Midwest Finesse Jig Head Mold

[Heartland]

Well I remember why I did not like pouring this mold.  After spending a few hours in the cold garage pouring 1/16th ounce heads one at a time, I remembered why this was a pain in the rear, not to mention the little wire bait keepers.    I would love to see Do-It come out with a production mold for the lightest couple of weights.

[Bluebasser86]

They're a pain. I poured and painted about 200 of them a couple months ago, all 1/16oz. Hopefully won't need to do it again for a few months. 

[Heartland]

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

They're a pain. I poured and painted about 200 of them a couple months ago, all 1/16oz. Hopefully won't need to do it again for a few months. 

Do you have more than 1 mold or do you have to do them 1 at a time?  They really need a production mold.

 

[Bluebasser86]

12 minutes ago, Heartland said:

Do you have more than 1 mold or do you have to do them 1 at a time?  They really need a production mold.

 

1 mold, 1 head at a time. 

[smalljaw67]

I have a production ball head jig mold and I actually can do more 1 at a time. I did 100 jigs as a test, the first up was the 6 cavity deal, I loaded 6 hooks and nothing else, plain ball jig, into the mold and poured. I was able to pour 100 jigs and cut the sprues and hang on a rack in 53 minutes, and so I reset the clock and did 1 cavity at a time. When the last jig was poured with the sprue cut and hanging on the rack the time was 42 minutes, 11 minutes faster pouring 1 at a time. After repeating this several times and having the same results I looked at what was taking so long. What I found was that I could pour faster doing 6 at a time but the loading the mold and cutting the sprues eats up all the time saved on the pour. Now, take the mid west finesse jig mold and you are loading hooks and small keepers into the mold, I'll bet you I can pour 100 of those heads 1 at a time faster than it would take if I was doing 6. Try it, you'll be amazed at how fast you can go and I even tried doing it by over filling the gates so I had 1 big sprue that made it quicker to get the jigs out of the mold and it was still slower when you go back and cut the sprues off.

[Jig Man]

I have the mold and don't like or use the bait keepers (extra time, extra expense, and pain to put elaztech baits on).  I use 1/16 and 3/16 most of the time so I pour two cavities at a time.  I also have added a weed guard to my mold.

 

 

[Heartland]

33 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

I have the mold and don't like or use the bait keepers (extra time, extra expense, and pain to put elaztech baits on).  I use 1/16 and 3/16 most of the time so I pour two cavities at a time.  I also have added a weed guard to my mold.

 

 

I have considered adding a weed guard to my mold.  If you ever have a spare minute or two and would not mind, I sure would like to see how you done it, so I don't butcher mine up.

[cadman]

I have to agree with smalljaw67 on this. I have had several production molds in the past, and I found them to slow me down. Like he mentioned, I can load and pour faster one jig at a time than load and pour 6 cavities. Especially if you load all 6 cavities and then a hook is not aligned or a keeper is not aligned,  then you can't close the mold. Once you think you got them aligned, and then you bump the mold, and all the keepers move. Trust me still faster to pour one at a time. However the Midwest mold is a P.I.T.A with the little keepers especially the 1/16 oz head.

[Jig Man]

2 hours ago, Heartland said:

I have considered adding a weed guard to my mold.  If you ever have a spare minute or two and would not mind, I sure would like to see how you done it, so I don't butcher mine up.

Choose the weed guard that you want to use.  I use a vinyl coated cable.  The way I make the slot is put a wire, preferably hard like stainless steel where I want the wg, put some tape on it to keep it in place.  Close the mold firmly then put it in my shop bench vice and clamp it firmly together.  Normally that does the trick and I am ready to go. 

 

Here is the mold after wg slots added.  I changed hooks and further modified it as well as closed the keeper slots.

[KCFinesse]

I'm doing the same thing as the @Jig Man method, but I'm using the Do-it wacky weed guard (the Shepard's crook at the end of the guard makes setting it pretty straightforward and its light enough gauge that I can still pour ones without a weed guard in the same mold.)

 

-Jared

[Munkin]

11 hours ago, cadman said:

Once you think you got them aligned, and then you bump the mold, and all the keepers move. Trust me still faster to pour one at a time. However the Midwest mold is a P.I.T.A with the little keepers especially the 1/16 oz head.

 

Agreed, I hate pouring these jigheads.

 

Allen

[Junk Fisherman]

Anyone have a #4 hook they recommend for this mold?

[Bluebasser86]

5 hours ago, Junk Fisherman said:

Anyone have a #4 hook they recommend for this mold?

I'd use the same Eagle Claw I use in the #2 (use to be the Lil' Nasty but I think they just call it a 500BP now).

 

Glad Do-It heard the cries and came out with production molds in the different sizes. So much nicer to make them 6 at a time now instead of 1. Bad thing is now I need to buy the 1/8oz one also for my small swimbaits and grubs.

[Munkin]

Going to make one of these to speed up the process myself. 

 

Allen 

[dopey]

If only!!!!

 

[PourMyOwn]

On 6/22/2020 at 7:21 PM, Junk Fisherman said:

Anyone have a #4 hook they recommend for this mold?

Another vote for the Eagle Claw Lil Nasty, it penetrates very well on 4-8 lb line and doesn't have issues straightening out until you go heavier or try to power fish the Ned.

[Heartland]

6 hours ago, PourMyOwn said:

Another vote for the Eagle Claw Lil Nasty, it penetrates very well on 4-8 lb line and doesn't have issues straightening out until you go heavier or try to power fish the Ned.

Those Lil Nasty hooks are crazy sharp, 

[Junk Fisherman]

On 6/23/2020 at 12:21 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I'd use the same Eagle Claw I use in the #2 (use to be the Lil' Nasty but I think they just call it a 500BP now).

I would prefer not to use Eagle Claw but 3 recommendations force me to give them a shot.  Thanks for the advice.  

[Bdnoble84]

5 hours ago, Junk Fisherman said:

I would prefer not to use Eagle Claw but 3 recommendations force me to give them a shot.  Thanks for the advice.  

Mustad just came out with their own sickle hook, havent tried it yet but i dont have any complaints about the EC’s

[Junk Fisherman]

19 hours ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Mustad just came out with their own sickle hook, havent tried it yet but i dont have any complaints about the EC’s

Actually, I did end up buying #4 Mustad hooks but not the sickle style.  This quote from Ned himself is why:

 

"A 1/16-ounce #4 mushroom is the most unbeatable jig in the history of the world. We already talked about how this shape performs so beautifully around cover. But it really allows an ElaZtech bait to do its thing — shake and shimmy — without getting in its way. I know a lot of anglers think a #4 hook is too small, but to me, a bigger hook doesn't slide through brush or vegetation nearly so well as a #4, which is almost snag-free."

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

On 6/25/2020 at 5:06 PM, Junk Fisherman said:

Actually, I did end up buying #4 Mustad hooks but not the sickle style.  This quote from Ned himself is why:

 

"A 1/16-ounce #4 mushroom is the most unbeatable jig in the history of the world. We already talked about how this shape performs so beautifully around cover. But it really allows an ElaZtech bait to do its thing — shake and shimmy — without getting in its way. I know a lot of anglers think a #4 hook is too small, but to me, a bigger hook doesn't slide through brush or vegetation nearly so well as a #4, which is almost snag-free."

 

 

Yes, the smaller hook and light head is the key to being able to finesse the bait through cover. I've tried to explain many times why the heavy heads and big hooks are defeating the purpose, but then they just put weedguards on them or make heavy offset hooks and pretend like it's the same presentation, when it's not. I just gave up and let guys fish their shakyheads and call them what they want, and keep fishing my baits.