cadman

Was out to Powers Lake on Saturday. Fished for 4 hours in the pouring rain. Did get six bass biggest being 16" while raining. After the rain stopped we fish a bay with 4 feet of water and got 6 more. Nothing big. Fish caught on jigs, white spinnerbait and Senkos.

Don't feel bad I lose a lot of jigs to Pike as well at Delavan Lake.

I graduated H.S in 76 and I used to live in Chicago around Belmont and Central. Roliing Stone ( Harlem and Irving) was the only place where you could buy any album that was available. If they didn't have it they would order it for you, and then came the cassettes for cars. Back then I used to smoke, and I remember going into Rolling Stone with a cigarette in my hand and they had ashtrays everywhere. At one time they gave out black ashtrays with the Rolling Stone logo on it with every purchase. I still have that ashtray but haven't smoked in 30 years. I loved my teen years. Bands I listened to then and now: Alice Cooper, Ozzy, Zepplin, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Elton John, DIO, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Eagles, Foghat, UFO, REO, Foreigner, Styx, Nugent, CCR, Three Dog Night, Doors, Chicago, Jethro Tull, Quiet Riot, WASP, Dokken, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, Bad Company ,many more I can't think of. I now listen to Three Days Grace, Disturbed, Halestorm, Seven Mary Three, Godsmack, Guns and Roses, Shamans Harvest, Seether, Evanescence, Stone Sour, Sixx A.M., Shinedown, Royal Bliss, Redlight King, Saving Abel, Pop Evil, and a whole bunch more. I always loved hard rock music and still do to this day. Never liked any country music other than Johnny Cash. Can't stand any of the country music now. That about does it for me.

bassh8er I really like Jig Man's answer, but I haven't been successful with this process. Maybe I should practice more. Anyway, his theory is correct, as long as you don't overheat the jig and you hold it by the hook eye, paint will never get in and be an issue. My problem is I tend to heat the jig to the point, that when I swish it through the powder paint, my jigs gloss over immediately ready for the rack. If the jig is done like I do, you will have to either be really fast as to not get a lot of paint on the jig head and hook eye, or you do like I do and keep a drill bit or wire about 1-1/2" long, that will fit into the hook eye. Once you swish the jig through the powder immediately stick the wire into and through the hook eye hole and out to the other side. This will pull any and all paint out of the hook eye. This seems complicated but to me it really isn't that big of a deal. This is a process that you will have to try to see what works best for you. Everyone that powder paints, has their own tricks that work for them. On bigger jigs, this is never really an issue.

Pm me your e-mail and I can give you a tutorial on powder painting.

Well I guess I was very lucky. Bought some other things from Amazon, that were crap and I got burned.

I got my first Type "R" from Amazon which came from ABCD Sales, and had no problem . What issues did you have? I also bought 2 more from Amazon 2 weeks ago, no problem with those reels either.

If you are referring to the stranded wire used for a weedguard. It is called Sevenstrand or Surflon and you can buy it coated or non coated. It comes in different strengths (lbs) Most guys use the 90 lb and glue it in the jig after it is painted. You can buy it at LPO, Jann's Netcraft, and Barlow's Tackle.

I bought a Tatula Type "R" when they first came out, fished it for a year and it casts much further than my ABU Revo Premier Gen 1. I liked it so much, that I bought 2 more a couple of weeks ago. You will be very happy with your purchase.

Alec, I, posted on the Illinois forum about the fish I've been getting lately. The surface water temp the last two weeks on our waters was 81 and 82 degrees. With that said, I was getting fish in 6-8 feet of water in weeds or on the edges with-in about a 2 or 3 hour window. Once that window was over I couldn't buy a fish on the lake. I am not a deep water fisherman and will only fish max 15 feet of water. However my go to bait is always a jig and I can always get a bass to hit a jig. So you might want to drag a jig or pop it off the bottom with a trailer. I'm sure you will get bit. If you need more info, PM me.

Fished Delavan last Sunday, got 10 fish, 2 over 18" the rest were 14'-17". Fish were as fat as can be. Caught all fish from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Fished Browns today. Got 8 fish, 3 fish just over 16", the rest were 15-1/2". Caught all fish from 5:30 am to 9:00 a.m, I noticed this year that every time I go, there is roughly a 2-3 hour window where you catch them like crazy, and then you can't buy a fish anywhere.

I just read smalljaws post, and yes you will get a lot more responses on tackleunderground, as that is a website specifically designed to help the hobbyist in all aspects of tacklemaking.

Out of curiosity what cad software do you use? Pictures on line are the best, however for skirts, color can vary from monitor to monitor. As far as hooks go, unless you buy in bulk not many places you can just go and look at hooks. Find a hook you are interested in using for your mold, and then buy some sizes you want to incorporate into the jig head. Shorty's hook sales is in MO, but you will need a tax ID number. It is really hard to start up and try to find places that you physically can go to and look at product. I would suggest going to your local BPS, Cabelas, and look at their skirts and hooks and get an idea on where you want to start and go from there. There will be a lot of trial and error for you.

Jake, I'll start this off by saying forget the lead ratios and concentrate on what kind of jig you want to make. Based on your comments above, if you want to make a similar jig to the roadrunner, you can buy a Do-It pony or horse head mold. You can buy this mold and pour to your hearts content. The other thing is that you can put whatever hooks you want into the mold, along with making it a multicolored jig and finally any type of blade you want. This would get you started in learning how to pour your own jigs along with learning how to paint and finally how to assemble. Just remember don't try to sell these to anyone .You can give them away and or trade them with your friends without any problems. As far as design goes, I believe your head profile must be 30% different than anyone else's, in order to avoid copyright infringement. But don't quote me on this. If you decide to pursue this, you will have to get a patent search done. One last thing, it is very expensive to get a patent search and a patent, so you just may want to take this slow and see how it all develops. Also it is always nice to make something different than anyone else has. Good luck with your design.

I don't know what benefit it would have to know what Blakemore, BPS or anyone else in the industry uses as a lead mix. This is all irrelevant. First of all if you intend to copy and sell Blakemore jig heads or anyone else's for that matter, you will get a cease and desist letter. Blakemore strictly enforces and protects their jigs. Everyone uses different ratios of soft lead and antimony or tin, as we all make things the way we want. Many guys only use soft lead and many have mixed ratios, myself included, this is a personal choice based on our fishing styles and our own testing. Like mentioned above, seems like you want to make the perfect jig. There is no such thing. If you can't find fish or don't know how to use a jig, the most beautiful, perfect jig isn't going to help. Instead, if I were you, I would concentrate on learning how to pour safely and then learn how to pour jigs consistently. Those would be my first concerns. Everything else will come later to you as you ask questions. If you want to paint them, powder paint is very good and easy to use. I don't want to came across as an A$$, but safety is the first key issue, so you don't get badly burned.

If you have a fluid bed, it would make it much easier for you, and it would also put on a nice thin coat. If you want instructions on how to make one, Pm me your e-mail and I will get it out to you.

Yes, Pro-tec powder paint. Disassemble your blades from the split rings or whatever else. Take your blades and lightly run 100 grit sandpaper over both sides. this will give the powder paint something to bite to. After sanding lightly, make sure there are no burrs on the edges, wipe your blades with naphta or acetone to clean oil and residue. Next heat blade, hold blade with needle nose pliers by existing holes. Swish through black powder, let cool and then hang on wire on rack and bake. How many do you have to do?

The easiest would be to spray paint them with black paint, although it won't be as as durable. if you want durable blades, I would personally powder paint them black, but that involves taking them off, powder painting them and then baking the blades.

I assume you got the syringes. Can I ask how much you paid per pack.

You are absolutely correct. A lure turner is not needed, as I don't use one on my jigs. However like you mentioned, you must apply in thin coats, and watch what you are doing. I just put that in for many guys that don't have any experience with the use of epoxies, and always seem to get sagging epoxy or teardrops forming.

I give credit where credit is due. I never thought that the Bears are really a great team over the years. Packers on the other hand, have had many excellent quarterbacks and an overall solid team year after year. I see you fish Winne, I only fished it once, however I fish all the S.E Wisconsin lakes by the IL border. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me, and we can talk via phone, if that works better for you.

Just an FYI, but the Bears suck with Cutler, we need a good quarterback. I still like the Packers. Definitely a dynasty team. Favre and Rodgers, some excellent quarterbacks. Go Pack.

This is how D2T or most epoxies work. First of all you have to mix two equal parts, whether you measure it or do it by eye is up to you. If you do not mix it well, your epoxy will become tacky and never fully cure. If this happens, you can mix another batch and apply it over the first one. Remember the more epoxy you put on the more you may have issues with your crankbait running true, especially if the epoxy is not evenly distributed around the entire crankbait. So you should use a lure turner to get an even coating. Now here are the pros and cons of D2T epoxy. As soon as you mix the two parts of the epoxy together, you get a chemical reaction, where they start to heat up and start to cure(harden) That's why you can't take 30 minutes to coat your crankbait, as it will be very hard to spread the epoxy evenly with a brush. So if you keep your epoxy on the cool side, it will slow down the curing process giving you a longer working time, but the epoxy will be harder to spread on your crankbait If you keep your epoxy warm, it will flow better, but once the two parts are mixed, the warmth of the room and the heat of the mix will give you a shorter working time, but will be able to be applied faster. So all in all, no matter what you do, if you use D2T 30 minute epoxy, you will not get an hour to apply it if it is really cold, and you will not get an hour of working time if it is too hot. There is a trade off here. So my suggestion is to make sure you have all your components and supplies ready, and then epoxy your bait as quickly as possible and cover all exposed areas. Practice makes perfect.

Ace hardware or on-line.

First of all I have never heard of epoxy melting a cup. Next you need to tell us which epoxy(ies) you used, so we can help. I have been using Devcon 2 Ton (30 minute) for about 10 years and never had any issues. There is also a 5 minute do not buy that. Devcon 2 Ton (D2T) is self leveling. I use it on lead jigs and just love this stuff. Cures really hard, however on really white paint, D2T has a slight amber tint to it, however you can't tell on any other colors. Now my experience with D2T is that it goes on easier when it is warmer outside and levels faster. So your 90 degree temp days should not be a problem. If you apply it on crankbaits, you will have to put the crankbait on a lure turner, to keep the D2T from sagging or running. Other than that, it is a very good epoxy. Also you can put a drop of denatured alcohol in the mix, to make it more fluid, and more spreadable for a longer working time. If it takes you 30 minutes to coat a crankbait, you are taking way too long. I am thinking that you might get 20 minutes working time with D2T. There is also a product called E-tex. Envirotex lite. It is used for bar tops. It is a lot clearer than D2T, is more runny, needs multiple coats and in my opinion the final product does not have as a hard of a finish as D2T. You can usually buy all the epoxies I mentioned from Hobby Lobby, or Ace Hardware. Also you can get D2T at a really good price from Tower Hobbies on the i-net, and they have the 9 oz bottles. This is just my opinion. Others will have more info for you.