smalljaw67

Looks to me like 30.

I've been doing it for over 15 years, if you cut cornors like using a propane stove and cast iron pot to melt the lead then you can figure it is still going to be around $150 to $200 to start and that is only going to get you enough to pour about 50 jigs with maybe 2 different colors of paint. The good thing is you want to do this as a hobby, that is great because often people want to save money and it takes so long to recoup just the start up costs that it just isn't worth it but as a hobby it is great. If you can save up enough you can get a nice bottom pour pot, 2 molds, 250 to 500 hooks 5 or 6 colors of paint and skirt material and a tool to make the skirts for about $350 to $500 depending on where you get the molds and the price of those and what kind of hooks you choose. Be warned, it gets addicting and before you know it you end up like myself with dozens of molds, 86 different colors of paint, 12 pounds of skirt material, thousands of hooks and spinnerblades and weedguards and you'll still be looking for more! Truthfully it is very fun and rewarding as you think about color patterns, different head styles and different hook types and then when you think it is really cool you go out and catch a fish off of the bait you made from scratch, and when that happens not only the cool factor goes through the roof but the feeling of acomplishment, pride, and satisfaction will kick into high gear and from that point on you'll be hooked!! It cost a good bit but you may like it!

I liked the titanium wire when it first came out but the blades flying off of an 8 dollar spinnerbait kind of makes you a little mad. The reason for that is titanium is light and brittle until it is tempered but once the wire is tempered it has the snap back quality. What happens with the blade and swivel coming off is a lot of the baits don't have the loop closed entirely and since it is tempered titanium there is no taking a pliers and bending the loop closed, it is junk. The one that had rust on it is a downgraded material, they were losing money as people stopped buying them at premium prices due to the blade issue so that is when Rapal bought them and introduced the stainless models and then the T-2 and other types and then reintroduce the titanium again after people got comfortable again. They aren't bad but they do have some problems like most mass produced baits. This is the reason I have been making my own for over 15 years, I know what I have with every bait I make and I use top of the line Worth swivels and blades so I know they will work every time.

Try using the juice worm with a basic texas rig using a bullet weight in front of the worm. You don't need to worry about the drop shot, some guys are in love with the technique but it is useless from shore unless you know exacly where the fish are and even then it is tough because the angle of the line is a lot oess when standing on the shore compared to being in a boat. Yeah, try the texas rig with a 1/4oz weight and the shaky head is always a great rig especially when fish are finicky. Now if you want to go buy some new baits, (who doesn't like to do that?) you can go get some trick worms or other floating type worms, Z-Man and Strike King 3X plastic are two commercial baits that float, anyway rig the floating worms nekko rigged, it is tough in weeds but just on the edge of cover it will work. Look it up on youtube, you just place a nail weight or a nose weight in the front of the floating worm and hook the worm in a way that you are dragging it by the side, like I said, look it up on youtube as I can find the words to describe it but that too will work for you.

6'10" M-F Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth, it isn't the extra fast action but it is rated for lure weights from 1/8oz to 5/8oz and from the feel of it I would classify it as a medium light as it has enough tip to throw a small bait. I think in your price range that is going to be the best rod available, the St.Croix ML rods are basically mediums, and their mediums are more like medium heavy just like the Abu Garcia V series.

It isn't hard at all, you just need some feathers or hackle, thread, bobbin, vise and a small pair of scissors. The first couple you do will be rough but you can always cut it out and do it over but once you get a few it will be like riding a bike and the best part is you can off set the cost by doing it for other people, dressed trebles are real popular now due to a lot of baits coming with them and the replacements aren't what I would call cheap. If you go to Captain Hooks Discount Warehouse you can get a good price on a bunch of trebles and after you replace a few the set up will pay for itself.

They look AWESOME!!! It appears that you did them freehand, and they all are fantastic but the Barfish is something completely different. Super nice work!!

Someone wanted a custom poured bait that was the same as a bait he uses except the bait he likes is soft and he goes through them to quick. Well I believe that soft works and side by side comparisons the only commercially made stick worm that came close to the Senko was the Yum Dinger but the Senko did better than those in all the comparisons me and some friends did. We fished them for 2 seasons side by side and of all the knock offs the best we found was the Yum Dinger, maybe it is the scent because there were others that had a closer action to the Senko in shimmy and fall rate but didn't produce like the Yum Dinger but the king is the Senko. The only other bait I have used that is as good if not better is the River Rock Baits 5.25 stick worm, they have a good plastic formula but these are custom baits and not commercial so they belong in a different catagory as not everyone has access to custom baits.

I don't know what the lure rating on that rod happen to be but it would more than likely be a good all purpose rod with the exception of square bill cranks, and liplees cranks. I find medium heavy with a fast action is too much for baits with treble hooks, find a good medium power with a fast action for the square bills and lipless baits unless or a rod with a moderate to moderate fast action on the medium heavy side.

Most pros have some type of quirk, Woo Daves often used a spincast reel to fish T-rigged worm and David Fritts is no different, he had a lot of say in the new BB1 and he didn't want infinite anti-reverse. The reson is he works a crankbait almost like a live bait technique called stiching, he reels the bait down to depth and then "feels" the bait back to him, I tried this and it isn't for everyone as it is painstaking slow and you couldn't use it as a search option, it is basically for fishing brush piles and humps where you know fish are located. As far as making that way of fishing easier or not I don't know but Fritts has long been known to use reels without infinate anti reverse.

I'm really liking the Fenwick rods and if the New AETO series is better than the Elite Tech smallmouth series as they have claimed well it migh be the first time I consider going with one brand. I really liked the smallmouth series and I still find it hard to believe they are less than $200 bucks.

NoBassPro has it right, when it comes to finesse fishing with lighter tackle were sensitivity is needed you will see fast and extra fast actions most of the time, lately some rod manufactures have been going to moderate fast action rods for the same type of rods as a lot of anglers use braid or flouro so the added flex helps compensate for the zero stretch of the braid and limited stretch of the flouro. If you use an extra fast action rod along with braid then your hook set should just be a short quick stroke of the rod and done but if you are one of these people that have to cross their eyes every time you are better off with the moderate fast rod. My buddy use to loose fish all the time with the massive hook sets until he got a rod with a more moderate action, he still has the feel using braid but the flex of the rod keeps him from bending the hook and loosing the fish.

The answer is no, the only way anyone can feel bites on a slack line is if you have a finger on the line and the line moves or the line moves enough that it causes the rod to pick it up but other than that it doesn't matter what line as you usually see a strike on slack line way before you feel it.

I always knew that soft plastic had a little more action but I never really understood how much of a difference the soft plastic had in regards to the number of bites I get. I fished Yamamoto Senko baits side by side with various other stick worms and the only one that comes close to matching the Senko is the Yum Dinger, maybe it is the scent but even that gets outfished by the Senko and I believe it is because we really don't know how many fish bite our baits. I thing sometimes fish will suck your bait in a spit it out just as fast but real soft plastic makes the fish hold on and not spit it but instead eat it and then we feel the fish and catch it. I'm sorry for the long story but the point I'm trying to make is you may end up getting a bait that doesn't catch as many fish or quality fish by having a proven bait made with a harder plastic.

One thing you need to remember is when you make a flat fiberglass mold your bait is going to be flat on one side. If youy want a fully round bait you will need to either make a 2 pieve mold which will require you suspend your bait in modeling clay or something similar, or send it to a mold maker and have it machined out of aluminum which will set you back a pretty penny but it will last. The fiberglass last too unless you drop it but it does require some skill especially when it comes to a 2 piece mold.

WOW!!! Now that is a square bill!

Great job!! Too bad you couldn't have been there in fall or spring, prespawn when the suspending jerkbait bite is on is something you can't believe and in the fall a spinnerbait burned just under the surface is something you'll never forget as the hit is super violent and it will rip the rod out of your hands if you aren't ready for it. But for now congrats on your first smallie!

Why go to TW? Go to www.fishingskirts.com or Barlows Tackle, Janns Netcraft, or Lurepartsonline, you will get a better selection and better prices and I believe you can buy a kit from Barlows with a skirt making tool, plastic storage box and enough material to make 50 skirts, they have one with colors used mostly on spinnerbaits and another for jigs, check it out.

I'm not sure what size they are but there are times when a jig with an extra full skirt will get bigger fish. If you are catching a lot of fish on a day it seems they are biting everything and you are looking for a bigger fish, that is when you use jigs like those you have, the big profile not only limits the amount of smaller fish that will bite it but it will also appeal to bigger fish.

River Rock Baits out of Virginia, I discovered them by accident last year and so far they have been my best producers. Their jointed jerkbait is soft and flexible even with salt and I can work it much more aggressively than a Fluke or Slug-O because it stays down but still has fantastic action. They make a buch of great baits but their tubes are second to none, they make tubes from 2.5" up to 5" with my favorite being the 3" and 3.5", in 25 years using a tube the River Rock Baits Tube is the best I ever used, the skirt really flairs well and the consistancy is perfect!!

I use to keep all my jigs and spinnerbaits made with living rubber in bags with some unscented talc for the winter and every 2 months I would give the bag a good shake, this would keep the rubber from balling up but when silicone came out if was awesome, and while it has good action on the move it really lacks in comparison to the rubber when working a jig slowly on the bottom, I think the rubber is what makes the mop jigs so good, you throw in heavier cover than a football jig and the rubber strands just move back and forth on their own you really don't have to move them much. I will say though, those look that good I'd be willing to put a little extra work in to keep them nice. Really good work there.

Those heads have a barb and I usually keep a barb on them unless someone want them cut off. For myself I cut the barb off as I very seldom use a trailer on a hair jig, if I want a little more action I usually make one with a zonker strip tied on that acts like a tail or trailer to give it a little more action.

I love the look of those jigs, rubber is great the only problem is when you store them in a box for a long time and go to take it out is is a chunky mess. I know all about storing rubber as that was what was availave when I started making jigs but it is just a pain to deal with but I will tell you, nothing looks as nice as a full round rubber skirt, just a nice clean look and you executed it perfectly.

Unless you loose about 5 or 6 jigs every trip then you will never ever recoup your start up money. I guess I should say if you spend more than 75 dollars a year on jigs it may benefit you to pour your own but if you don't go through a high volume it really isn't worth it. For me it is a rewarding hobby that gets me through the winter and I now have thousands invested between molds, skirt material, paint, hooks, wire, eyes, melting pots, air compressor, air brush, etc. etc.

RW and DVT are right, the IMX is when you begin to get the benefits of fishing a Loomis. If you can get the IMX or GL3 you are better off, the GL2 is a good rod but it is way overpriced, most rods in that price range have better components, the GL2 is using plain ordinary aluminum oxide guides and while there is nothing wrong with them I expect at least zirconium or alconites at that price point and not to mentio that the GL3 is just a couple of bucks more and a much better rod and the IMX is also close and head and shoulders above the GL2. The only question is to what you like in a rod and the overall feel, I say this because I have a SJR 722 GL3 that I prefer over the IMX simply because the GL3 handle feels much better to me and if the handle is uncomfortable to you then the benefits of the rod will be lost. One last thing, the GL2 is a heavy rod for the price, had they lowered the price on the upgrade or simply left the price the same as it was, it would have been worth looking at but one thing I will give it is the grip and butt section are very nice to hold, if these were in the $120-$130 range I would have one.