smalljaw67

It depends on the size jigs you are doing and how much you want to spend. I do a lit of hair jigs and finesse jigs with thread and I seldom go over a 4/0 hook but I have done 5/0 and 6/0 hooks as well. For that purpose I really like my Griffin Odyssey Spider but if I was going to do mostly heavy jigs with large hooks I'd go with an Anvil Apex because it is rated up to a 6/0 hook versus 4/0 for the Griffin. Most larger bass jigs I tie with wire so I don't need a vise for that but for the jigs I do the Griffin is fine, for jigs a super expensive vise isn't required but a good vise that rotates really helps so look at the $100 and up price point.

Allen, I apologize if this was asked before but I didn't see it if it was. What about the black nickel shake blades from Barlow's Tackle? I don't know who does the black nickel willow leaf blades for them but they are really nice, I'd imagine the chatterbait blades would be just as nice.

I have a production ball head jig mold and I actually can do more 1 at a time. I did 100 jigs as a test, the first up was the 6 cavity deal, I loaded 6 hooks and nothing else, plain ball jig, into the mold and poured. I was able to pour 100 jigs and cut the sprues and hang on a rack in 53 minutes, and so I reset the clock and did 1 cavity at a time. When the last jig was poured with the sprue cut and hanging on the rack the time was 42 minutes, 11 minutes faster pouring 1 at a time. After repeating this several times and having the same results I looked at what was taking so long. What I found was that I could pour faster doing 6 at a time but the loading the mold and cutting the sprues eats up all the time saved on the pour. Now, take the mid west finesse jig mold and you are loading hooks and small keepers into the mold, I'll bet you I can pour 100 of those heads 1 at a time faster than it would take if I was doing 6. Try it, you'll be amazed at how fast you can go and I even tried doing it by over filling the gates so I had 1 big sprue that made it quicker to get the jigs out of the mold and it was still slower when you go back and cut the sprues off.

Thanks for the info!!!

I know you don't like the way they rust but they do make a smaller version. I use a #1 in a 1/8oz finesse football jig, the issue is I have to get them directly from Owner as no vendors carry that size. Now that I mentioned that, the fish skull just makes it that much better and then the barred line, that is detail right there, AWESOME!!!! Is that barred predator wrap perhaps? I have used most of the other materials like the arctic fox and the ice dub, BTW the ice dub works well on float-n-flies.

That is awesome!!! Way to think outside the box!! Can you tell me where to get the 5304 is a size #2? I use the size #1 a lot and I contacted Owner to see if they made that in a size #2 and I was told they don't make it. That was 3 years ago so now it appears they have one so I'd really appreciate the help getting some.

I like a 1/2oz bait with a #5 Colorado, that blade provides good thump at slow speeds. I also like it because it is still balanced well enough that I can reel it a little faster in super shallow water and the bait won't roll over.

I love the 1 Minus series!! There are actually 3 different sizes so pay attention to what you are getting. There is the baby 1 minus which is 2.25" long and 1/4oz most are talking about. The mid 1 minus which is 2.75" long and is 3/8oz and the regular 1 minus which is big at 3.25" long and 5/8oz. If you like the baby size there is another that I really like, the Mann's Baby X, it is the same body as the baby 1 minus but it has a square bill and dives 2' instead of 1'. The square bill is more like a small rectangle and gives the bait some awesome deflection capabilities.

That marabou jig looks perfect!!! The puffiness is right from what I can tell by the size of the jig and hook. When you use marabou by just tying the feather in it will compress more when it is in the water. When you palmer the feather as you did, you'll notice how the individual fibers stand out more and in the water they will move and remain free instead of simply compressing. I normally palmer marabou on my jigs but if I use 2 colors and I want countershading with say black on top and another color like gray or white on the bottom then I will just tie the feathers in straight. Anyway, nice job on the jig, color is awesome and I like the grizzly hackle you used, it will look great in the water as well!!!

You know at one time there was a good number of anglers that used WD-40 as a scent for there lures. That said, take Angry John's suggestion and use the toothbrush and toothpaste to clean up your baits.

I have made a lot of anglers "Damiki rig" jigs over the years and I was told about it long before most heard of it. The name comes from the bait used, the Damiki Armor Shad and the one thing critical with the bait is that it doesn't exceed 3". Now, it other parts of the country that may be different but you may want to talk to elite series pro Jamie Hartman, he couldn't get bit on a drop shot on Cherokee lake but he was able to catch them on the Damiki rig. You don't cast the rig or hop it along the bottom or swim it, it is a vertical jigging technique in which you simply drop the rig to where you see the fish on your graph and then let it sit there, little to no movement. It is cool/cold water technique that I was told is not used much, if at all, outside the winter months. Iabass8 is spot on when he mentions it has been around for years in the walleye anglers arsenal and I actually have a DVD from 2002 showing James Lindner fishing a fluke on a jig head in the same manner for smallmouth up in Ontario. It is very effective but nothing really special except that it has been dialed in on certain lakes in which a 3" fluke style bait is attached to 3/8oz to 1/2oz Erie, Aspirin, or Mnnow head jig with a size 1 or 1/0 light wire hook and then sat semi motionless in front of fish in a vertical manner. When the elite series guys were fishing Cherokee lake Randy Howell had custom Erie jigs made with a 3/0 Gamakatsu hook because he didn't like the small hooks on what was made locally and it was that critical that he not only missed the cut but he never got a bite on the rig while others around him in the same area were catching good fish with no issue. The reason is because the hook and bait size is very important in those lakes where it is a winter staple, I'm sure in other parts of the country a larger bait fished on a different head style will work but the lakes where this rig became famous is because it is refined down to a specific bait on specific jig heads fished a specific way and it is not cast, trolled, hopped along the bottom or swam, it is a vertical technique plain and simple.

On a 4" worm you want to go with a 2/0. I make my own shaky heads and when the water is cold I like using a 3/0 hook to fish a 4.5" straight tail finesse worm. The 3/0 keeps the bait from having too much movement but is still small enough that the tail still has action. When I'm fishing it in the warm water period I like the 2/0, it allows for more action from the worm but a 4" worm on a shaky head with a 3/0 hook won't have much action. I couldn't even imagine a 4/0 hook shaky head with a 4" worm but we all use them differently but with that specific hook I'd opt for the 2/0 because the worm is a finesse style.

The Lews LFS speed spool is by far one of the best $99.99 reels I ever used. It is an aluminum framed reel with really good performance and is a lot lighter than a Fuego CT. Just about every angler in my old bass club has at least 1 of those and I know a guy that got 4 after using the one he got for his son, and 3 years later and all those guys still have and use them with no issues.

That paint does not exist. War Eagle uses a plated head, what you are after has been sought by others for decades. There are metallic paints out there but nothing will come close to the plated head you are trying to get.

I don't think they are marabou but I could be wrong. To me it looks like the silicone strands are tied in and then some new age chenille for the body with soft hackle palmered on like a wooly bugger. What size is that jig? I'll look at me hackle as I may have some grizzly soft hackle and if I do I could tie one up for you.

Shad rap has been a staple but I've been really liking the Bagley Balsa Shad. Add to those I also like the Rapala DT-6, the DT Flat 7, and one of the most killer cold water cranks ever, the Bomber Deep Flat A, that is a producer when the water gets down below 50 degrees.

The 812C spinnerbait rod is a medium power rod with an extra fast action. Loomis tapers are what makes them special and that rod is a good one. I'd use it for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits in the 1/4oz to 3/8oz range, it can handle 1/2oz models but it does feel a little underpowered at that point. Other uses would be light Texas rigs and jigs in the same weight range. It will handle jerkbaits and topwaters but the backbone is a little much but soft jerkbaits are another story, it is a killer fluke rod.

I know bullet casters use a variety of alloys depending on what is needed for the bullet they are casting. That said, I'm guessing the BHN is at least 11 but more likely in the 18-22 range which is pretty hard. The difference is pure lead has a BHN of around 5 and pours fairly easy. I use a 70/30 mix of hard to soft lead by using antimony, the BHN of the alloy I cast with ranges from 14 to 17 and in my RCBS furnace it needs to be heated to 800 degrees in order to fill out most molds. The alloy melts at 750 degrees but if I pour a jig mold with a ring and barb collar the bottom of the collar never fills out and it is tough going until I bump that temp up. Once you use the higher temp the harder lead pours well and usually won't give you any problems.

Jerkbait, hair jig, blade bait are the staples for cold water. The last few seasons we have done well with an underspin and fluke jr. trailer in water down to the upper 40s. Another thing is a 3.5" to 4" finesse style swimbait fished like a tube along the bottom on a ball head or football head jig but the big 3 are still the jerkbait, hair jig and blade bait.

I believe Rapala is using the VMC 8540 or the 8650BN. The 8540 is what is used on Luck-E-Strike RC STX jerkbaits but it does seem a little lighter than the Rapala version so I'd try the 8650BN. You can contact Rapala through their site, they have always responded to my inquires in short time so you may want to do that. You can also call up Lure Parts Online, I believe they have both models and might know which one you need and if they don't they may be willing to send you a sample.

You can't judge a bait like that. First of all, a 1.5 and a flat side are 2 different baits with different actions. Flat side baits do well in high pressure areas and cooler water temps because they have a much tighter action than a round body bait. The second thing is the fish itself, I've had many days where I was fishing a small square bill and didn't even manage a follow. Instead of giving up on the crank I switched to a DT-4, it was the same size as my square bill and dove just about the same depth as the previous bait but the first cast produced a solid largemouth and before I left the flat I had caught 4 more fish. You caught a fish when you switched to the 1.5 and it was probably the diving depth, action, or color that triggered the strike or it could have been a combination of all those things. The one thing you can't do is say the other bait wasn't any good because you are using 2 different types of cranks, now if you were using another flat side bait that was a similar color, action, and diving depth then you can probably say that the bait isn't as good as the one you were using but don't judge based off of an apples to oranges comparison.

The 1 thing I buy there is one of their cranks. It is cheap, they used to be $2.99 but now they are $3.19. It is the XTS crank, it was originally sold as the Lews Speed Crank and it is a killer crankbait. I change the hooks out which are small, size #8 trebles and I've used that size as well as short shank size #6 and the bait works the same. It has a slow wobble almost as if it isn't working quite right but they all swim that way and for some reason the fish can't stand it. It is 1 crank that you can practically guarantee will get bit when you tie it on and I normally like using nicer lures but the XTS crank just catches fish and that is the only item I buy at BPS anymore.

The Sebile Flatt Shad has a slow wobble and glide on the fall. Now to be honest, I have not fished with any of the newer Flatt Shads but I can't imagine they are different. Sebile discontinued them and I purchased 3 dozen on clearance because it is that good and the way it falls is part of the reason. Now I will also say that my discontinued Xcalbur one knockers are also a favorite of mine, they don't fall like a RES but it seems to draw strikes from larger than average fish, at least for me. If you really want that fluttering type fall, I'd go with either a RES or a Flatt Shad with maybe a Rapala Rippin' Rap, that bait still falls fast like a regular trap but it does have a wobble to it.

I usually adjust between hard, oft, and wire baits based on the activity level of the fish in relation to the location. There are times when the way the fish are hitting a bait will dictate whether I use hard of soft. A good example is when I fish the river for smallmouths in summer, I will use a soft plastic jerkbait like a Zoom Super Fluke or a River Rock Jointed Jerkbait a lot of the time. However there are times when the fish want the bait moving really fast and they will not hit it on top, or they aren't eating it but slashing at it to kill I or stun it. When that happens a floating Smithwick Rogue or Rapala Original Floater works with hard fast jerks will out produce the fluke 5 to 1.

My local Cabela's has a full end cap of just Megabass 110s and half an isle of S-cranks, Ito Shiners, 110+1s etc. and I've never saw any empty pegs.