smalljaw

I will echo what Canuck 2 has said. You won't get detail spraying powder but it is great for blending colors and shading effects. It takes practice but using distance you can lightly dust your lure or give it a heavier coat.

I know you said you used drop out, but did you spray it on and use the mold cold? If not try it, the only time drop out hasn't worked for me was when I put it on the mold hot. If I use drop out I don't heat the mold, I spray it on and pour with the mold cold and it works really well like that. Another thing is your lead, is it straight up lead or an alloy with possibly tin in the mix? If you have covered both of those issues I'd contact Do-it, they should be able to help.

I use both the new Victory sickle hooks as well as the Eagle Claw Lil Nasty hooks. I use mainly a size 4 and I really like the sickle style hooks. They hold and hold extremely well. I've never lost a fish that was hooked with that style of hook.

USPS flat rate box, weight is no issue as long as the jigs fit in the box.

I use the wooden food skewers you can get at most grocery stores. I put the sharp end in the hole and then push the blade onto the skewer hard enough that it will stay put but is still easy to take it off.

Most anglers are trying to get their spinners to produce vibration. If it were me, I'd say don't change a thing but you may have a reason for not wanting the vibration. Anyway, if you want to reduce the vibration drop down a blade size or switch to a different blade like an Indiana. French blades have a little weight to them and a size 5 blade rotating around the shaft at high speed is going to cause vibration. The other thing which was brought up was the wire size and going up in diameter will help. You are using .030" wire and on a bait that size I would try .035".

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!!

I went to get on the fishingskirts.com website and it comes up as a word press page. I did a general search for Boss jigs, skirts unlimited, and a few others and can't find them. If anyone knows anything please let us know.

You can get uncoated wire that is the same stuff. It is called Surfstrand, it is the same as the Surflon only it doesn't have the nylon coating.

You may as well get the Owner 5313. The Gamakatsu 604 in the smaller size 1 and 1/0 are light wire hooks. They have the same diameter as the Mustad 32746 and then there is price. The Gamakatsu hooks are now more expensive than Owner so you are paying more for a lighter hook.

Get this stuff in .078" diameter to make your own pins for the 1/8oz FG-12. PTFE Wire | Contenti

You don't need to cure separate colors most of the time. I have one pattern, Table Rock Shad, that I have to cure the base coat first before adding the accent color. That pattern has a chartreuse body with a purple back and when I do the body and then add the purple and then cure it, where ever the purple touches the chartreuse it turns brown. So I paint the chartreuse and then cure and afterward I add the purple and then cure again with the purple and no problem. That is a rare case, most of the time the colors don't blend when curing. I use a hobby sandblaster to spray powder paint, it is like an air brush but you can't do fine detail. The good part is that you can blend colors and you can get good fading effects, watch my video on how I do this.

JD_mudbug told you where to buy skirt tabs from as there really is no "best place" to get them. As for your situation wanting to get better with a jig and the waters you fish, I can help with that. The first thing with fishing a jig in clear water with a lot of pressure is the kind of jig you are going to use. Using a standard type bass jig with 50 or 60 strands of skirt material isn't going to result in a lot of bites, in fact you'll take home a skunk more often than not. Look to make a downsized jig, 1/8oz to 5/16oz is the range you want to go with most of the time and 1/4oz will be like the best all purpose size. That isn't to say a larger full size jig isn't going to work, clear water isn't ideal for large jigs and add in high pressure and it practically eliminates a big jig. Skirts are going to be around 40 strands, that gives good movement with just a little bulk, you want to keep these jigs on the smaller, more compact size. Bluegill colors are good but don't use a lot of bright colors, keep it on the natural side. A good bluegill pattern in a 1/4oz jig would be 30 strands of watermelon blue magic craw Dalmatian, 5 strands of blue shad Dalmatian, and 5 strands of perch belly. That color pattern does well in my clear water fisheries and most of the places I fish get a lot of pressure. A good craw pattern would be 25 strands of green pumpkin, 10 strands of brown, and 5 strands of natures edge orange. Now if you find the fish are really active and you are catching fish, that is when you may want to try the larger jigs with a full 50 or 60 strand skirt. Good luck with getting better with your jig tying and fishing.

The wire is too large for the size of the spinner as was noted but the body is too wide for the length of the spinner. What is happening is that the body is disrupting the water flow behind the spinner blade. You need to add about 3/8" in length and then a few more beads behind the clevis. That should allow the water to go by the blade well enough to carry the blade completely around the wire. If you want to have it be compact try using a smaller body and smaller wire or even jump up to a #2 blade.

Welcome to TU. You are looking for a unicorn that most of us searched for at one time or another. I tried a lot, and I mean a lot of ball bearing swivels over the years. What I found was there are two brands that are great and the rest not so much. Worth ball bearing swivels and Sampo, the Sampo are the most expensive but you can get the Worth for half that, even less if you order in bulk. If you aren't going to use one of those options then you may want to try roller swivels. They are a step below the ball bearing swivel but way better than crane and barrel swivels. The best part is you can get good roller swivels at a decent price and they will perform better than cheap ball bearing swivels. Get these in a size #10 - Bulk Roller Swivels - Nickel Plated Sizes 14, 12, 10, 7 - Barlow's Tackle (barlowstackle.com) Then buy the size #2 standard split ring and you'll be set. The roller swivel in a size #10 is less than $5 for a 50 pack and a 100 pack of split rings will cost you $6. So you'll have 50 good swivels for $11 and they will perform better than cheap ball bearing swivels. Cheap ball bearing swivels have a tendency to spin well for a short period of time and then seize up. The roller swivels spin very well and I haven't had any that failed as I tend to use those on my smaller under spins.

You can't go by what the colors look like on the screen. That said, I have orange natures edge and it isn't bright and I like it for accent in craw patterns. Now, I get mine from Barlow's and the reason I mention that is because I had pumpkin natures edge from LPO and I got some from Barlow's and they were very different. The pumpkin from LPO was closer to orange and the pumpkin from Barlow's was more brown and I find that it happens a lot across different vendors. So if you want the burnt orange Dalmatian color then get the orange natures edge from Barlow's, the number is 602. Silicone Skirt Layers Nature's Edge - Barlow's Tackle (barlowstackle.com)

Aside from the 90 degree hooks which seem to match up to the EC 570 you can tell by the number. The 10786 is equivalent to the Mustad 32786. The 10798 is equivalent to the Mustad 32798. If the number starts with a 10 it is a round bend, if it begins with 11 it is a V-Loc or sickle style. All you need to do is go to their website or Barlow's Tackle, Barlow's has the hooks categorized into 90 degree fine and heavy, 60 degree, 30 degree, and flat eye which makes it easy to find what you need.

The hooks are legit!! I've used the round bend 10786 which is their version of the Mustad 32786 and it is a good hook. I also used the 11149 in a size #4 for crappie jigs and it is kind of a cross between the EC Lil nasty and the Matzuo sickle. The wire is about the same diameter as the EC, the first bend is the same as the Matzuo sickle and the point is slightly curved like the Lil nasty. I will say this, their points have held up so far and make no mistake, they are sharp. I have not used any of the larger V-Loc hooks but based on what I have experienced so far I know I'm going to get some eventually. I really want to try the 11798 for some shaky heads. The reason is the V-Loc or sickle style hooks really hold fish, at least the 90 degree ones do. I use a 3/0 EC Lil nasty for small finesse swimbaits with 6lb line for river smallmouth in clear shallow water. I have never had a fish throw it when using that hook. So I want to try it in the 60 degree flat eye version and see if it works as well as the 90 degree hooks do.

Plated steel blades aren't that common anymore. Steel blades are more commonly sold raw or painted. Yes, most of the painted blades you buy are steel. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I think you are talking about tarnish and not rust. Not all brass blades are equal, some are plain brass and then there are the lacquer coated brass blades. Plain brass blades, even those that are plated will tarnish. Lacquer coated ones will tarnish but it takes years but there is a way to prevent it. Take a damp, not wet, just damp towel and use it to apply a thin coat of your favorite paste car wax to the blade. Do it before storing your spinnerbaits and they won't tarnish. If you are in an area that you can fish year round then apply a coat about once a year and you'll be fine.

5102 just refers to LPO's catalog number, the actual hook number is 5304. LPO just forgot to put the number on their website. If you go to their site you'll see the Owner 5318 hook listed like this: 5101 Owner 5318 90 degree lite wire jig hooks. Then the have the other one as 5102 Owner 60 degree deep throat jig hooks, they omitted the number which is 5304.

Why would you need to modify the mold? Do you want to use a different hook that might not fit? Are you wanting to change or add something? You only have to modify a mold if you want to use a hook that doesn't fit, or if you want to add a wire keeper or something else. I'll be honest, get a mold that you want that has all the elements you want without making changes. Don't worry about the hook brand, if you don't like a hook that the mold calls for there usually are alternatives and members here will let you know what fits. I say that because a lot of times a modified mold could get finicky and may need to be tilted a certain way or poured at a higher temperature to get a complete pour. You can end up with some flash that will need to be cleaned up so the straightforward pouring jig head now becomes a not so straightforward affair. Let us know what you want to do with that jig and we may be able to help.

SDG 10

That is a great mod!!! I don't have an issue as I use hard lead for those. I like the flat head not only to make my plastics fit flush but I use that head for a lot of hair jigs and that collar would make most of them impossible to tie. The mod itself is a really good idea, especially when you consider that it still leaves ample room for the wire keeper. While it doesn't serve my needs I'll bet there are a bunch of people that would really benefit from that design, well done!!!!

Here is where you can buy the Eagle Claw 2724 - Captain Hook's Discount Warehouse (captainhookswarehouse.com)

Slow steady retrieve, you don't want to give it too much action.