ReactionAttack

Those look great! That Black Mullet, in particular, would have a special place for me. Early morning before the sun is up, and when the water is clear, that would be the ticket at Grand Isle. May have to break out the airbrush.

I'm a little late to weigh in on this post, but I have been casting poisontails for about 8 years. I also had concerns about the Mustad, so I developed a jig for adjusting the angle of an Owner 5317 down to 28*. I had a hobby making knives for about 10 years, and was therefore able to adjust the angle without ruining the temper or messing with the carbon of the hook itself. If you do a bit of research on Google I'm sure you will be able to come up with a system that fits your needs if you are up to the hassle. I've never lost a fish because of the Mustad, but on more than a few occasions the hook was bent and I threw the jig away. I modified one mold to accommodate a 4/0 5317 in the 1/8 ounce size. I actually had Shawn Collins custom make a 2-oz mold for me so that I could punch grass in South Texas and Louisiana, and it uses a 6/0 or 8/0.

When I was 5 or 6 I raided my dad's top dresser drawer for a bobbin and thread. I waited until he went duck hunting and nabbed a handful of teal feathers. There is a picture of me somewhere in his file cabinets where I am thrashing away with a fly rod at the local creek and jerking shell crackers out one after the other. I enthusiastically tied flies until I was 12, when I got into bass fishing. I entered a working man's tourney at 13 and won big bass. I overheard the winner talking about how he would have had even more weight if the hook on his jig had not broken. I started looking into pouring my own heads, and within 6 months was casting flipping jigs with Owner hooks and wire-tied skirts. People loved them, and I started my first business out of my parent's garage. The first jig wasn't pretty. Flat brown acrylic paint for the head, poop-brown and purple skirt. At 16 I borrowed my dad's Paasche and started painting cranks, which led to making cedar and balsa plugs. The first one was ugly and had paint drips all over. But man did it catch a load of smallies in the Brazos River behind my house. 15 years later I'm designing match-the-hatch swimbaits for Gulf coast species, and still turning out jigs for my loyal following.

I have a mold for this hook, but Barlows just quit selling them. At $140 for the mold, I REALLY need this hook. Anybody got a confirmed dealer that sells these?

There it is! I have made jigs for a long time, but today was my first exploration of the spinnerbait world.

That would be a great color for some lakes near me!

I started out retailing plastics when i was 14. I built a reputation, and people began to realize that I had a quality product. I did well in a few tournaments on these baits, and people started asking questions. I sold that business two years ago, and started a custom jig making business. My first attempts were pathetic, but I refined them until I began receiving feedback that these were premium jigs. I took a bold step in asking a price that I feel they are worth. People pay for and get exactly what they want. It is an awesome feeling to come to a weigh-in and have someone holler at you asking if you're the man with the jigs. People I have never met. I have connections now, and supply a tackle shop in Del Rio. I am still small time stuff, but I am expanding my business, learning new marketing strategies, and developing a name for myself and for my business.

I get them through a sponsor, and I have absolutely no clue where he gets them.

I have always had problems with Mustads. They are sharp, but low carbon so they bend easily. I have straighten many of them out. They dull quickly as well. However, they are a lot better than Eagle Claw.

You can quite easily solve the weedguard problem. Take a 1/8" base pin, use a hack saw to cut a small portion of the end off, and put the pin in. In other words, you make the end of the base pin flush with the jig head so it doesn't leave a hole; does that make any sense at all?

I like diachii, but I use exclusively Owners in all my jigs.

I am not sure it is available. You can get Shawn Collins, www.shawncollinscustoms.com to make you one for a reasonable price.

I simply wrap foil around the guard, heat to 325 degrees in my oven, and paint. Works great.

No gami's, but I use a 28 degree Owner wide gap in some of my molds. They are pricey, but well worth it considering how many Mustads and Gami's I have straightened out.

I generally stay less than 8" for most of the lakes I fish, such as Amistad, Falcon, and Choke Canyon. I live a good ways from those lakes, so I like 6" baits for the lakes around here.