. I plan to place those in the cavities and then place a bit of UV resin and then freeze it while it is still domed up. This will create the 3D appearance and secure the eye in place at the same time. Easy. I also ordered some 5mm flat sequins in silver holographic to see how those do. They are like one thousand for $4. The 2D eyes are much cheaper than 3D as well.

I had a few 2D eyes laying around but they were size 4mm, not quite large enough. However good for showing the effect.

Attachment 434917

In the 5mm size I suspect they will look great.

Adding a small drop of UV resin is easier for me than applying super glue and then fiddling the eye in place. This way i can take my time positioning the eye just so and then make it 3D and set and seal in place at the same time.

It will also allow for more paint to be applied to the head as the cavity doesn’t really need to be there. I mean it’s nice to have it, but not really required.

I made a few without the Screw Lock system as smaller diameter baits don’t really do well with it. The screw juts out the side a bit if it is not aligned perfectly. Not easy to align baits as it is. I have toyed around with various techniques and my abilities have improved quite a bit from what they were.

The weight is very close to 1/16th ounce. Of course the hook plays a role in this calculation. I troll so it isn’t ever gonna matter. LOL

The hinge definitely is an issue. There is slop in the hinge. This allows it to close out of alignment. Every single time it closes misaligned, and I have to adjust it to get it to close. Very disappointed in the hinge. The tolerances need to be much tighter, and I can wiggle it about. The screws to the mold are solid, the slop is within the hinge itself. I guess they bought some cheap hinges and figured no one would care. Having used CNC molds over the years, this is the first one that doesn’t align properly. Even my Do-It molds align properly. I might send an email asking what’s up.

I think this hatchet head jig design would be awesome in a larger size. Then the design could be seen better. They make a human skull jig but in the smaller sizes there is no way there would be any detail. I mean lead will only do so much inside a mold.

I need to see this jig swim.

Very nice look on that eye in the last photo

Jack, take a look at this picture.

Attachment 434946

That is a regular 3D eye in the middle. These are one mm too small. Not sure it can be seen clearly or not, but the 2D eye with the resin looks deeper. Like it has more depth. I know that 3D eyes are made in this exact same manner, but somehow these look better to me.

Silly me I know. The silver head is just a freshly poured jig swirled in clear UV powder paint. So many say that unpainted heads catch more fish, I thought that grey might be a good color. Paired with some natural baits, even better.


Anyways, the system of placing a 2D eye on the jig head, and then applying a drop of UV resin on top, is the easiest way to add eyes that I have found. It forms the 3D eye, and secures it, and also seals it over smooth in just one procedure. I did however have an issue at first with bubbles. The picture in the previous post above has a bubble. It was due to how I brought the bottle to bear. I had it horizontal and squeezed it. Now I hold it vertical and allow it to kind of dribble out. Then I use the nozzle tip to push the resin towards and just past the edge of the 2D eye, to break the dome effect, and that lets the resin escape onto the painted surface. Then lift bottle away. It is much faster than trying to read this. LOL. I am already pretty fast at it.

I still want to try printing eyes as I feel that will be great. Been reading some more and one feller used PhotoShop to adapt a picture of an eye to suit his taste. Printing on water decal paper, then layering on the resin. His technique was very involved but produced some very impressive eyes. His were larger sized so easier to work with, too.

I probably will just use a copied photo and use some photo quality paper. So many say that the eyes don’t matter, but some how I just think they do. My jigs look so much better with eyes. I understand why everyone else just gets the 3D eyes and glue them on. I get glue everywhere and by the time I start to check alignment it is too late. I have thousands of the dumb things laying around, and some stuck to the floor, stuck to the desk, stuck to the dog. My doctor examined my feet and asked what that was, and I looked and it was an eye.

I have to see how printing eyes goes and then get a 5mm cutter of some type to extract it from the paper. Regular paper punchers are 6.5 mm. Too large. They make smaller sizes, but these tend to be star shapes and such. They sell leather punches that are 5mm, but that is kind of clumsy. Probably something for when I want to make something extra special.

The 2D eyes with the hologram silver are probably going to be the best choice for me going forward. They will be here in a few days time. I poured up some new jigs and made plenty so I can play with painting and adding eyes at my leisure. Like yesterday morning when I was bored. Had to delay a few hours before going to the grocers.

Man groceries are high dollar. I have been seeing people struggling to pay for what they got. Haven’t seen that in years. Asking the clerk to remove a few things to get the price down to match what they got in the bank. Tough times out there for quite a few folks. People standing at the meat selection and kind of studying things. Like they need to be careful about what they get. I have always been frugal but it doesn’t matter if chicken is five bucks or three. When you need some chicken you got to get chicken. Sometimes hamburger is pricy and gets skipped. I have always searched for that odd package of meat that is marked down and old. Seafood is expensive, too.

I was amazed that just about any loaf of bread worth buying is about five bucks. $ 4.59 seems about the regular rate. Unless buying that non nutrient white stuff kids like. A man could actually buy him some lunch cheaper than he can make a sandwich. Fast food has also gone up quite a bit. You ain’t getting out the door for less than $10. Unless you get some happy meal junk stuff.

Well ….

I owe
I owe
So off to work I go

Bob’s Jigs sent me some samples, which arrived yesterday. I had placed several orders with him in the past, and was always satisfied with the products he sells.

Attachment 435013

To me, this looks like a Stinger with legs. Very interesting. The length is 1 1/2” and the width of the body is 1/4” across, the feet are 1” across. The tail has good motion to it when I try to hold it still. Definitely a creature impersonator. There are several bugs in our lakes that have this shape. Crappie consume large amounts of bugs, along with some minnows. ;)

The bait is smallish and that is a 1/16th ounce jig head with a short shank hook in the photo. I would suggest this is for the man that prefers the smaller sized baits. Smaller jig head, smaller hook.

Attachment 435015

This one is definitely small. 1 1/2” in length and 3/16th in diameter. Very nice design with the ball tipped tail, and the tail is segmented to provide additional waggle. No way to hold the bait still enough to keep that tail from moving. This would be good for when the smaller sized baits become preferable to the fish. A good size for a tasty minnow treat. Bream would probably attack this thing, too.

Attachment 435016

1 1/2” long, 3/16th in diameter. This is a three segmented bait, like insects. Thorax has six legs, the abdomen has rings, and a nifty little tail. The slightest movement brings a twitch to that tail. That is a 1/32nd ounce under spin I bought before I started pouring jigs.

Bob just got these molds and is busily churning out different colors. Obviously, he can do two tones in any flavor a man could want. Purple and chartreuse just happen to be one of my favorite combos. The colors are very bright and vivid. His jigs are the brightest chartreuse yellows in my collection.

Most of my other jigs are much larger and fatter, so it will be interesting to see what dropping down in size does for me. These more closely match the minnows I am used to seeing swimming along just under the surface. I hear that going smaller brings good results and some will only use the smaller sized baits. I think folks will enjoy using these baits.

Thanks Bob. I hope you have been enjoying Texas. Soon the weather will change and you will really like Texas.

That one in the first photo should have a nice slow fall. Great looking baits

Jack……you are the only guy reading this thread. Besides me. Let’s us share something we both really like then.

F O O D

Attachment 435079

Beef Tenderloin. Winn Dixie “markets” it’s loins. Which means basically slicing them into sizes the shopper would likely purchase. I bought these for about $23 each. Stacked end to end raw they made up two thirds of the original loin. Seus Vide at 130 degrees, then rolled atop my charbroiler. Mmmmmmm…..wife and I ate some. I showed her how I could grasp the flesh and pull away whatever I wished. Easily the most tender steak I have ever eaten. When I pinched down it seperated.

The flavor was on the lower end. Ribeyes are tasty, loin is usually not, just tender. Would have been great with a sauce perhaps.

Not sure you use seus vide techniques. I find that there are a few good things, and lots of things seus vide doesn’t do. As I age I have developed a preference to finer meats. When I was twenty, I could eat grilled London Broil and be happy. I have been reading about cuts of meat lately. Read some today about the venerated rolled ribeye. Understanding terms is important to choosing cuts at the store. I’m dense as I am only now learning.

What is your favorite meat ?

Hard to beat a Ribeye. Yes I seus vide. I feel down that rabbit hole a few years ago. The wife eats here steak well done but orders medium. :biggrin
Her steak comes to the table with a healthy char on the outside. When cut into the steak was perfect medium without any well done ring. I need to cook a good steak it has been a little while. I also hear ribs are awesome sets vide

Attachment 435248

Very nice. Lifelike. Certainly has some depth

Thanks



Attachment 435277
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I made some up yesterday when I got my 2D eyes in the mailbox. As I mentioned before the technique is easy to manage. Place 2D eye in socket, add a shot of UV resin, wait a few seconds, then freeze with light, set on deck out back to cure. The 2D stickers are cheaper and come in more variations than 3D, and I think these look much better.

Pictures kind of show the effect. These are the 2D stickers that change color when the direction of view changes. The angle of the light. The colors of the rainbow, but in a brilliant dazzling version.

The 5mm size fits the cavity perfectly.

Not sure how scratches or wrinkles got on the top jig. The bottom jig shows me that I am not filing off the sprue completely. Zooming in with camera will reveal lots of things unseen by the eye. I think it is time to buy me one of those magnifying clamp to table thingies. Maybe a headset version would suffice.

I saw some 2D eyes that were really cool looking. I think I’ll go look for some more.

I know the feeling. I have resorted to using readers here lately.

Attachment 435354



I ordered some more 2D eyes. Found some that were brilliant red, blue and green. They will overcoat very nicely and produce beautiful eyes. The idea being that I paint the head Glacier White, then let the eye impart a dash of color. The eye is large enough to do this and I look forward to experimenting with what can be done in this regard. Plain white head…..colored eyes.

The 5mm size seems to be a perfect fit for the cavity. As you can see a daub of resin secures the eye nicely. I tried to pry a few out using my fingernail, but it just slid past the edges. I suspect this means that I have a good result. The resin is clear but does steal some of the eye’s luster and shine. It’s unavoidable I fear. This is a new to me resin called Picassio and is said to be made for artists. I figured it would dry as clear as any. There is some depth to the resin as it sits atop of the eye, so the more there the more it will tend to hide the eye’s brilliance. I could use a brush and offer a light coat. Just enough to seal the eye in place. However, I would sacrifice the 3D effect that a bubble of resin provides.

Still I feel the result is better than my Chinese 3D eyes. Again, we all know that adding eyes is not supposed to make a lure work any better.

Attachment 435364

This lure looks pretty good to me. I troll, so this is going to look like a lost minnow trying to find his school. A jig head with the eye would also look pretty good, but not AS good. In person it looks even better than the picture.

Attachment 435365

Again, the eye adds something to the lure even if there is colorful paint applied.

I certainly like the Grey colored one. The fish will be all over that one

Attachment 435610

These 2D eyes are brilliant and look much better in hand than they do in this picture.


I kind of like the idea of using the eyes to impart the color of the jig vs. painting the head and leaving the eyes off.

Attachment 435612

This is an example of how the eyes can become the focal point. They become enhanced. An excellent little lure. In hand, the light dances off the eyes with a nice flash. This jig will do very well trolled behind the boat. At least to my way of thinking. So easy to install these eyes, too.

Over the weekend I placed an order for something called “flatback neon glass rhinestones”. These are going to look so cool. They come 1500 for $8 or so and are awesome looking. I plan to attach them to some jigs and share with you guys. I am thinking eyes can be much more than just an eye. They can become a color enhancement. I think they will be here by the end of the week. They are gonna be cool.

Good looking stuff right there.

Looks awesome

Thank you very much gentlemen.

Well my pack of sequins arrived. They are holographic and display the colors of the rainbow as the angle of viewing changes. Kind of cool. Anyways I ordered 5mm size flat sequin, not cup sequins which are bowl shaped. Cheap as chips.

Attachment 435750
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Attachment 435749

These will shine in clear water and be very enticing. Many specie of bait fish will glisten and flash and that gets predators excited. This lure will swim, look like a minnow and sporadically flash.

3D eyes seem kind of silly now. I have shown how a 2D eye can be made to look better than 3D eyes. Now sequins for flash. Next up…….wait for it….wait…..rhinestones.

Tune in tomorrow. Same Bat Time…..same Bat Channel. I will have rhinestones that will make my jig heads look awesome.

:popcorn

Those are certainly eye catching.