Did I Screw Up My Jigs?

[Mista bass]

Okay so I'm new to pouring my own jigs but I got tired of buying them every week fishing in heavy cover so I figured I'd save money making my own. Today I poured over 100 arky style jigs and I poured with the weed guard in. I think that's where I screwed up because I found out the weed guards warp when I went to hear them for paint. How should I go about painting them now? Can I remove the weed guard, paint, and then put the weedguard back in with super glue? As you can imagine it took a lot of time to our all these so I'd like to salvage them. Thanks in advance.

-matt

[Ozark_Basser]

You can buy sleeves to fit over the weedguards so they won't warp as bad when you heat them. Some still may warp slightly.

[Ozark_Basser]

For future reference, buy some base hole pins. Teflon ones are easiest to work with, but the aluminum ones will work if you know how to do it right.

[cadman]

Paint them with lacquer model paint. They will not be as durable as powder paint but the fish don't care and you're not going to sell them anyway. Next time pour them without the weedguard and then you can powder paint them with teflon pins inside.

[Kevin22]

If they are just for yourself, paint them with fingernail polish and then clear coat with epoxy or clear nail polish. Sally hansen hard as nails is what you want. Comes in hundreds of colors.

 

We had to do some emergency painting once on a trip, the fish were inhaling black spinnerbaits and all I had on me was 1. Fish destroyed it so had to make a trip to the local shops in the area but nobody had any. Found some black skirts and bought all they had, then stopped at walmart and bought some black fingernail polish. Took white and chartreuse spinnerbaits and painted the heads and installed black skirts. Was the only option. Surprisingly they held up great and I still have them somewhere. 

[ClackerBuzz]

bass don't care if they are painted or not.

[Bluebasser86]

bass don't care if they are painted or not.

Probably the best solution to your problem, just leave them plain this time around. If you're losing them as fast as it sounds like you are, I'd probably leave them plain all the time. 

[Al Wolbach]

Matt, I always mold my jigs with the weed guards in. I fish heavy cover and lose a lot of jigs also. I paint my heads with a brush and use jig paint that I order from Barlows tackle. The paint comes in 1oz bottles for a few dollars and many colors are available. You can paint a lot of jigs with 1oz of paint. The paint will chip if fished around rocks but you are probably not losing them around rocks anyway if you are fishing lay downs or other heavy cover. And if you don't lose them you can repaint the jig heads if they need it.......Al 

[Turtle135]

Paint them as suggested above. You can also get vinyl paint from many of the tackle making suppliers. It is not as durable as a baked powder paint finish but it is close in my opinion.

 

If you go the unpainted route but do not like the shiny finish of new lead you can soak them in vinegar for 24 - 48 hours and it will give them that dull gray old lead look. My personal test results indicate that the bass do not care if the head is painted or not.