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Pouring, painting & tying! Striper, Bass & Redfish Jigs!

15K views 33 replies 3 participants last post by  andypat 
#1 ·
Hi All! I hadn't been spending time on here for a long while so thought I would post some of what I've been doing! :thumbup:
Trying to get a tackle business going again since moving to SC, so time has been limited.
Love living in SC! Lots of fishing & friendly folks! Miss family still in MD, and some of the fishing there too! Unfortunately no Smallmouth Bass here.

All the following are jigs I've made. Heads are powder painted. I've got over 300 molds & can make a lot of different things. Jigs from size 1/100 to 20 oz., plus jigging spoons and sinkers. Still tying flies too!

Hope you like them! BTW, it was 75 here yesterday! :yes:

Hair Jigs for Bass!













Bucktail Jigs! Going to try these first ones for Redfish.




Bass Jigs!















 
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#2 ·
Nice work! I poured up one hundred each of 1/64 and 1/32 oz. shad darts the other day. I have them all painted and ready to add the dressing. I will probably do that tomorrow and Friday because it is supposed to rain both days.

I thought that I had a lot of molds but you have me beat by a factor of ten. Even though I have a bunch of molds, in reality, I mainly use about half a dozen of them with any regularity. I did pick up a couple of Do It flutter jig molds this summer. They were extremely effective on rockfish in the upper bay from late Aug. until late Oct. We were fishing them in tandem with a dropper fly and landing a lot of rock two at a time.

If you are interested, check out my You Tube channel at the link below. I have a couple of videos of spring shad and white perch in the Susquehanna on there as well.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz-plkQiGSL2DASVPc-L4Sw
 
#3 ·
Thanks Jerry, your comments are appreciated! I'm going to try & get some darts poured & painted too. I have some 1/8 oz already poured, but will need to pour other sizes. The Shad start running here earlier than they do up there and if it stays warm, that won't be too far off. I saw the pic that Andy posted with some of your darts, they look great as always! :yes:

Does that flutter jig mold use a good, strong hook style, or is it made for a regular Aberdeen? I bought a wobble head mold a couple of months ago, but haven't poured with it yet. It's made for the Aberdeen hooks. I remember using a jig like that many years ago tied with bucktail while fishing with some old guys on the ES. They called it a boxer glove, but it looked more like the wobble head, and had a stronger O'Shaughnessy hook. I think the jigs we used were only about 1/8 oz, and we caught some nice Stripers on them trolling them along the sod banks in Fishing Bay.

Like you, there are a few I pour more often than others. I've tried to add a few molds every year, or if I see one that looks interesting. I bought one of the Do It Underspin molds last year & want to see how that does here. Should work good I think, as the Horsehead style seems to be popular. Inky Davis, a well known bass guide here lives right down the street from me, I'm going to talk with him about what I should be making for use in the lake.

Wow, you have a bunch of videos I'll have to check out! Thanks! :thumbup:
 
#4 ·
The flutter jigs have a stainless through wire so you can attach pretty much any type of hook you want via a split ring. I have been using VMC Perma Steel open eye Siwash hooks directly onto the lure wire but I had at least three instances where the hook eye sprang enough to allow the hook to come off of the lure. Although in all those instances, we had a double of two 18-22 inch rockfish, one on the jig and the other on the dropper fly. The last hooks I ordered were Eagle Claw open eye Siwash. They seem to be a little heavier or at least that is my impression. I haven't had an opportunity to actually use them yet so I will have to make a determination next spring/summer. We usually do great on the vibra spoons as well. There is a picture of both lures on my el cheapo web site:

http://jlnorris.webs.com/

For some reason, the link has a problem every once and awhile. If it says the page can't be located, try clicking again or typing it into your browser.
 
#5 ·
Jerry, I misunderstood! You have the flutter spoon mold. I also have that mold, plus some of the other Do it spoon molds that take either the preformed wires or have a hole molded in for wire. My mind was telling me something else when I read your post. Do It always seems to be coming out with new molds! My bad!

I looked at the lures on your site! A lot of great looking lures there for sure! Love the trout bombs! :yes:

I use the VMC Siwash hooks, both the open & closed eye versions & have not had any problems with loosing them. Maybe I need to catch bigger fish! :hysterical:

I have a mold I picked up on Ebay several years ago with some other molds that I'm looking forward to playing with. It's a single cavity, and pours a 2.9 oz lure similar to a diamond jig, but has concave sides. Looks home made, but I think it would be a wonderful lure poured in tin. Not too sure how much use I'll get with it here, as it may be too heavy for most places poured in lead, but I want to try it out. It's rough, but think it will work. The paint is not how I wanted it either, my first attempt at powder coating such a large lure with two colors, but it has potential I think.

I poured some Shad spoon jigs too. A bit heavier than the flutter jig you have I think, but should be useful for jigging deeper water in the lake.

Plant Terrestrial plant Knife Feather Quill
Natural foods Font Artifact Metal Fashion accessory
 
#6 ·
What weight is the shad spoon? I have the flutter spoons from 1/4 oz. up to 1 oz and then 2 and 3 oz. I thought about buying the shad spoon mold but then opted for the flutter spoon. In reality, they are not all that much different. How are you going to melt the tin? I am sure it has a higher melting point than lead. I have a really hard time getting two color combinations with powder paint on most lures. If I get them with a half way decent coat then the two paints bleed and mix and become "muddy" when I cure them. What I have been doing is a base color of powder and then either dipping in paint or brushing on the second color.
 
#7 ·
Jerry, that mold will pour 3 different weights, 3/4, 1 & 1 1/2 oz, but believe the spoon pictured is 1 oz. I also have the minnow spoon mold, which pours the same weights, but the lures are longer & narrower. I would have to go look at the other spoon molds I have to see what weights they are. I've got other Do It spoon molds & a couple of older Hilts. I've always liked fishing jigging spoons & other types of spoons as well, that's why I got the various lead spoon molds.

Actually, tin melts at a lower temp than lead, about 450 F compared to 622 F. I have a new Hot Pot II electric ladle that I haven't used for lead, so if I can find some tin at a decent price I'll melt it with that. Because tin is considerably more costly than lead, I don't see me buying a lot of it. I have a few old tin salt lures I like fishing with sometimes. I had bought a few & a friend sent me some he had made. That's what got me interested in trying that mold out.

Yep, I've seen some jigs that were powder coated with two colors that had run together. Sometimes it actually looks good that way IMO. For that one jig, I dipped both colors, and the white had been dipped & cured several weeks before the green, so no running together. Of course the paint edges didn't turn out real sharp either, but I'm sure the fish aren't going to care either way.

I think using a wet type paint for some detail work is going to be the best approach anyway, instead of trying all powder. I just didn't have anything else on hand at the time I painted that lure. I've got a bunch of hot lips jigs poured that need the mouth painted, and I'll use wet paint for that. Some are small, like 1/8 oz, and I've found a wood tooth pick works great for painting the mouths on the smaller jigs.

Heck, I bought a cheap air brush several years ago which I had intended to paint fly rod poppers with & I've never used. Also have a nice Paasche air brush too, but have yet to use it. Probably time for me to learn to use them. Otherwise, I'll do it by hand, with a brush or whatever I find will work. :chugbeer:
 
#8 ·
Sometimes the runs do look good. I tried to airbrush shad darts once. Once was enough though! I found it was much easier and quicker to just wet paint dip them. That was before powder paint came along. I now primarily use powder paint for all base coats except for the flutter jigs. On those, I have also been using finger nail polishes over coated with a clear water soluble UV finish coat.

I saw a neat airbrush on another forum that used permanent markers for the medium. They were using it for poppers. I'll see if I can find a web site for it.
 
#9 ·
Yes, Copic makes them. I've seen them too on some fly tying sites I frequent, but no experience with them myself. I've read they do a good job, but not what someone would want to use if a lot of stuff is made at one time & needs painting. There's only so much ink in a marker.

I had gotten pretty good at dipping jigs with vinyl paints, they looked real good, but IMO a lot depends on the consistency of the paints. same with painting eyes & other detail. I made some "dot" tools from various things like finishing nails, metal & wood rods & could make some real nice looking eyes with them, but it was always about the paint. Too thin, it spread out too much, too thick it made a blob instead of a nice round dot.

I've tried various enamels & acrylic paints, and found one in a hardware called Odds N Ends made by Plasti-Kote, same folks who make high temp automotive paints. The color selection wasn't the best, but for what I was doing they had good colors & using the paint was easy. Of course this was primarily what I was using on flies & eyes on jigs over enamel. Didn't work as well over vinyl paint.

Since going to powder paints, I haven't bought any vinyl paint, but may try & find some of that Odds N Ends again for detail work.
 
#10 ·
The consistency of the paint is everything. I never had much luck with the vinyl paint, but then again, I only tired one type. I use a lot of acrylic paints and the Plasti-Kote for eyes and such. Like you, I have used all sorts of stuff to paint eyes, the ends of paint brush handles, bamboo chopsticks and skewers and tooth picks for eyes. All depends on the size of eye I want. I also use a lot of stick on eyes for the flutter jigs and blade baits, but in many ways, I really prefer to paint the eyes on. Painted eyes are a lot more durable and I can vary the pupil shape and location to give different looks.
 
#11 ·
I know what you mean Jerry. For awhile I was painting a 3 color eye on some of my poppers & jigs, with each dot off set. Can't find that with stick on eyes. I also use them, both the flat & 3D, but won't give up on painting eyes either.

You know too, the stick-on are quick & convenient, but when I get things set up the way I want, I can paint the eyes faster than I can put on those stick-on's. You probably can also.
 
#13 ·
Well, I got the chance yesterday to paint some Shad darts. I had intended to pour some, but found some in a box I had stored away, so decided to hold off on pouring more. I used some powder paints I had, some of which I hadn't used yet. They turned out OK, although I'm not real happy with the red & pink. It will have to do for now however.

I'm going to add a second color to some of them, but will use a different paint. They're 1/8 oz with a gold #2 hook.

Red, white, chartreuse green, yellow, orange, and pink. I'll post again when I have the paint complete & have them tied. :yes:

Green Leaf Botany Terrestrial plant Organism
 
#15 ·
Thanks Jerry! That's what I used to do with vinyl paint, a white coat or sometimes two, then the color. I haven't tried it with powder paint. That green & white "tin" jig I posted was the only try I've made, and the green was over mostly bare lead.

None of these are fluorescent, just basic colors. I only bought a half pound of the red & pink, so next time I order, I'll try a different color of each. For now, they're going to get used up & fished.

The orange turned out real good as did the chartreuse green. I remember that international orange used to work well on the Susquehanna, and I always did real good with shades of chartreuse up there so they both should do well here. That green is called Gecko green. Now I need to find a chartreuse that's more yellow.
 
#18 ·
Nice darts!

I have been tying up some darts and other stuff. I tied up a bunch of dropper flies to replace the ones we lost to rockfish last year. I am also trying a different type of material for dressing this year to see how it will work. It is some type of thread that I found at a local store. Looks something like mylar to me. I think they will work well, but the fish will be the ones who decide if they are ok or not. The green and yellow and the white and orange on the lower left are glow in the dark fibers. They worked well last year.
 

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#19 ·
Jerry, they all look good! I have plenty of flies I'll toss with a fly rod, but still need to tie up some teasers specifically for droppers on plugs.

Is all that metallic stuff thread? The purple, green & gold? Looks like the holographic mylar to me too if it is. I've seen it on spools, but that's got to be time consuming tying like that with it being one strand.

How do you like those wobble jigs? I have the mold, but haven't used it much.
 
#20 ·
Yes, all the metallic stuff is a single thread something like mylar on a spool. I wrap it around a cardboard sleeve from a hook box 40 or 50 times and then clip the wraps. That gives me about a six inch hank of fibers that I tie just like any other material. The swim jigs do ok but I don't use them all that much either. I got the mold hoping they would have an action similar to a Tony spoon, but they are too heavy to have that action. They still catch fish though.
 
#21 ·
I poured and painted up a bunch of 1/32 darts over the weekend and tied up a few today using the thread. I think they will work very well for YP, WP, blue gill and crappie. I hope to get a chance to test them out if the weather will not get too cold and windy.

The material is made by Sulky and is called holoshimmer. Right now they are (or at least they were) on sale at Joann's Fabric for 30% off or around $3.50 per spool. They are 250 yard spools which will give me about 75 six inch bundles and I can get several darts or at least one large hook per bundle. I really like the way it looks on the lures. In the picture, I have included the wrapped hook box cover so you can get an idea of how I am making bundles out of the single string. I clip the bundle at the top of the wrap and have a bunch of fibers about six inches long. I am using 20 wraps and tying the bundle twice to get the tails for the darts. For the dropper flies, I used either 40 or 50 wraps and tied the bundle two or three times depending upon the size of the hook.
 

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#22 ·
Yep, then it's basically the same as the holographic Flashabou then, and may be a little cheaper at the price you're paying. I've been using the Flashabou version for a long time & also really like it. It's slightly stiffer than the regular Flashabou, but still works well. Flashabou brand also has a saltwater version which is a little wider strands. I use it as sides, just a single strand, on small jigs & flies, and it's good for larger jigs.

I tied up some more small jigs for a fellow in MD. He wanted 1/64 oz, some with a blue/green flash & some with the single silver. Powder painted, #6 hooks & tied them with Arctic Fox fur. He's gotten them already & told me they were exactly what he wanted. I made a few extras for my own fishing! :thumbup:
You can see the holographic silver I used. It's the wider saltwater stuff, but has the same multi colored flash as the spooled you have.
Water Liquid Plant Font Terrestrial plant
Water Green Bird Painting Feather
Plant Water Liquid Organism Terrestrial plant
Water Green Grass Liquid Art
 
#24 ·
Thanks Jerry! I like tying with fox, Arctic, Red, Gray, Kit & some of the farm raised cross types like Silver Fox. IMO, Fox is a better material than kip for small jigs, as it's a finer hair, so has better movement, like marabou, but it's also a more fragile hair so is not as durable. Also, when cutting Fox from the hide, there's a lot of underfur that needs to be removed, otherwise it's too dense & mats up once wet. You don't have that with kip. It's a trade off, to use one instead of the other, depending on what you want from the material. What I used on those jigs is body fur. I bought a bunch of tanned Arctic Fox trimmings from a furrier awhile back. I have some Arctic Fox tails too, and it's an excellent material for bass size hair jigs, but again it's very dense & that underfur has to be removed. I save it & use it for dubbing on flies, so not wasted, but for someone who doesn't tie flies, there's going to be waste.

Years ago on a bass fishing forum I used to frequent, a fellow was complaining about having trouble with fox fur jigs he had made. He didn't remove the underfur, just tied with it straight from the hide. A couple of folks, including myself told him he needed to remove that underfur. It's so dense it's even hard to get it wet sometimes, and then it doesn't have the best action. For someone not aware of this, it can be frustrating as fox is touted to be such a great tying material. It really is, but has to be used properly. Kip, other than it can sometimes be curly with longer hair, is good just as it is for tying. I still use some kip, primarily for Bonefish style flies. It has it's place.
 
#26 ·
Poured up and trimmed a bunch more 1/32 and 1/64 darts yesterday along with fifty 1/32 round head jigs poured on a #1 hook that I use for yellow perch in the river. I had to replenish my stock because I lost far too many of them last Saturday. I also poured up a bunch more 5/8, 3/4 and 1 oz. sinkers to replace the ones of those that I lost as well. Now I have to paint the darts. clean the hook eyes, cure the paint and then tie them up. A fisherman's work is never done!
 
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