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Clearly they know it's you, and are trying to hide. Hahaha

Funny, I keep getting a word press page. Every time I saw a site turn into a word press page it usually meant that site was done. I think if I got the message Dink Master posted I wouldn't have asked the question. Thanks for clarifying!!

No, there is not an aluminum shortage. Aluminum is one of the most readily available metals on the planet. I believe mold makers are trying to be conservative by getting rid of stock that they are paying taxes on. I like the teardrop jig on a smaller size, and I would be more inclined to buy a true mooneye jig mold with 3/8, and smaller. Shipping prices are rising almost weekly. To have a custom mold made costs a pretty penny.

I've been using TJ's and Boss and since I don't pour my own jigs ,to justify the cost of molds and lead melting I mostly buy small quantities of powder and jigs .Boss makes a base coat for some very nice effects, as does TJ'S crinkle powder. I'm just getting started and learning through trial and error! The choices of colors are mind boggling and can get expensive, especially with the rise in shipping costs .

Thanks man for the tips I actually ended up molding the bait last night so I can get another one and mess around with it but I did take some of your advice and drilled a small hole and added just a bit of wait in the tail section and straightend right up. Now to mess around with the 3 piece I made. Thanks again

We're doing some updating! Our site's down for some awesome updates and maintenance. We'll be back soon, so don't go far!

I use whatever is available. Makes for more variability and more of a challenge, which can be a pain in the neck. I happened on a good supply of old redwood, so I'll be working primarily with that for a while. Every product has different properties, and I suppose you just adjust your approach to the material you are working with.

You might want to listen to AZ Fisher, He does it all quite well.

I would tape or rubber band some lead to the side of the bait to get it to sit right and try a careful cast or drag along the shore. This way you can test lead in different places before modifying the bait any further. If you are looking at the bait on the retrieve and the right bottom is trying to roll up (a counterclockwise rotation), tape some lead on the bottom half of the right side. I usually attach lead from a 1/8" coil and keep it below the midpoint vertically. My first place to try is usually in front of the front belly hook. I have even used scotch tape applied to a dry bait. It usually gives me a few casts/drags. https://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Weights-1-Pound-Fishing-8-Inch/dp/B00CMR7EX0/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=solid+lead+coil+1%2F8+inch&qid=1640349450&sr=8-9 If I can find a lead amount and placement that corrects the problem, I will drill a 1/8” hole in the location of the taped lead. I drill up from the bottom between the bottom centerline and outer edge avoiding any internal hardware. You can angle the hole slightly outward if the bait gets wider as you go up being careful not to get too close to the outside edge. Slide the lead into the hole, tape over the hole or use superglue and test again. Once you confirm it's fixed, you can fill, seal and paint the small hole. I have had a dozen or so baits through the years that could only be fixed this way. Something wasn't symmetrical in the carving, ballast, lip or any combination of the 3. I have taken some old dud baits and fixed them with this method. Unfortunately, that was after paint. I figure it's better to have a 1/8" blemish than a non-working bait. If you can't match the paint, paint that spot red for the wounded bait look. When testing a bait pre-paint, I will seal the bait and hot glue ballast to the bottom for testing. This way I can get the ballast right from the start. I change the lead as necessary and retest. On a large bait, I will use a 1/4" lead coil for ballast. https://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Weights-1-Pound-Fishing-4-Inch/dp/B003OCAFEC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35XE1OEHPRNUC&keywords=solid+lead+coil+1%2F4+inch&qid=1640352102&sprefix=solid+lead+coil+1%2F4+inch%2Caps%2C224&sr=8-1 If you have a bait with too much ballast, you can drill out some lead and fill the hole with craft dowels matching the drill bit.

My experience with Zeiners is that just because it lets you put it in the cart doesn't mean it's in stock.

When I can’t get a mold to fill I take a qtip dip it iv vegetable oil and coat the mold.

Ok so I did a few minor adjustments and it’s action is 10 times better but now it’s kinda swimming on its side. When it sits in the water it tilts to the side that’s swim on could this be because I took all the weight out of the tail section and it’s trying to float up

Flatten one of the blades, make your pattern and trim them and they should fit right on the blade

It's listed at Zeiners https://www.zeiners.com/doit/teardropjig.html

They are EC. I’ve done from 30 to 60 and 60 to 30 but never gone this far before.

Did you try zeiners anglers supply, it lets you add to cart. Might call and check for sure

Thanks for the tips all my baits have been successful but this 2 pc got me haha so I racked my brain last night it was catching the slightest so I shaved it down and also to the weight out of the tail section and widened the lip so going to take it for a test run also separated the joint some to give it more movement

I bend hooks all the time. Mostly Mustad’s in standard wire and light wire. Never had a problem. Be careful if the hooks you are bending are Gamakatsu. They seem to be a little brittle.

I would suggest moving your line tie a little higher on the nose and try that before changing lip location. Personally I think your lip needs to be moved forward some also. I've had to move a lip forward before to get a bait to wake better. I had to remove the old lip, fill the slot and cut a newer slot a fair amount forward. We called it the Frankenbait, as it had been cut apart and glued back together in various places, but it worked afterward. As Dave and JD above stated, try a shorter, wider lip. I've found those tend to get a taller profile bait like a gill, to wake better. The lip you're showing will want to make the bait dive or crank down, IMHO. Depending on how you have the bait ballasted, how low it floats in the water will also effect how it swims. Mine worked best as a very low float, barely floating with the back just out of the water, throws a great dual wake. The lip and nose create the big V wake and the tail will create swirling vortiscies{sp} to each side, inside the V wake. I would move the front hook hanger back a hair also, looks like the front treble will hang up on the lip when casting. That's a great looking bait, nice carving and paint, get er' waking and she will get crushed!! Here are a couple pics of a gill wake I made after moving all the components to get it to wake nice. This is a resin bait BTW, 6 inch long and just under 5 oz. Good luck moving forward with this bait and Happy Holidays to all!

How do you source Paulownia? I have searched for it unsuccessfully except Mark Poulson gave me a couple pieces to try. Do to inability finding Paulownia, I have purchased higher density Balsa and I have been using pine and western red cedar. Barry

JD_mudbug – Great comments, covered most of what I was going to write. You should follow his suggestions first, as my suggestions are purely based on theory. First a disclosure, I have never built a wake bait. The bait looks like it would swim nice without a lip, with the tow eye just below the chin as shown in the 3rd pic (end view). The lure attitude is determined by a balance of forces above the tow eye and below the tow eye, in other words, the force of the water on the back of the lure balance the force of the water on the lip. What I see happening, is the water forces on the lip force the lure nose down. This moves the lip passed vertical and so the length of the lip is effectively reduced as seen in the swim direction, this reduces the force on the lip. At the same time, the back of the body rises and so the forces acting on the back increase. The result of these forces means that the bait rotates/rocks nose up then nose down, and then the whole process repeats, resulting in the bait rocking up and down rather than producing vortices that will give you the side swimming action that you are looking for. Try shortening the lip, possibly by a lot, but do it gradually. If this does not work then angle the lip more forward, say 10° and adjust lip length again. As long as the lip is not pushed passed vertical then the lure will find a stable balance, and will generate side vortices. Once the lip passes vertical then it cannot reach a balanced state. I know, complicated. Not my fault Dave

Nice paint job. Is the joint is free moving and not binding up anywhere through the range of motion? You might need to make the slots in the rear section a bit bigger or make sure both loops coming out of the front section are at the proper location and angle to the slots. Does the back section float up or hang down at an angle from the front section when at rest in the water? You would need to adjust ballast in one or both sections. If you can you get the diving lip out easily, I would try different lip shapes as the bait is already painted. I like to test my baits with different lips after sealing and before painting. You can use hot glue or even tape on the back of the lip for testing if you are careful. I have a bag of assorted lips for testing. I sometimes get surprised by which diving lip works best with a given body. It greatly increases the chances of a good running bait before I put any effort into a paint job. I have made a few baits like yours and they have similar lips to yours except they angled slightly more forward around 75-80 degrees instead of 90. Some lips are shorter but wider at the end, the lip angles out more from the sides of the bait. One of my baits didn't work well, probably due to my inconsistent carving. It did work great with a lip that had straight non-angled sides and had a round curve on the end. You could also try using a heat gun on a lip to give it a slightly forward bend so you can use the same lip slot to test different lip angles.

I also use Harbor Freight. Price matches quality

I have been using Columbia Coatings for over a decade with great results. The last Protec I bought was rock hard in the jar. Allen