smalljaw67

a size 1 or 1/0 should work.

I agree with you but the composite David Fritts rods from Lews are stout. That medium power rod is probably close to a 5 power or MH from other manufacturers, the MH is that line will make it tough casting anything under 1/2oz for any reasonable distance.

The Lews Fritts line are composite rods that are a little beefier that other manufacturers. The medium is rated 3/8oz to 1oz, that is what you want for the baits you are going to use, the medium heavy will work but it may be tough to get a good cast with the DT-6.

I use a modified ultra minnow mold to make underspins. I find the holder on that head works well so I don't need to add the wire keeper. I wasn't doing well with these at first but I since found that in my waters they tend to shine when the water dips down below 60 degrees and a slow retrieve with the blade ticking the bottom occasionally has been the best way to get bites. I also like using a ball bearing swivel rather than a crane or roller swivel, it lets me reel the bait at slow speeds and still keep the blade spinning, you might want to look into that.

Just to clarify, the new Mojo Bass is not the same blank as the Avid. It uses the same SCIII material but the resin and tapers are different, there is a noticeable difference between the two.

I sometimes feel that Bluebasser86 has a fishing style that is very close to my own!! I fish a couple of lakes that are stained all year and those places my number one crankbait color is red craw no matter if it is Spring, Summer, or Fall. For some reason it seems that pattern works if off color water better than most, the exception is when it gets muddy, that is when I go away from red and use a chartreuse with a black back, but heavy stain I go with red or red craw.

If you watch enough fishing shows you'll even see pros hesitate and then set the hook because they aren't always sure. Once you get fishing cranks long enough you can feel cover like the bouncing and deflecting off the bottom, it is when the rod loads or when you lose contact with the bait that usually signal a strike. Square bill fishing is fun and it is usually easy to know when you get a strike. You reel the bait at a fast pace and it is banging and bumping the bottom along with rocks and wood and then you get bit, if the fish are active and chasing you won't have a problem detecting a strike, the rod will lunge forward and you can tell it is being pulled away from you. Mid depth and deep cranks can be tricky because you are normally retrieving them slower and a lot of the strikes the rod will just begin to load up as if you are hung up or you are just moving the bait and all of a sudden you can't feel it anymore, in those two instances you need to set the hook. The other thing with cranks that you are moving with a slower pace is to watch your line, a lot of times the fish will track it for a bit and hit it from behind while moving fast toward you, when that happens you see your line go slack, again with the fishing shows you'll often hear a guy say that the fish knocked a ton of slack in the line, that is a clear indicator of a strike and you need to set the hook. That said, you will get a feel for it with experience but even then some strikes aren't clear and you will set the hook on cover of some type or "accidentally" catch a fish when you think you are hung up, it happens to all of use eventually.

I love that bait!!!!! On 10# line it will run about 2', I have 6 of them and they are all consistent. I imagine if you use say 8# fluorocarbon you can get it closer to 3' but I use 10# mono and it keeps it right around the 2' depth.

If you want the glossy machined aluminum mold look out of the essential series molds there are 2 things you can do. The first is polish the cavities, it is time consuming and involves a lot of labor, the second is to coat the cavities with engine enamel, I believe there is a video on doing that. The molds aren't bad and you get good baits but they don't have the same look as a machined aluminum mold.

I like a 4.5" or 5" with a 1/16oz head.

The Tour KVD gets mixed up with the Team KVD, the Tour is a lot better. The problem a lot of guys have is that they never used the E-Glass/graphite composite that the rod is made from, most manufacturers today use S-glass or S-glass/graphite composite. The difference is weight, the tour KVD is tip heavy but that never bothered me with a cranking rod, in fact I like a tip heavy cranking rod to be honest. Anyway, E-glass is heavy compared to S-glass, I prefer E-glass because S-glass has similar properties to graphite in that it hits a backbone and shuts off were as E-glass has a progressive power curve, it will gradually shut off. Both E-Glass and S-Glass have soft tip sections, the difference is when the rod begins loading, E-Glass will gradually stiffen up as it bends, where the S-Glass is like a moderate graphite cranking rod, it loads to a point and then backbone instead of a gradual shut off it is immediate, my deep cranking rod is an old 1992 Tour USA made by Quantum, that was when they were made in the USA and used an E-Glass blank made by Lamiglas. The rod is heavy but it has that gradual power curve, and Quantum is one of the few that use E-Glass. On the other hand the Lews cranking rod should be fine, the decision is the Tour KVD had micro guides so keep that in mind.

Before I use a worm or jig I'll try the wobble head or swing jig or whatever you want to call it. I use it like a square bill but slower pace and the best times seem to be when the water is flat calm when the fish won't hit a crankbait or spinnerbait. I fish them in 15' and less and 1/2oz and 3/4oz are the sizes I use most, rod is pointed down and the retrieve is a steady crank at a 45 degree angle. The most bites I get are when the bait deflects off of a rock but it isn't like a square bill bite, most of the strikes I get the rod will load up or it will feel like I loose contact with the bottom, that last one happens a lot as the fish often swim toward me for some reason with that technique but rarely do you get that solid thump, at least I haven't.

Lay the hook you are going to use in the mold, make sure the line tie is centered at the front and the hook shank is coming out the back dead center. Take a Dremel and carve out the hook eye and make the slot where the hook shank exits the back a little wider and deeper. Remember, the hook has to be centered so if you make one side deeper than the other it won't work as well as it should. It takes me about an hour to do all three cavities even though I only use the 1/8oz and 1/4oz. Take your time and take small amounts off at a time, the hook position is critical as the bend of the hook leg is going to fall right where the gate on the mold cavity is, if the hook sits too low the hook will be exposed on the bottom, if it sits too high the hook eye will be on top of the jig leaving a spot which will get caught on rocks instead of sliding over them, as I mentioned earlier, it is very tedious to get that right.

Thanks for that report, I've been contemplating getting a few of those. I wasn't sure how it would work since it stays more level than a traditional shallow crank but there are certain baits that draw big fish and this seems to be one of them, thanks for sharing and congrats on the giant!!!!!

You have to modify this mold http://www.barlowstackle.com/Do-It-Swim-Jig-Mold-P208.aspx . It is tedious, I make them myself using a Mustad 91768 hook, there is only a small area where the hook can be positioned in order to get it balanced right. I've modified like 5 of those for guys wanting to make their own but you need to understand that you will have to get the mold super hot in order for it to pour right because the hook is very close to the gate where the lead comes in so it will not completely fill the cavity unless you really have the mold hot. The same thing with the balance of it, if you have the hook a little deeper on one side of the mold than the other the jig won't stay upright and instead it will drag along the bottom on its side, I know this because the first one I made for myself I messed up so I had to do it again but now I have it down. Good luck.

I don't know what kind of rod you're using but I'd look for a rod with a little more moderate taper or perhaps a lower power, hard to say when I don't know what you're using. The size 3 uses a #4 treble hook so that isn't an issue but you may want to cut off the hook it comes with, and add a #2 split ring with a size 4 Daiichi death trap or Gamakatsu round bend. The split ring will add a little extra length to the lure and the black nickel hook should penetrate better than the stock hook.

If the skirt is properly wire tied the end should be folded over and mashed down so there shouldn't be any wire exposed. I make my own stuff and I thread tie a lot of jigs but spinnerbaits I wire tie the skirt but on mass produced baits I've got to see that are hand tied I can't imagine they would slide off. I have never read in any of these forums about wire tied skirts falling down or off of a bait until now so I doubt there is any issue, at least it hasn't happened enough for it to be talked about on a regular basis.

There doesn't seem to be a wrong way to fish a swing jig but it is a little different than a regular football jig or shaky head. The one thing that is different is how it is used in the most common way, and that is like a crankbait, it is reeled at a moderate pace along the bottom so the free swinging soft plastic jumps and darts very erratically. A shaky head doesn't have as much movement and is normally used in deeper water and fished slower, while a football jig is most often used in deeper water and also doen't have the erratic action of a swing jig. I know there are some who do fish it like a shaky head and it isn't technically wrong but it really was meant to be fished like a crankbait and if you look you can find articles and videos showing how it is used most often. Davey Hite use it in replace of a Carolina Rig, he said he can cover more water and it is just as effective at finding fish as the C-Rig. The one big difference in how it is fished is in the depth, a football jig in heavy weights is usually fished in deep water, the swing jig, even in 1oz sizes, is rarely used past 15' and is most often used in 1/2oz and 3/4oz in water less than 10' deep but again, this is the most common method but there are other ways to fish the swing jig and still have it be effective.

This is very true, I was told by several online hook distributers that Eagle Claw didn't make the 786BP in a 1/0, the smallest size offered was a 2/0. Then I contacted Eagle Claw and was told they do make a size 1/0 and just nobody was ordering that size, and now when I find a hook that may work for me I contact the manufacturer direct if I can't find the size I need, and it seems more often than not that there are more sizes but you never really know for sure unless you ask. BTW, you can buy the Owner Twist Lock Light hooks in a 1/0 size and take the screw lock off, I used that hook to make that exact head in 1/8oz and 3/16oz to use with a Gene Larew Sweet Swimmer.

I echo the others, once you have topwater forget the fluorocarbon.

You won't find a supplier for the 32724 in a 1/0 because Mustad only produces that hook in a 4/0 and 5/0, no other sizes available. I contacted Mustad 4 years ago looking for that hook in a 2/0 and they told me it is only available in the 2 sizes, I'd have to place a special order with a high minimum to have it made.

The VMC 7329 isn't a heavy hook, a little lighter than the 32886 that mold calls for and it comes in a 1/0. I've poured that head with a Mustad 91768 in a 1/0 so you might want to try those. The other thing is Captain Hooks sells the Mustad 91768 in a size 4 and a size 2, being that the shank of that hook is long I'm guessing the size 2 would be similar in length and gap to a size 1 hook. The only thing is you have to deal with it being an EWG style, and even in smaller size 1 the Trokar 835 is still pretty stout, I use those for finesse jigs and while you might get a little bend on some you will break a few as well and at that price you may want to look for another alternative. There is a light wire hook that will work but it only comes in a 4/0 and 5/0 which is way too big so the best bet I think you have is the smaller 91768.

Go with 1 hole, the problem is the hook eye isn't coming through that second hole clean enough to get any hook penetration. You may not like my answer but I've tried that method and now I use a wacky hook with a small weed guard or a wacky jig head, I too had a lot of missed fish with that rigging method.

You are referring to what is commonly known as a "preacher jig", right? I've tied a lot of those over the years and then it died off only to have it come back because of 2 tournaments that they were major players in. The reason you see them disappear for awhile is because they are a niche type bait, they work in places that have larger forage fish and clear water, it is why you see them used on certain bodies of water and not on others. The long bucktail has almost no action, it is a very subtle movement and is used more for the baitfish profile it creates when wet, the action comes from the long feathers that are tied in and extend pass the bucktail. The movement of the feathers mimics the tail movements of forage fish and it doesn't move a lot of water or make a lot of noise which is why you need clearer water for them to be really effective. Jacob Wheeler insist that if has to have 3' to 4' of visibility before he would even consider using a preacher jig, and most others agree and add to it that KVD will use a crankbait and then a T- rigged worm first before going to the hair, he said the hair is a tool to coax stragglers that aren't active to bite. The presentation isn't complicated, make the cast and let the jig fall on slack line until it hits bottom. Once on bottom you hold the rod at 10 O'clock and give the reel 6 to 10 fast cranks and stop so the jig fall back down, and you repeat that until you are out of the zone. Normally if the fish are going to hit it they do so quickly, usually within the first two series of cranks. If you want to know how much of a niche bait they are, consider the fact that the Feider Fly, a 3/32oz marabou jig, is the hair used on the great lakes region as the preacher style jigs don't work well there even though the water would seem to be perfect for it, so it really depends on having depth, clarity and fish that are accustomed to seeing and eating large forage species, lacking in any of these areas makes the odds of it being effective less likely. Good luck.

You cut off 1.5" off the blade arm of a 3/8oz bait? The typical blade arm doesn't usually go longer than 2 1/2" or 2 5/8" so cutting off 1 1/2" off is going to leave you less than an inch after you make the loop to attach the blade. That type of bait is really unstable and I could be wrong but I'd be willing to guess that when you retrieve it bait will lay on its side with anything over the slowest speed to at least keep the blade spinning. I hope it works but that is a really short arm for a large willow on a bait less than 1/2oz, it least I have a tough time visualizing how it would work, good luck and let me know how it goes.