Ogajiga

What weights heads? What sizes hooks? What sizes & types tails? What presentation tekneeks? What target species? What aquatic environments?

I started with cheapest possible flush cutters & worked my way up to middle of the pack. Main difference was paying more for harder steel lengthened the time before re-sharpening was necessary. Also purchasing made in USA was a good way to express patriotic support for American mfg.

Filing lead can create hazardous dust. With practice and a proper quality tool flush cutters can be used to shave off the sprue break or cut scar high spots.

I refurbish my Swanstrom cutters with flat EZE Lap diamond sharpeners, the cheap plastic handle ones work OK but the extra fine grit can wear out quickly, so best to start with a coarser grit(s). My cutters have an adjustable gap to prevent blade clash dulling. Its important to flat sharpen the cutting edges of flush cutters like the original and avoid creating bevels.

What's wrong with the Victory hooks ?

Or just get a custom mold made - serveral providers post on this website. Yah, the up front cost might be a jolt but the mold will last a lifetime and more benefitting not only oneself but buds & family. Might even sell a few castings & the mold will eventually pay for itself. Fishing ones own custom design successfully is incomparably satisfying.

Really impressed with the design - thin sharp edge body to slice thru weeds with wedge shape head to deflect. Wide body for level plane and wire angle adjustable retrieve lift.

As an alternative to spinners, a 1/16 #6 ball head tied with short fur has caught running water bobos from dinks to big as they get here, with the occasional big tug diversion of carp up to 30#. The finished jig is about 1" long with a full bodied tie resembling a fur ball.

Brittle pure bismuth 85% lead weight 520* melt expands 3.32% melt - solid. Soft pliable pure tin 64% lead weight 450* melt shrinks 2.51% melt - solid In an alloy of the 2 metals a higher tin component will lessen the cooling expansion slightly and the alloy melt temp will decrease as low as 283* for the eutectic alloy of 63% bismuth - 37% tin. So Tiderunner's 7-1 alloy might be an ideal compromise of powder paintable adequate weight (82% of lead) casting release mitigation. Smooth cavity face machined molds release castings best and Do-ts especially current mfg will tend to be sticky. Simple ball or tube head designs release easier than more complicated feature castings. Thru casting pins in worm weights are near impossible to remove, while partial insert pins in weedless jig heads can be removed with pliers twisting and pulling.

For "non-toxic" wouldn't melt casting bismuth be EZr ? 85% lead weight. https://www.rotometals.com/bismuth-ingot-chunk-99-99-pure-1-pound/

Sponge is a good idea, thank you.

Is it possible to cool down a hot Do-it mold with water? I have a brass single cavity on pliers 1/4 oz jig head mold that quickly gets too hot to release castings that I carefully squirt with cool water using a rubber bulb syringe. Most of the water will evaporate & I swab out the cavity & gate with a paper towel to make sure no moisture remains.

Arne, I got more than I'll ever need, PM me your address.

Crane swivels vary in spin quality. Dunno about current production, but I stocked up many years ago finding best available ones (China mfg) from an eBay seller. EZ to test by holding the barrel between fingers of one hand and rotating the eyes with the other hand. Good ones are smooth spinning, lesser ones are gritty or may even jam. Hobby/craft store jump rings are quicker & cheaper to attach blades to swivels than split rings.

Sounds like you're describing incomplete fill out of the mold cavity when the inlet gate hardens prematurely and restricts melt flow?

These molds were made to accommodate 32833. https://barlowstackle.com/do-it-steelhead-jig-molds-p336/

S'wat I use for my tied jigs. Cheap stuff works as well as Sally's, one coat ain't enuf. Bout halfway thru a bottle, the solvent evaporation causes thickening which hardens into a thicker coat.

Yes, customer rep service can make or break, Matzuo was the worst IMO and they are gone. On the other hand Harry Simmons affable communication prompted me to retry Victory jig hooks which are serviceable within their limitations. Quality Gamakatsu hooks I use have no alternative other brand replacements of similar quality. Are you able to elaborate on Gami customer service issues? PM me if you prefer confidentiality.

Just checked my Gami EWGs which I stocked up on - all made in Thailand. Haven't had a problem with Superline 2/0 for catfish up to 30+#, but the 1/0 light wire would frequently snap when dehooking small bass.

Used to be Gamakatsu hooks made in Japan were dependably the best hooks available, but I've gotten quite a few boxes of non-fatal but still annoyingly bendy jig hooks (all at bargain prices on eBay). 604s in particular #6 & #4 black and 2/0 & 3/0 red + 114 similar with different model #s 2/0 & 3/0 black. It might be possible to isolate the bad from good Gamis by checking the boxes or bags. Quality ones specifically state "Made in Japan" and the questionable quality ones lack that and do not specify country of mfg. Part of the blame could be on lawmakers who decided to eliminate the country of origin requirement on imports. I would guess the USA distributor knew about the QC issues and dumped those hooks at give away prices to whoever would buy them including eBay resellers. Should have been a red flag that the hooks were half the going legitimate wholesale prices but I didn't realize that Gami had switched to outside of Japan mfg. Mustad does the same and I've gotten stuck with boxes of slightly defective jig hooks again bargain priced on eBay. Still using those non-Japan Gami jig hooks because they don't catastrophically bend out, but slightly deflect outwards during high stress fish fights not quite enuf for the fish to drop off. The points fold a bit easier but after the first resharpen tend to be more stable. Certainly not lesser quality than other hook mfgs, just maybe not worth the Gamakatsu price point. So maybe not necessary to completely shut the door on Gamis, just make sure they are made in Japan. Thanks to Slammingjack for posting that Gamis can be made in China. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't understand your missed hooksets issue? Are you T-rigging the plastics using the keeper coil to pin the nose of the baits? If so, misses are to be expected, & if not in my experience open hook EWG does miss slightly more hooksets than straight point parallel to shank.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352502807265?epid=17011109535&hash=item5212cdfae1:g:wDwAAOSwj5BcNP20&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8IAn2lG0sl2tqRvUQ8Z9sU4ZeE2JpNDECB%2Fut2DE%2B%2BNdWdf8Zxtq2p%2BKt4kDKyu%2Fxod18vVkAJHdwW3rNmw6FnwCPugE9w8D%2B%2B5KTp4nuAjWNM7bBfrLixbHpJhncsDpZL%2FaOlc0P0T1X%2Fjx%2BLBJEHxUNmuhktDtKe4m1YmnBFu294hz1SQftfPPGWkVo4T7Ein4f66I%2F2E3JQy7%2FrtQUKORkZGJM2rvZJ8HAcQzVYqRNmyJslQJ2sIUg63oK5VheAn6usDtq4dHER0Q5jqvVcsiyyLTgB9wIpos3Z4ZN1OdWLwczAjRsh19AkgK4lJG1w%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6Sf8q3-YQ

Right now on eBay there is a glut of Sufix 832 at suspicious low prices? https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=sufix+832+braid+300&_sacat=1492&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=sufix+832+braid&_osacat=1492&_sop=15

Tho I've not personally encountered any, there have been complaints of Power Pro and Sufix braid counterfeits circulating for years. I got some not available in USA Gami 604 #6 & #4 years ago that were more bendy than what I expected (on eBay haha). Has anyone experienced quality variations in batches of Gamakatsu jig hooks, especially wire strength?

Thanks for the concise history of commercial tackle. Yup, sellouts & mergers. Do the vintage paint schemes work as well as modern holographic flash ? As for jig paints, I'd like to mention that my preference for raw metal jig heads was influenced by walleye jigging expert Doug Stange who also was also a pioneer adherent of boot tail soft plastics for that application.