Elken

I have sold painted and unpainted jigheads to members; I have a bunch of different molds too. Send me an e-mail: sday@speedyquick.net

I have had good luck going to the Pinnacle/Silstar website for parts. I pulled up the parts list for the reel I had, wrote down the part number and called their customer service. I only needed the screw that holds the reel handle on and the Customer Service Rep sent it to me free. http://www.silstar.com/

Yeah, I live about 5 miles from Lake Lowell. I don't fish it as much as I should though... Are you fishing the BASS Regional Qualifier there this year? It is mainly largemouths with a few smallies thrown in along the dams and a few other rocky areas. In the spring the water is way back in the trees and bushes and there are lots of flipping spots.

OK, let me know. How did the other jigs work out for you?

Jann's Netcraft and Barlows both have 1/2 oz. spinnerbait bodies.

I use one on my boat and like it. It allows you to adjust the location/angle of a GPS or locator easily, yet doesn't slip.

Here are some 60 degree flat eye Gamakatsu jig hooks; I'm not sure they qualify for XWG or not... http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0036604116609a&navCount=2&podId=0036604&parentId=cat21436&navAction=jump&cmCat=BargainCave&catalogCode=OF&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21436&hasJS=true

TBF = The BASS Federation Inc. BassFan.com has most of the letters that have gone back and forth between BASS and the Federation, plus the one talking to Irwin Jacobs of Ranger/FLW about their offer to the Federation.

They are expensive and tear easily... but they catch fish. They have a nice shimmy while falling when rigged weightless, and a subtle action when rigged on a drop shot, jighead or Carolina rig. They catch a lot of fish... If you want to find out about Senkos, you need to try them.

I know that I'm not very pleased. When ESPN took over a few years ago, they talked about the great new circuit for the average club tournament angler; but in reality it is only for the South, East and Mid-West. No West coast at all; same for if you want to check out the Bassmaster University classes. Then if you want to read the how-to articles on the B.A.S.S. website, you have to be an "Inside Member". Now they kicked the Federation Regional Reps out of B.A.S.S. forever and if we don't like it, we can lose our State Champion's place at the National Championship. The old B.A.S.S. membership isn't worth what it used to be...

I was wandering throught a local craft store after picking up some rod building supplies and found some spools of thin wire with some sort of green coating on it. The wire is used to tie bundles of plants or flowers together and is called florist wire. I have used it to tie skirts on jigs for most of the summer and haven't had any issues with it yet.

I have been up bow hunting for elk twice already; I finally got one last Wednesday. I spent Thursday and Friday cutting, grinding and packaging; elk meat in the freezer! I had two championship tournaments in the last month, so it is hard sometimes to do both. Good luck with your rod building; if you have any questions of want to see some digital pictures of rods that I built for myself, let me know.

You don't really save a whole lot building your own rods, especially if you factor in your time. The main advantage is that you get the rod exactly like you want it. If you want a split rear grip, a reduced or no fore grip, a special reel seat or a certain type of guide you can make it to your own specifications. Plus you get to choose the grade of cork you want and the colors of thread you wrap the rod with. If you like the hinged action of the GLoomis dropshot rod, you might want to check out the Shikari P7000 blank in their SHII grade. It makes an excellent light dropshot rod and the blank is under $60.

If you are looking for rod building tools, here is an option. When I was starting I bought the Cabela's Premium Rod Building Set; cost is $99.99. It has the manual wrapper, drying rack with motor, reamers, labeling pens, etc. The only other major thing was cork clamps, which I made. The video that came with the kit is so-so; I learned a lot more by buying and reading Tom Kirkman's book: Rod Building Guide http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0003511315280a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=Ntk=Products&QueryText=rod+kit&_D%3AhasJS=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&No=40&%2Fcabelas%2Fcommerce%2FCabelasCatalogNumberFinder.giftCertificateURL=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Ftemplates%2Fgiftcertificate%2Fgiftcertificate.jsp%3Fid%3D0005586990011a%26podId%3D0005586%26catalogCode%3DIB%26navAction%3Djump%26indexId%3D&Ntt=rod+kit&noImage=0&Ntx=matchall&_D%3A%2Fcabelas%2Fcommerce%2FCabelasCatalogNumberFinder.giftCertificateURL=+&N=4887&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form9&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&returnPage=search-results1.jsp

I went and checked my bucktail mold; I thought it was the middle-sized one but it is the smaller. It makes 1/2, 5/8, 3/4 and 1 oz jigs with no weedguards. I also have a horsehead jig mold that makes 1/2, 3/4 and 1 oz. jigs. I guess I don't have any molds that go over 1 oz. Do-It does makes a bucktail jig mold that makes 1-1/2, 2, and 2-1/2 oz and another that makes 3 and 4 oz bucktails.

I have a Do-It mild that I bought for making striper bucktails; I think it goes up to 2 ounces. For bass fishing the biggest I pour/use is 1 oz. foot ball heads.

I just got some skirt material from Netcraft; the one that is supposed to be pumpkin/pepper/green flake is closer to green pumpkin with lots of green flakes and a few black ones. It might be close to what you are looking for.

Thanks for the comments everyone. Earthworm77: what you don't like Matzuo hooks? I know it isn't a big name brand, but they are sharp and I have had good luck with them in jigheads.

Sorry, I was thinking eyeballs, not hook eyes. The line tie on the Poison Tail is tight to the jighead, but not recessed.

I have one of the new Poison Tail molds and could make you some jigheads; I am still working out the bugs with the weedguards on the 1/8 oz size, but they are mainly related to heating the jighead for powder painting. It has recessed eye sockets that accept the stick-on eyes, fiber weedguard, Mustad black nickel extra wide gap hook, skirt collar plus a trailer collar. The mold I have makes 1/8, 1/4 and 3/8 oz jigheads. Did you want them unpainted? Hopefully here is a link to a picture... go to the Poison Tail jig mold for info about the jigheads including eye sizes Poison Tail jig mold

Thanks for the info; that's a start. They don't have the Poison Tail mold on the Do-It website yet, but I didn't think about looking at their weedguards. The 50 packs of base pins are 1/8", they don't list any 5/64". Now that I know the size I can start looking for something 5/64" locally. Does anyone know which Y style weedguard has a 5/64" base? Or are they all the same base size and the different numbers refer to their length?

I just bought one of the new Do-It Poison Tail jig molds. This is my first weedless jig mold and I am having some issues that I could use some help resolving. First, yes I did search and read the posts about weedless jigs and weedguards; that helped a lot, but I still have a couple issues. The mold makes 1/8, 1/4 and 3/8 oz jig heads. The 1/8 oz size takes the FG12 weedguard and the other two take the standard FG30 or YG-1. After reading the other posts about weedguards, I poured most of the jig heads using the pull pins instead of putting the weedguards directly into the mold; unfortuately the mold came with three 1/8" pull pins for the FG30 heads and none fit the 1/8 oz FG12 head. I ended up pouring with the FG12 weedguards in the 1/8 oz head cavity. I poured a few 1/4 and 3/8 oz. heads with the weedguards installed just to try it. I didn't have any teflon or aluminum tubing in the right size, so I wrapped the weedguards in foil before heating them with an alcohol burner to apply powder paint. The two bigger sizes worked pretty well with the weedguards in place, but half of the 1/8 oz FG12 weedguards melted down / off. I was trying to not overheat the jighead, but if I underheat the jighead the paint doesn't stick very well. OK, I don't have a pull pin to replace the FG12 and the FG12 weedguards are melting on me. What is plan C? What is the size in inches of the FG12 weedguard so that I can try to find some pins or nails to use as pull pins? The mold doesn't list a Y-guard for the 1/8 oz head; would they resist the heat better? Which size of Y-guards correlates with the FG12 fiber guard? Are there any other options? Sorry for the long post...

It's a gray area. If I am buying jig hooks and pouring jigs and selling them, no problem, right? Same with spinnerbait hooks, or treble hooks on crankbaits or spoons... Re-packaging wholesale hooks isn't exactly the same as making lures, but still I am buying them, adding value (packaging and labels) and selling them. I guess I can try Dick's suggestion, use *67 and disguise my voice... Thanks for the input

Thanks for your reply. So if we are buying them a wholesaler like Captain Hooks Warehouse or Shorty's Hooks we can't re-label them?

I have a friend that has an on-line tackle shop. He want's to sell hooks under his own label and wants me to package them up. I have been making and selling jigheads, so I have have the experience and packaging materials to do this. My question is this: if we buy bulk hooks in 1000 pks, are there any issues with reselling them under his store's name? As in "John's Tackle Shop's Premium Bass Hooks"? Or is it better to include on the label the original manufacturer's name, model # or logo? Thanks :