I'm lucky to live where I do. Pickwick is 30 minutes, Guntersville two hours, Tenn-Tom waterway is five minutes, Sardis, Enid and Grenada are 1 1\2 hours away. All are good fisheries for multiple species.
I used to be an avid tournament angler. As I've got older and retired I hunt for the big girls as well as crappie fish.
Living in the crappie capital of The world (Mississippi) two pound crappie are common and three pounders show up on a regular basis. Most my crappie fishing is on Sardis, Enid and Grenada lakes.
We also have huge bass. Here's a nine pounder and a limit of two spots, two large mouth and one smallmouth:
I wonder if JB Weld would hold? Just thinking out loud here.
Some of my Texas rig hooks used for big worms I double a piece of big mono line and wrap much like tying a crappie jig.
I have the original Do-it Midwest mold.
Will the Victory 10777 hook work in this mold? I need one with the hook point more protected.
The magnum mold don't have the sizes I want.
I don't mess with remelts that have been fished. You'll never get rid of all that moisture.
My sprues are thrown in a zip lock bag and stored in a plastic tote. A rice bag in the tote helps with the moisture.
I'm not a big fan of salt but it's a necessary evil in some baits. I pitch a bag of rice in the storage container with it as well.
One of the first things I do with a new mold is shoot a cup of plastic through it to see how many baits it'll make. Once you know how many a cup makes your off to the races.
I use both the hidden weight and traditional head spinnerbaits. I can't tell any difference in fish catching ability. My favorite is the bullet head. Seems to come through guerilla better than any other head style.
Shoot a squirt of Pam in the tube.
Non stick cooking spray works great for lubing and cleaning your injectors. It has no ill effects on your plastic as well.
I've never seen any ill effects of the clear dip. If anything it adds a little strength to the head without affecting the action. Some baits that I paint the whole body is clear dipped.
Our local tv station videos a lot of weddings, etc. One family said it was right in line price wise as all the other video services. Not sure if he plans on advertisements or what with this. I think advertising would be expensive.