Robert Riley Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 Hey guys, never noticed there was a tacklemaking forum here! So excited! I'm hoping to start assembling my own jigs. Any one have some advice, videos or anything you think I should know? 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 20, 2015 Global Moderator Posted January 20, 2015 Don't get into it if you think you're going to be saving money right away, especially if you're planning on pouring your own and going to have to buy your lead. Buying unpainted or painted jigheads and tying your own is a good way to go though. The ability to customize the colors you want is really nice and part of what drew me to it at first. There's some good articles and videos on here about building your own jigs. http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/hand_made_tackle.html http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/how-to-tie-jigs.html 1 Quote
Ozark_Basser Posted January 20, 2015 Posted January 20, 2015 Things just off the top of my head. Make a fluid bed to powder coat your jigs. Much more efficient. Takes some tweaking though to get it right. If you want to know how I made mine pm me. You don't need a vice. I have actually found it easier and I can get them the way I want them better on a table. Wire tie your jigs. Makes them look a lot better and the skirt performs better. I use 28 gauge floral wire. Teflon base hole pins. I still haven't got any yet but I'm looking forward to using them. Metal pins can be cumbersome if you plan on painting them. While your pot heats up set your mold on top of it so it warms the mold. Your first one will usually come out bad if you don't. Keep your workspace as clean as possible. Lots of important reasons here. Don't put cold lead in the pot if the lead in the pot is red hot. It could explode everywhere. Build a small rack to hang your jigs after dipping in powder. Pliers that lock would be handy. If you like living rubber, biosilk is a good alternative and is much easier to work with. Quote
Super User Jig Man Posted January 23, 2015 Super User Posted January 23, 2015 Unless you want to lay out some serious cash, buy some premolded and painted jig heads from Mike at Seibert Outdoors. Get them without the weed guard installed (assembly is much easier). Buy some skirt materials from www.fishingskirts.com. Then put them together. Fish them and then decide what you want to do. A decent setup with pot, mold, paint, hooks, lead, skirts, etc can run you hundreds of dollars. Quote
Ozark_Basser Posted January 23, 2015 Posted January 23, 2015 Unless you want to lay out some serious cash, buy some premolded and painted jig heads from Mike at Seibert Outdoors. Get them without the weed guard installed (assembly is much easier). Buy some skirt materials from www.fishingskirts.com. Then put them together. Fish them and then decide what you want to do. A decent setup with pot, mold, paint, hooks, lead, skirts, etc can run you hundreds of dollars. This is true. By the time I got everything, I think I spent around 700 dollars. It adds up. Quote
Robert Riley Posted January 24, 2015 Author Posted January 24, 2015 I appreciate the tips guys! I am just assembling the jigs, so i will be buying jig heads from siebert. And probably buying skirts from TW with my 30%off. Whats the big deal with living rubber? Quote
Brocephus Fishing Posted January 25, 2015 Posted January 25, 2015 I appreciate the tips guys! I am just assembling the jigs, so i will be buying jig heads from siebert. And probably buying skirts from TW with my 30%off. Whats the big deal with living rubber? Living rubber will cause the skirt to expand (flare out) when submerged. If you tie a full living rubber skirt with no silicone, the skirt can expand to the size of your fist creating a larger profile. Also, when using the living rubber the smallest motions of your rod can cause small vibrations in the living rubber which adds water displacement. I chose to tie my jigs with no more then 15-20 strands of living rubber and it creates a nice flare to the jig when submerged. It's just all about creating a slightly bigger profile and creating a defensive postition with the jig, such as a crawfish's defensive position. Hope that answers your question. 1 Quote
Ozark_Basser Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 I appreciate the tips guys! I am just assembling the jigs, so i will be buying jig heads from siebert. And probably buying skirts from TW with my 30%off. Whats the big deal with living rubber? Living rubber jigs also have a slower fall as well as thicker silicone skirted jigs. Quote
Robert Riley Posted January 26, 2015 Author Posted January 26, 2015 Living rubber will cause the skirt to expand (flare out) when submerged. If you tie a full living rubber skirt with no silicone, the skirt can expand to the size of your fist creating a larger profile. Also, when using the living rubber the smallest motions of your rod can cause small vibrations in the living rubber which adds water displacement. I chose to tie my jigs with no more then 15-20 strands of living rubber and it creates a nice flare to the jig when submerged. It's just all about creating a slightly bigger profile and creating a defensive postition with the jig, such as a crawfish's defensive position. Hope that answers your question. nailed it. Thanks. I'll have to look into it. 1 Quote
tbone1993 Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 One tidbit I would throw in would be to wire tie your jigs. They last a little bit longer and the skirt doesn't slide around like the rubber banded ones. The bands are nice because I can tie jigs anywhere by just using some pliers but the colors dont stay exactly where I want them to. Also if you use the bands you can literally make 15 different skirts and pull them on and off jigs to change colors on the fly without having to retie a different jig. http://fishingskirts.com/ < if you buy over 5 packs you get a discount. Trust me you'll want more than 5 packs of black/blue, green pumpkin, brown etc etc. 1 Quote
Super User smalljaw67 Posted January 26, 2015 Super User Posted January 26, 2015 I can tell you this, rubber comes flat and round and they aren't the same, I rather silicone than rubber but round rubber will not slow the fall of a jig down unless you tie it very heavy, a flat rubber skirt will slow the fall of a jig down more than silicone of the same amount. You have to store rubber in a bag with non scented talc as rubber will melt, if you leave jigs with rubber on them in a box in a boat or other space where it will get warm or if you put it away wet, it will melt and clump together. There is a silicone material called Bio-silk that acts like, and feels like living rubber, it separates quick and floats up creating a nice flare, and that is what round rubber does, round rubber is liked because it is more buoyant and flares out really well but because it is round the water flows over it better so you have to tie them in heavy patterns to slow the fall down. Flat rubber, often called "tarantula" rubber, create a big profile by moving a lot of water and it slows the fall of a jig pretty good, just remember that rubber will melt so you have to store your jigs made with it properly. Quote
Brocephus Fishing Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 Ditto what smalljaw67 and tbone1993 said. Great input. Quote
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