Question For Soft Plastic And Jig Makers

[dag623]

Interested in doing this, as it seems like a pretty cool hobby. Do you find that your baits perform better than the big names? Would love to get into this, would really love if it outperforms! Thanks...

[msolorio]

i just started tying jigs monday (ill post pics soon) and got a chance to use them today after work for a few hours and they performed great! did they outperform other jigs? id say yea but not by much at all. i think i caught a few more fish using the jig i tied due to the fact that i was able to put the skirt together with colors that were best for the waters i fished as opposed to having to settle for something close like ive been doing. i think thats the advantage of tying jigs yourself, you get exactly what you want. im new to this so i cant really say much but these are just my opinions on the matter.

[Jig Man]

Either hobby is great but only get into one at a time unless you have really deep pockets.

I do it for color control as much as anything and to kill spare time.

Like many ventures, startup can be costly. To get into jig making you have to have a lead source (free to $5 per pound), melting pot (around $50), at least one mold ($30), hooks ($25/100), paint ($10-50 per pound), skirt material $20-80/100). So in the best case scenario you'd have about $135 in your first jig. The production costs would go down but it will take a while for them to get down to you saving money unless you use a lot of jigs.

It is the same situation with plastic. You have to have molds, plastisol, glitter, coloring, softner, hardner, heat stabilizer, a way to melt and a way to pour. My first injected tube had an initail cost of over $400. I haven't made enough in the two years of injecting them for the cost to get anywhere nearly as low as I paid for the last ones.

I'm not trying to discourage you as I love making baits and have done it for so many years that I only buy a few jerks and cranks. The rest I have made. I'm only giving you a heads up on starting.

[smalljaw67]

Msolorio and Jig Man are both correct, you do have a slight advatage making your own because you can make that special color and the fact that what you are going to make and fish will be something the fish haven't seen much if at all.. Jig Man is also right and his assesment is about perfect and I would say you initial investment for jigs is closer to $200 if you don't try to go really cheap on the melting pot and skirt tools. Same thing for plastics but initial start up is even higher, I like to tell people that if you want to do this as a hooby and a way to deal with cabin fever then by all means have at it. But if you happen to be in the "save money" crowd, forget it, it will take years for you to even break even if you sell a few here and there or if you lose like 50+ jigs a year, that is the only way. If you proceed you'll find a rewarding hobby that will take up a lot if not all of your free time, for a lot of us it has be come an odsession, the constant looking to see what we can do to make our creation even better than the last batch, and the thrill you get the first time you catch a fish on a lure you made from scratch at your home, well it is a feeling that is hard to describe.

[cadman]

All the above info is right on the money. The nice thing about making your own is you can customize it to the way you want it, color, hook style, size and skirt. Also it's a great feeling to catch fish on something you made.

[dag623]

Thanks for the info. Definitely could see where it would be quite rewarding to catch fish on your creation. Glad to hear that there are also advantages to it as well.

[Munkin]

Getting into jig making is easier and less startup cost if you buy the heads already made. I use less that 5 different jigheads so I can get them in bulk very reasonable. Start with making skirts for the pre-made jigheads to see if you like it before investing the money.

Allen

[RyneB]

I started tying my own jigs but didnt want to deal with melting lead and making my own heads. I started off buying painted heads from bass pro and then i just ended up ordering a bunch of heads from Cadman. That way i can keep cost down and all i have to do is paint the head, tie on skirt, and glue in weedguard. I havent broke down the cost per jig, but its pricey. I have about 150 jigs that i tied this winter that i havent been able to use due to ice. Id say with heads,paint, and skirts I have about $400 invested. I have found that skirts are what costs me the most. I go on to fishingskirts.com to get a few skirts, and next thing you know I have $75 worth of skirts.

My advice would be to purchase a few heads from Cadman, some powder paint, order a small amount skirting material in your favorite colors and start from there. You will know instantly if its something you want to invest in. If you plan on wire tying, a fly tying vise would be needed. It is very addicting though.

[AR Fishin Hodge]

In my experience pouring my own plastics is where I feel like I have been better off in increasing my catches. Jigs are jigs. You can buy skirts and make a jig any color you want. The most important part of a jig is the hook in my opinion and I have found that there are a couple of jigs on the market with hooks that I cannot find that are better than anything I can buy.

Pouring soft plastics is limitless. Your imagination is the only limit. I am making a little swimbait right now that is a copy of an old bait made in the 60's, super simple designe that really seems to be outfishing the ones I can buy. It is a lot of fun. For me making jigs got really boring really fast.

If you buy remelt plastic, a used microwave, and use a pyrex cup, use pop to make your molds you can get into a little cheaper than some of the other guys have posted, but you will end up spending money on other things that you haven't thought of. Respirator, clamps, building a work bench, salt, little tools, a butane burner, and mold box material are some things that never crossed my mind before I got started

I concour on the time issue too. I find myself wanting to sneak out to the garage more often than my wife approves of, and it is a little obsesive, and I have only been playing with this a little over a month.

Sure is a lot of fun for me.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Buy the head, build the skirt.

[cajun_flipper]

I have a guy that makes soft plastics. I buy them from him and can get custom colors, more softener, more salt...etc. I'm getting into making my own hula grubs, which is one of my staple lures. While I'm at it, I'm going to pick up a mold for single tail grubs just so I can play with them as well. I fish grubs more than anything else and I'm not 100% happy with anything on the market, so that's what I'm planning on doing it for. Grubs are the forgotten lure, so there isn't a bunch of attention paid to them by the big boys and there isn't enough demand for smaller shops to fool with them. Therefore, I'll be starting up right before summertime. I MAY get a senko style mold too, but I doubt it since they are so available and I really don't throw them enough. I burn through some grubs though!

Like the other guys have said, I don't see a way to get into it for less than 300 bucks. I didn't even think about a respirator...good call. I don't need anything else adding to my cancer profile.

I tie my own skirts for jigs and spinner baits. I can attest that it is much cheaper to buy the jig heads in bulk, painted or unpainted, and tie your skirts that way. Melting lead is a pain and I really didn't enjoy it. I've sold all of my molds. I mainly use poison tail jig heads, which you can purchase direct from many different tackle stores or guys online. I only have about 20 jigs that I've built, and those see less and less action with the amount of canoe fishing that I do these days. Pitching jigs from a canoe is an art that I can't master for some reason.

[basscatcher8]

Beware of the addiction. I started making jigs awhile back and got out of it as my fishing time became thing but now that its coming back so is my interest in jig making. Spent this winter and built my whole sauger box starting with 3 boxes of hooks and an empty plano. Then started working on my bass jigs........and now my first order of plasticol and colors came in last week. I havent bought any molds yet but Ive been buying Bondo Resin like crazy to make my own molds LOL. Spent most of saturday this week building some new skirts for the bass jigs I made earlier...yesterday I spent coiling wire and making some senko rigs like Kieth Poche was fishing a the classic just cause I wanted to try one. my next thing is looking at some rod building equipment.......it will just snowball but its fun as can be and rewarding when your hauling in fish 2:to 1 on your buddy who is fishing with his favorite store bought lure.