cadman

Welcome Aboard. Which Cain-O Lakes are you referring to, in northern IL?

I was always getting mine from Lure Parts on Line

I have never had good luck with crane swivels as far as spinning consistently. The only time I use them would be for jigs that take a small Colorado blade where consistent spinning is not necessary. So what I have replaced these with are the roller swivels. They aren't that much more and I found them to be more fluid in rotation than the crane swivels. I have also tried them on spinnerbaits for the top blade and they work extremely well without any problems. You should check them out.

They have a new mold to replace the larva jig mold. Maybe you can use that. Zeiners has them in stock. See below 3225 Do-It Lure Body Mold LB-5-A - New

Again, I'm not being judgmental or trying to be an ass. I probably mis-read your post. I will go out of my way to help almost anyone on TU. With that said, I don't order from DO-It either because I can get it a lot cheaper elsewhere. It just goes to show you that we all have our bad experiences with some company at some time. I've had phenomenal service from Zeiner's , some have not, I've had great service at Do-It you have not, I've had crappy service from Barlows in the past some have not. All I can say is if there is a problem have you brought it up with the people at the company. Many times they will make good on it and many times they just won't care. And yes, if I had so many issues that you have had with Do-It I would be P.O'd as well and I would be speaking to the owner of that company, forget all the order takers. Anyway, if you need any info on where to buy things post it over here and many will give you a lot of info on where to get things for good prices..

I don't know how long you've been pouring, but I wouldn't go out and say that Do-It isn't customer friendly. Maybe they don't keep all of there records up to date and maybe when a mold is retired there is no need to record it. Also employees come and go and in that process especially with the advent of the computer a lot of information could be lost and since they don't sell retired molds and don't plan to there is no need to hold on to that info. Not everyone keeps records like you or I. I sell jigs and I have explicit records of all the customers that I have poured for, going back to the beginning of when I started over 20 years ago. Many of the guys that bought from me in the past haven't in years, however I hold on to the records, but that's just me. I will tell you this, that any time I've had a problem with a Do-It mold, I called up Do-It and they rectified the problem. With that said, if you have a sample of a jig that was poured by Do-It years ago and the mold is no longer made, have it custom made from one of the sources Kasilofchrisn stated. Just a quick note, if you are going to copy a Do-It mold (and sell jigs), you may want to ask them (Do-IT) permission to see if they have a problem with that. The last thing you want to do is get sued. PS: Don't take this personally, I'm not trying to bash you, just that there are a lot of options (this day and age compared to 20 years ago) out there for you.

Yes, that is the way I fish them. Or you can fish them under a balsa float. I use them for crappie. They are very light jigs. A good hook to use is the Matzuo Sickle hook if you have any or you can get the Mustad or E.C version of that hook.

David, Take a look at the Victory 11886 BN hook they are heavier than the Mustads. I don't have any so I can't compare the profile size to the Mustads.

I use a crane swivel and a split ring. Since the crane swivel has two loose rings at both ends, I believe that is what you need to let the blade swivel. Similar to bearing swivels on a spinnerbait. If you use a wire form with a loop coming out of the nose of the horse head, it will not rotate or swivel. It just may rock from side to side as it falls down the water column. I would strongly suggest using the crane swivel.

Big Epp If you have any questions start a new thread and post them. That is what this forum is about. There are many knowledgeable guys here with vast experience in lead pouring and other things related to jigs. Just ask and someone will answer.

Mark, I agree with Kasilofchrisn. There is no need to run your Lee pot above the number 8. Think on the side of safety and since you are new to this take baby steps and learn. If you can't get good pours then figure out why. I pour in 40 degree weather here in winter weekly and my pot pours fine at 7. If I have issues I look at venting, make sure I have hot hooks and a hot mold. Fluxing lead also helps to get out impurities even in clean lead. Lead composition plays a big roll as well. Really soft lead pours better however for me it is too soft for jigs so I mix it with harder lead. Find the combination that you can work with. If you are just pouring for yourself, then pure soft may be fine for you. Get yourself a cheap infra red thermometer from harbor freight. It will give you a rough idea on how hot your lead is, you can also use it to see how hot your toaster oven is as well.

If you go back maybe 10 + years or so, looking back at Do-Its catalog, I don't see a lot of jigs with wire keepers, they were all lead. Maybe at that time it was easier for the customer to pour a jig and you're done. You didn't have to worry about any other components to buy and fit in the mold. Now many guys do not like the lead keeper because it just doesn't hold and the trailer has to be stretched over the lead and many times it slips down after repetitive casting. Yes you can glue the trailer on the lead head, but now you have to contend with super glue and sometimes that could be a mess on the boat. Adversely many guys don't like the wire keepers because it really rips the trailer up when you pull it off, however I will say that it does hold plastic well. It is a personal choice and since you pour your own, you can make a very small lead keeper that holds plastic really well ( ie Do-Its finesse head), that works really well and you don't need to modify your mold for any wire keepers.

I am going to be spraying some reel parts with Createx paints along with Wicked colors. I am new to this so I am reading a lot of info about overspray safety along with watching a ton of videos on You Tube. Maybe I am overthinking all of this but do you guys use one. Do you use a respirator and a spray booth. If so what brand(s) of each. There are so many brands of smaller spray booths, that after awhile it is very confusing. I don't need a really big spray booth, my parts are small and if I decide to expand I can buy or build something bigger later. I will be spraying the paints in my bedroom and I can vent through a window. All paints are water based, and all clearcoats will be sprayed outside in the garage. Sorry for all the questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I have the Poison Tail mold and Barlow's version is close but if you look at the gill plate cut on Barlow's, it is on the head. Do-Its head doesn't have that, the cut is way behind the head. Also I've spoken to Do-It many times, and they have always been very understanding. For instance all the jigs I sell, I use Do-Its molds and in speaking with them many years ago, they didn't have a problem with me calling their Poison Tail jig the same in my catalog. So maybe Barlows spoke to Do-It and got their approval. Also there is nothing that keeps you from modifying their mold and making jigs. On the original Poison Tail mold, if you are going to make permanent changes, fill in the back ring keeper with JB weld. Wait for JB weld to dry, sand smooth between mold halves, file your new bait keeper on the bottom of both mold halves and your done. Also you can use a 30º round bend hook in the Poison Tail mold as well. Personally, I think a jig with a wire keeper holds the plastic trailer a lot better than a lead keeper. Finally, I have seen a lot of people copy the Poison Tail mold, make changes and had a mold machined.

Mark, What kind of pins. The teflon or the metal ones? PM me your phone number, I have some info for you.

I have used in the past, a head of a finishing nail, end of a kids artist brush. Also you can go over the eye with a marker. I use black marker on white jig. Let dry and then go over it again.

Jjg Man, they don't look that bad. The colors are more blended in than standing out. I'm sure the fish don't care. On the second one in the last pic, are those slight bulges from the lead pours?

If it is cool or cold, I take the jig and re-heat it with my heat gun on low temp. Then when it gets hot, apply your powder paint. Just remember don't burn all your initial colors. If you put the powder on and the jig is not hot enough, the powder paint will look dull, and that is OK. You would rather have it dull looking and bake again then burning it and starting all over. There is a fine line between hot and very hot. The only way to know this is by practicing a lot. Then you will know when the jig is ready.

Mark, I don't cure between colors except under one condition when I put purple over yellow chartreuse. For some reason if you put purple on over ylw chart. and then you bake the colors the purple turns green. This is the only color I have had issues with. So in an instance like that, I put chartreuse on the entire body, cure the jig and then go back and put purple over the top of the ylw chart. and then I get purple to look like purple. As far as multiple colors on one jig. I build colors similar to air brushing. Start at the bottom, do your middle body and then go top down and fade back. Once I'm done, I put the jig in the oven to bake. Once baked I look at the jig to see if all the colors are the way I want them and no powder paint bled through. Once it's good I do the rest.

The list you are looking for probably doesn't exist, as there are a lot of molds that Do-It has made over the years. The only one who would have a list like that would be Do-It, and I don't think that they will give it to you. On another note, there are a lot of molds that have been discontinued, and only way to find them is when someone sells them on e-bay. If you know what mold you are looking for, post it on some forums and someone might have it and they may sell it to you. BTW, welcome to TU.

If you are trying to get a two tone effect by mixing two powders into one powder especially the colors you are requesting, then I'm going to say no. Even if you combine your pumpkin brown with a green shake it up really well, you won't get a two tone effect. One color will overpower the other. However make a small batch and maybe it will work. Please post your results, maybe I am wrong. The only place I have seen this work are on marble powder paints and vein powder paints. There are powders that fishingskirts.com has that has a two tone effect that I believe you are looking for but don't have your colors. The process you describe has to be done at the powder paint manufacturing facility and that is way too expensive to even consider. When you are doing your two colors, you do not have to put an entire basecoat on as one color and then put on your second color. You can put your first color let's say on the bottom going half up the jig, then take your second color and go top down overlapping your other color so you won't have any raw jig showing. Doing two colors really isn't that time consuming. I hope I answered your question correctly. Others may have more info for you. Stay Tuned.

I have a sand color but it is beach sand color. I then looked up the zoom sand, and I also searched fishingskirts.com. Apparently zoom sand is really dark unlike sand at the beach. I looked on line as well and didn't find anything without glitter. Fishingskirts.com has the zoom sand but with glitter. It also has the beach colored sand without glitter. I don't know how many jigs you are making, but the glitter does seem to come off fairly easy. Maybe you could scrape it off. Just a thought.

Exactly what Jigman suggested. Buy the screwlocks with the clip on one end. Clip the screwlock onto the hook shank, and align the screwlock with the weedguard hole. Stick a drill into the screwlock, close mold, pour. remove jig and remove drill bit.

If it's not going to be all white, I still love D2T. If it is all white and you want a pure white look then E-tex. I still find these to be the hardest finishes. JMO

Jigman, That can be easily achieved and if clearcoated will look almost as beautiful as Kasilofchrisn's. Turn your bait belly up. Take white powder or whatever color you want and tap out the powder on the whole belly all the way up to the nose. Make sure when you tap it out you turn both sides a little on an angle so you get the powder paint to run up the sides. Both sides. Next do the red nose with the bait belly up only. when done, turn bait dorsal side up. If you are only going to do one color on top, then start tapping your powder top down again tilting the head on an angle until you get coverage all the way down to where you left off with the belly color. Do the same on the other side. Finally, if you want to put black on the dorsal line do that as the last step and tap it looking at the top of the bait straight down. Bake, install plastic tailpiece and clearcoat. I hope this helps some. What colors are you working with? How bi is that bait? Please post pic of your results or PM it to me if that would be an issue. I just want to see your beautiful jig.