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Hello, I am new to TU and new to lure making. I am 18 and pouring is not an option for me due to financial constraints so I have been buying unpainted jigs from fishingskirts. com and cadman and powder painting them. Its quite fun and I hope to be able to pour them myself eventually. Anyways, I wanted to show off these modified worm head jigs and see what you guys think. I tie some thread and coat it with epoxy on the upper part of the baitkeeper to allow me to tie skirts to it and not have them slide down, and still have a bait keeper that works. It really creates a nice super small finesse jig. If you want you can drill a hole in the head with an 1/8” drill bit and add a weedguard. These are 1/8 oz on a 1/0 Mustad #32786. These are an awesome smallmouth presentation. Does anyone else make ned rig style skirted jigs?

I bet the smallmouth love that jig. Great work and thanks for showing us your method and a nice jig.

60s might be ok. 45s and 30s are better. For most of my personal wide gap hook applications I have been using a Mustad 91768. Its a good hook and covers the range of sizes I use personally. After a few snags on braid and a few big fish the hook does tend to open up. I mostly just use them with a Hitch Hiker copper screw lock for Curly Buzz Frogs and Curly Buzz Frog minis. The 1/0 is just about the perfect size for the mini and the 5/0 is very good for the standard size. They are just a little lighter than I would like. VMC has one that might be a little bit heavier. 28 degree I think. I bought some to try out. Their 1/0 is longer than the Mustad 1/0. Just a little to long in my opinion. I tried it yesterday. The hook point is also turned out a little further than I would like. It catches fish, but its a little more finick to rig just right for weedless use skipping under overhangs and dragging over floating grass mats. Their 1/0 looks like it might be a tiny bit heavier, bit didn't measure it or a pull to straighten test. I thought maybe to try a smaller size, but 1/0 is the smallest I found in that hook. I have not tried the 5/0 VMC vs the 5/0 Mustad yet. I have some baits I'd like to fish on a wide gap jig hook that is larger as well, but there don't seem to be many options in a heavy wire or better yet extra heavy wire in larger size. Pretty much the same config. Copper snap on Hitch Hiker, and bare hook. Maybe a small cast or crimped on weight on some. I've looked at a lot of hooks, but I am sure I have not looked at them all.

Welcome to Tackle Underground. Nice looking jig.

Its seems not. The continuous temperature cycling would degrade them. How fast I don't know, but I have had one guy asking me to make more aluminum crankbait molds because his silicone molds don't hold up. I don't know what grade or type of silicone he is using. I would think if they have any expansion pressure they would push silicone molds open. For my own silicone molds I embed an aluminum plate in the back so I can lightly clamp them without distorting them, but I don't think that would stop extrusion at the parting line if there was any pressure at all. I never really had a lot of personal interest in making aluminum crankbait molds before, (I have one stock design) because urethane resin sticks to aluminum. If I made them people would complain about gluing their molds shut when they forgot to use a good mold release. I haven't had time to do more than open the bucket and read the instructions, but this process intrigues me as an alternative. I'll probably make a "no sprue" version of the mini crank and test it along side the regular castable mini crank and some loose beads to see what happens.

Sure! Amazon it’s where I get mine

I disassemble the glue gun and thread the end where the stick goes in to screw onto the valve outlet. When I'm using the pot I have the glue gun tip plugged in and never have any issues with the plastic flowing.

Fine Grit glass bead media. Works much better than salt, doesn't clump or cloud the color of the plastic. It also adds durability to the bait. It can be a little rough on the injector however. Just throwing another option out there.