Wire weedguards

[Bluebasser86]

Any suggestions on what to use for making a light wire weedguard and how to pour a jighead with one in it? I just got a Snootie jig mold in the small size (1/8, 3/16, 1/4). I got some light fiber guards, but even those are pretty heavy duty for the little jigs. I'd like to do a single, or double wire weedguard instead. 

This is the jig I'm going to be putting them on in the 1/8oz size. It's a 1/0 hook, so it's a very tiny bait and if I trim the fiberguard down as short as it needs to be, it's very stiff. 

[Tim Kelly]

Could you use half a fibre guard rather than the full bunch?

[Bluebasser86]

I'm sure I could and just use some extra epoxy. I'm thinking I can use some braided leader wire I have, double it over and twist the bent end a few times and see if I can pour like that without making a big mess and having too much trimming to do. Or I could pour with the weedguard pin in place and then JB Weld the twisted wire into the hole, but getting it to set perfectly might prove difficult and obviously much more time consuming than pouring with the wire guard in place. 

[smalljaw67]

Bluebasser86, you can use Surflon 7 strand nylon coated leader wire to make weed guard but Lure Parts Online sell their own wire weed guard that is good for a single wire guard but if I was going to do a "V" style with 2 wires I'd opt for .015" diameter single strand wire. The nylon coated Suflon 7 strand won't unravel when you cut it but it will sometime give a puff ofsmoke when you pour, the ones from LPO are nice and if you have to trim them all you need to do afterward is heat the end that you trimmed and dip in powder to seal it. To put them in your mold you can do a few different things, you can fill the weed guard slot with form a gasket or plumbers putty and then lay the wires in, or use a skirt collar, simply open the skirt collar and insert your wire or wires and lay in the weed guard slot. The collar will hold your wire and also keep the lead from flowing out of the cavity, just position the collar with the wire in it at the entrance to the head cavity and adjust the length of the wire to fit in the cavity then close and pour. Again, with the rubber skirt collar you may get a puff of smoke but it is nothing and a single collar will last a good long time.

I also have another solution that I like a lot, find Cadman and ask him if he's sell you some reducer pins, he had some pins made that are the same as the regular base hole pins you get with the mold but the ends are turned down to a smaller diameter and the bell at the end is cut off. What you do is lay it in the mold and depending on your mold you will most likely have to trim a little off the end as they are made long purposely. Once you trim to fit you pour just like normal but when you pull the pin instead of there being the normal 1/8" hole for an FG-30 fiber guard, it will leave a hole for the 1/16" diameter FG-9 weed guard or the 5/64" diameter FG-12 weed guard which will also be a lot lighter than what you currently have. I believe he has pins in both sizes but I typically use the FG-12 a lot of smaller jigs like that.

[Will Wetline]

The procedure in the photos below works, but it's way too time consuming. Try smalljaw67's suggestions with either the rubber skirt collar or high temp silicone or plumber's putty.

 

 

 

[cadman]

Bluebasser86,

     You have a Pm.

[Munkin]

I was going to post about using the skirt collar but smalljaw has it covered. 

 

This thread would be a good thing to pin to the top .

 

Allen 

[Jig Man]

I used JB Weld to fill in the gap on one of my molds.  Before it dried I put an oiled piece of house romex on it, closed it up and let it cure.  When cured the romex came right off.  Now I use pieces of romex for pins when I pour that cavity.  Pull them out after painting and glue in the fg 9 after skirting.

[Munkin]

2 hours ago, Jig Man said:

I used JB Weld to fill in the gap on one of my molds.  Before it dried I put an oiled piece of house romex on it, closed it up and let it cure.  When cured the romex came right off.  Now I use pieces of romex for pins when I pour that cavity.  Pull them out after painting and glue in the fg 9 after skirting.

What Guage wire did you use?

 

Allen 

[Jig Man]

Allen it was either 10 or 12.  It has been so many years that I don't remember for sure.

[Bluebasser86]

Well they work.

[Buckeye Ron]

I used to make weedless hooks with piano wire I got from a local music store. Very thin stuff that could be formed easily.   Not sure how it would work if you were pouring around it though.

[RoLo]

I'd consider a 'fluorocarbon' weedguard which will never crystallize.

I have Berkley Fusion 19 weedless wide-gap hooks, and the tension is excellent.

 

Roger