Powder Paint & Saltwater Bucktails

[Jigfishn10]

I got some plain Utra Minnows from a long time member here last summer and I tried my hand at powder paint.
 

After 40 jigs I finally got the hang of it. ?

 

I want to thank @Jig Man and @cadman for their advice and recommendations on the process. It was a great experience and a lot of fun. 
 

I tied up a couple of jigs for a start.

I’m thinking going forward that I should go thinner with the bucktail? 

 

Oh well, 40 more to go.

[Jig Man]

Thinner wouldn’t hurt.  I was fishing with a guy who was whacking fish.  His jig looked like it had nothing on it   I went back took his jig and counted.  There were 7 hairs left on the thing.

 

BTW the painting looks good.

[Fallser]

They'll fish as is.  They look good.  As far as the buck tail goes, I'm looking at it from a fly tying perspective, the buck tail jigs I tie are sparser than many commercial jigs I see in shops.  For salt water, a lot of the bait fish, like silversides and sand eels have narrow profiles.  You're not that far off.  The top one is closer to the amount you need to use.  The bottom one, to me is a bit over dressed.  I would use just the amount of white buck tail that shows above and below the pink buck tail for the top and bottom, then a few pieces of flash on either side, under a similar amount of pink buck tail as you used for the white buck tail on the top and bottom.  You've got 40 jig heads left.  Tie some the way you did and tie some sparser and fish them.  The fish will let you know which ones they like.

  Jig Man mentioned a guy who was fishing a sparse jig.  These are Clouser Minnows, not quite a buck tail jig.  The weight balance point is different.  The originator specified between 15 and 20 pieces of bucktail to be used on top and bottom.  I don't have the inclination or patience to count out 15 or 20 pieces of buck tail.  I just cut a bunch larger than I need, hold it by the tips and start removing pieces by holding the tips and pulling on the butt ends.  Then I put the buck tail in a hair stacker which will even out the tips and remove shorter pieces till I get what looks like 15 or 20 pieces then tie them in.

If I were tying jigs I would tie the same amount on the sides as I would the top and bottom.  By the way, Chartreuse over white and Olive over white are good producers in salt water. 

[cadman]

Well now you got powder painting in your blood and you'll want to do more. Just a quick observation. But clean out your hook eyes before you go fishing. I used to find it very frustrating to clean out hook eyes from paint on the boat. It is nice to grab a jig with a cleared out eye and tie it on. Also it is easier to clean out the eyes before baking. Baking jigs hardens the paint it can be time consuming to clean them afterwards. BTW the jigs and paint job look really nice.

[Jigfishn10]

@Jig Man, thank you for your opinion, it means a lot to me. I'm going to try and tie them thinner.

 

@Fallser, excellent post! Lot of good information there. I don't tie flies like I used to. I started fly fishing before bass & saltwater and tied most of my flies and even the flies I did tie were dries and nymphs. Unfortunately, that was in the early part of the ought 2000's. You given great advice that I will be putting into action. Awesome, thank you! ?

 

@cadman, I bet you mentioned that before and it didn't make it on my powder paint notes...that tip is in my notes now. Thank you so much. 

 

Now to look for 1 1/2 oz Ultra Minnow jig heads for surf casting. ?

 

One question on powder paint; my powder paint is Jannsnetcraft branded paint and I tried to minimally heat the jigs so thee paint and go on really thin, but sometimes it wasn't heated enough and the paint wouldn't cover? I heat the next jig a split second longer thinking I'd get that thin coverage to allow the detail on the jig to come thru only to find that after baking, the paint is a lot thicker than I expect? Should I try another brand of paint? 

[cadman]

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

One question on powder paint; my powder paint is Jannsnetcraft branded paint and I tried to minimally heat the jigs so thee paint and go on really thin, but sometimes it wasn't heated enough and the paint wouldn't cover? I heat the next jig a split second longer thinking I'd get that thin coverage to allow the detail on the jig to come thru only to find that after baking, the paint is a lot thicker than I expect? Should I try another brand of paint? 

 

There are two school of thoughts in putting on powder paint.

 

#1. Some guys (myself included) heat the jig, do a countdown , swish it through the powder paint and watch the jig gloss over. To me, I now know that I have enough paint on the jig head. Now, if it doesn't gloss over, I add another second or two to the time on the next one. For the one that didn't gloss over, I will quickly swish the jig again in the powder paint and then heat it up and watch it gloss over. Keep in mind that if you heat up a jig and you keep it too long in the powder paint the hot jig will grab a lot of powder paint, and it will drip when you bake it.

 

#2. The second school of thought is to never let it gloss over. So when you take a hot jig and you swish it through the powder paint, the powder paint on the jig will look powdery. You then put it in the oven and bake it.  This works for a lot of guys. However , to me if I can't see that I have enough paint on the jig with it glossing over than how do I know there is enough paint on a jig when it is powdery. With this method, you would have to wait to bake the jigs to see if you have full coverage.

 

The choice is yours on which way you want to go. There is no right or wrong way. The only way is the way that works for you, and after you paint 1000 jigs (LOL) you will figure it out. Practice makes perfect.

 

Good luck, it will get easier the more your paint.

[dopey]

Look good you'll get the hang of tying with hair as you practice.  

 

Cad taught a lot of us the in's and outs of powder painting!!!  His Practice quote is dead on!!   

 

With the Janns powder I found that if you add a tablespoon of clear powder it helps to thin it out and it works better.  I don't have many Pro-Tec colors left as I get automotive powder for doing my jigs.   

[Jigfishn10]

20 minutes ago, dopey said:

Look good you'll get the hang of tying with hair as you practice.  

 

Cad taught a lot of us the in's and outs of powder painting!!!  His Practice quote is dead on!!   

 

With the Janns powder I found that if you add a tablespoon of clear powder it helps to thin it out and it works better.  I don't have many Pro-Tec colors left as I get automotive powder for doing my jigs.   

I have a "Powder Paint Lessons Learned" file going in my "Notes" app on my phone. Your advice on the clear powder just made it in there.

 

Thank you very much for your help.

[Jigfishn10]

Was able to sit down the other day to tie up some more. 22 tied and sealed, 20 to go. Still need to apply the eyes.

[WRB]

You are using freshwater jig hooks black nickel plated tempered steel. The hook will rust in salt water if the plating is damaged at the hook eye removing the paint, not good! 

As far as the bucktail being tied too full I don’t think so and prefer full hair tied jigs. The hair when wet tightens to a low profile moving through the water column and flares out when it stops looking alive.

Tom

[Jigfishn10]

Thank you @WRB for the comments. Your opinion is always welcomed.

 

I had a hard time finding a supplier for plain ultra minnow heads. I remembered that a long time member here had the mold and was gracious enough to pour them with the black hooks for me. I really didn't have many options.

 

The hooks I got with these jigs in saltwater is never desirable, but the areas I fish tend to take a few jigs off my line. I guess in a way, I'm saving money I would have paid if I had these done with stainless hooks and lost them?  IDK? 

 

Either way, my gear and tackle always comes off the boat after every outing and rinsed with fresh water and wiped with a clean towel. 

 

Thanks again.

[Jigfishn10]

Finally scraped some time together and was able to get them done.

 

Just ordered some larger heads for 3-way bucktailing.

[Jigfishn10]

Started painting another 32 jig heads. Heavier ones this time around. 3/4, 1 & 1 1/2 oz.

The one's on the above post are all 1/4 oz and destined to be fished in hard bottom, rocky areas and boulder mounds in waters between 40 - 90 feet of water. The heavier ones will be for a different use.

 

I found that the heavier jigs needed a little more time under the heat gun. Had 2 that came out with holiday's and 3 that ran and left a drip. The 2 with holiday's I left alone, I actually like the way they look. The 3 that ran I cut the drip with a utility knife/box cutter and shaved it to shape. Put under the heat gun for a few seconds. It worked. Lesson learned there.

 

Still trying to figure out how to keep the line tie free of paint? It's not going to help now, but would love to figure out for the future. 

[Jig Man]

1. I use a fluid bed with 2 inch cups so I have room to dip.  
2. I hold the eye with needle nosed pliers or hemostats to keep the paint out.  
3. I heat the jig with a heat gun being careful to keep the eye away from the heat.

4. I only get the head hot enough for a very light powdery coat of paint.

5.  If in the event that the eye gets paint on it I can easily wipe it off before I bake the jig in the toaster oven.

 

This process has worked for thousands upon thousands of jigs for me.