jigmeister

I was wondering how much the swimming action varies between the long plastic bib and short bibs? Thanks

I am interested what size bait is this? 5" or 6" Thanks, Ken

Is the last 5" senko type mold still available? Thanks, Ken

OK -Thanks for the info ......................Jigmeister

I have made silicone molds using hard resin masters but was curious if you can use a plastic worm as a master or will the plastisol react with the silicone during curing?

I have had this happen with a couple of pours using black liquid color for smoke color baits that turned green . The first time with a medium consistancy plastic that turned green when exposed to sunlight all day and the second time was with salt water plastic during heating pouring . My smoke/ purple glitter baits turned into green /purple glitter. Anybody else had this experience? I am wondering if plastic colorant has a shelf life because I think it was a pretty old bottle of black . I suppose maybe the plastic may have been too hot as another possibility?

I just bought some of this and made a mold this morning . It is more expensive than their regular silicone but has some added benefits . It comes in two equal sized bottles and the mix ratio is 50:50 , curing time was as advertised 2 hours . It has very low viscosity and pours thin without trapping bubbles so no vibrating / vacuum required. Picks up detail very well and cures a transluscent clear color . The down side is that it is so thin it runs between the joints of the legos I made a form with . I taped the outside of the legos just in case but it did seep in between a lot of the bricks .

Why not cover slightly over half the cup (between the handle and spout ) with duct tape . fill the cup just over half with POP . Then put the cup on it's side with the handle and spout level . When dry the POP would fall out and you would have a half cup template

That would be a "Dyna Gone " by Garage craft A very expensive bait that seems to fall apart and fly off the hook when fighting sub-keeper sized bass

Most anglers have their own opinions and preferences regarding skirt materials and these are mine . 1) Hair was one of the first skirt materials and is generally considered best of use in very cold water. It will make a lure with a much slimmer ,minnow like profile . Tied to jighead with thread. 2) Latex was widely used in spinnerbaits skirts and some jigs years ago but is harder to find nowadays . It has similar characteristics to living rubber but would melt/rot when stored in contact some plastic baits. Slipped over jighead skirt collar 3) Living rubber make a bigger , bulkier profile with many legs that are moving when the lure it retrieved or twitched on the bottom . The older original (square cut) living rubber had "square strands" looking at the ends of the strand while the newer version has "round strands" The fine cut living rubber known as "frogs hair" is considered better for cold water situations . Can be tied to jighead with thread,wire, or skirt band 4) Plastisol is soft ,flexible ,and can be made in just about and color . Salt or scent is sometimes added to the plastic and fish tend to hold on these skirts the longest . The downside is they are least durable . Slips over jighead collar 5) Silicone skirts are the newest and come in virtually any color/glitter combination you can dream up.. It makes a large profile ,bulky bait such as the living rubber and the strands all float up off the bottom when the jig/lure is at rest on the bottom. Normally attached to jighead with skirt band but can be tied with thread also. OK hope this helps - Ken

I bought one of those in the late 70's and it was my first bait caster that wasn't an Ambassedeur . It was a pretty good caster but did have a problem with lighter lines getting between wrapped between the spool and frame just like you describe . I don't think there is much that can be done to correct this as it was due to the gap (tolerance) between the spool lip and reel frame . Another annoying qwirk with that reel was an Anti-reverse button that sat on top of the reel . Many times when setting the hook with a worm or jig I'd hit the button and the handle would start spinning backwards releasing line . I finally got tired of fighting that reel and sold it to someone who loved those reels .

I came across this in the McMaster Carr catalog and from the description it should be perfect for creating molds for pouring lead . Anyone have any experience with this stuff? Heat-Transfer Putty To conduct heat and prevent burnout and premature failure when your heat cable can't make direct contact with the pipe, just mold this putty around the cable and stick it directly to the pipe. It withstands temperatures from -320

I have been looking for a size/weight chart for tungsten beads particularly in the 3-5mm sizes . Does anyone know of such a chart or have some they could weigh for me ? Thanks in advance- Jigmeister

I am not familiar with Stren brand spinnerbaits but if the skirts were not comprised of any of the material you mentioned in your post then they could have been made of "Lumiflex" (spandex) a very strechy, shiny , and strong material . Seems to me I saw some for sale as a single strand on a roll but I can't recall who had it .

you can take some brass wire from the hardware store and wrap it on the hook shank below the jighead collar. wrap it with space between each wrap (like a stripe on a barber pole) . I have done this with great results and its pretty easy .

I am not quite following what part of the jighead you're blocking off with the silicone (is it the head itself or the skirt collar?) . The red hi-temp silicone is supposed to withstand around 500 deg continuous I believe . Does the silicone look like it is burning at all? Another substance that works when modifying molds is "JB weld" . I have blocked off the skirt collar on round jigheads with the JB weld to make shakey heads and it works fine .

just use a paint brush to apply the devcon to one section at a time and let cure. mask off the sections you are not painting with devcon with masking tape

If you are injecting a a full round swimbait mold you will have to provide for venting at the tips of the fins to allow the air that will most likely be trapped there to escape and be displaced with plastic . Another consideration is the shrinkage of the plastic upon cooling that pulls the surface of the lure away from the mold creating dimples in the finished lure . I fought this and added internal venting in strategic areas in the center of the mold . This will allow air from outside the mold to be drawn in during cooling .You will then end up with some voids inside the bait but no exterior imperfections . I also had to rotate the bait during cooling to keep these air pockets centered in the bait otherwise they will end up at the top just under the surface. I suppose this is why Hud's cost so much...........Jigmeister

"it was tried buy guys on tacklemaking.com before this site was in existance and tried in the begining stages of this site." I used to post all the time on "Tacklemaking.com " years ago under the handle "Megabass" . As far as I know/remember I was the one who originally posted the idea about using vacuum by way of a shop vac to sucessfully fill voids in a two piece mold . I was working on a Mad man craw mold at the time and vacuum was required to get the tips of the claws to fill completely . As I recall Jed (Riverman here on the hardbait forum )asked me about the process as he was working up a shrimp mold and was having trouble filling the cavities completely . I believe I also talked with the trout worm guy. The shop vac was loud and the size of the venting journals was key (not too big) but it did work . I later made an injector and experimented with it . It also worked but was a hassle to clean after injecting the hot plastic . I have a simple injection system I am tweaking on now that is very promising ........Jigmeister

with what you have built I would say remove the tail section (last joint) as it appears due to shape it would have very little effect on the swimming action but only serve as drag killing the swing of the other sections......

silicone sealant is a different animal than the mold-making type . It actually needs water (moisture) to cure . Another troubling charactoristic is that it wants to stick to everything (good for a sealant but bad for mold making) If you add glycering oil and apple barrel paint to the sealant type silicone and stir it all together good it will dry and not stick to anything . I think it was 2-3 drops of each per ounce of silicone . I tried it just playing around and it seems to work...........Good luck ,Jigmeister

Just take a thin piece of aluminum sheet metal the width you want the hook slot and trim it with tin snips to the size you want . You could make one (straight is crucial) slice with a razor knife into the belly of the mold to hold the hookslot in place for pouring baits . If you wanted to make more baits without a hook slot simply remove and the silicone will close itself back up.

I made my own 10" senko mold out of silicone . I had A machinist I work with turn my master out of a hard plastic with a cone shape at the head of the bait for a sprue . I put the master head down in a piece of PVC pipe and filled it with silicone mold agent . Once it set up I removed it from the PVC pipe and cut a slit with a razor knife from the sprue to about half way down the body to remove the hard master . To pour I put the round shape silicone mold back into a piece of PVC pipe to keep it straight and pour the hot plastic in the sprue hole . Works great ! If you have access to a woodworking lathe you could make a master out of wood also . Hope this helps -Jigmeister

I am looking for some plain, unpainted blade bait bodys in 1/4 and 3/4 oz (5 of each)without hooks so I can paint them up myself . I can either pay cash for them or if interested trade for jigheads,spinnerbait, buzzbait , or ? that I have molds for . I would prefer something like a silver buddy /sonar type bait versus the shad head style . Anybody up for it? Thanks, jigmeister