Ice jigs

[Big Epp]

Working on some ice jigs. I made some with aluminum disks, small lead weights, and epoxy. I was reading the bit about soldered ice jigs, but saw it only works with gold hooks. I wasn't sure if it would work with the components I have available. I put a picture of them up in the gallery.

Does anyone have an ice jig they like they would like to share? The water I'll hopefully be fishing has panfish, bass, walleye, and muskie. I'll probably target panfish and walleye.

[Kasilofchrisn]

The jigs you made look to be pretty light.

Usually for ice fishing jigs you want heavy dense small jigs that drop quickly and show up well on our electronics.

I made quite a few soldered ice jigs over the years with blades from Reinke Brothers, LPO, Jann's netcraft, Barlow's etc.

Usually I use gold Aberdeen hooks and solder them on with ice jig solder from Jann's netcraft or 60/40 solder from the hardware store with the 60% being lead.

And you want rosin course solder not the acid core.

I've also made ice fishing jigs from some Do- It molds:

The crappie jig mold, round head jig with wire keeper, minnow head with wire keeper, tail spinner, and probably some others.

I also have two Jigging Rapala molds from Kent Desautel.

And some lead spoon molds from Sean Collins customs.

And a Marmooska mold from Bug molds.

The Do- it flutter jig mold in small sizes would also work well. But I don't have that mold in my collection.

There's a lot of options out there for ice jig molds.

And for making the soldered ice jigs if you could get a hold of one of those old Reinke Brothers silicone molds that holds the components that would be a great way to go.

[Kasilofchrisn]

I almost forgot I've also made ice fishing jigs from the freestyle jig mold, swim jig mold, tube jig mold, herring head under spin, and some others that I'm forgetting at this time.

Hopefully this helps and gives you a place to start.

[Big Epp]

Thanks!  You are right about the weight, these ones are way too light.  I'll probably use them in the spring/summer under a slip float.  I'll try some solder ones to add extra weight.

[Kasilofchrisn]

5 hours ago, Big Epp said:

Thanks!  You are right about the weight, these ones are way too light.  I'll probably use them in the spring/summer under a slip float.  I'll try some solder ones to add extra weight.

Do you have one of the round silicone molds that Reinke brothers sold when they were in business?

It basically holds the hook and the blade to make soldering ice jigs so much easier.

I've got two of them that have all the different blade shapes on them.

But they also made them where they were all of One shape.

Hard to believe somebody else hasn't come up with something similar as it sure does make it a lot easier to make your soldered jigs 

[Big Epp]

I think I've seen a picture of those, and they do look slick! 

When soldering the jigs, it's the solder that gives it weight right? Or do you add lead too?

[Kasilofchrisn]

4 hours ago, Big Epp said:

I think I've seen a picture of those, and they do look slick! 

When soldering the jigs, it's the solder that gives it weight right? Or do you add lead too?

There's two different solders that I use.

One is a mostly lead solder that I purchase from Jann's netcraft.

Or you can buy solder from your hardware store. You just want to be sure that your solder is rosin core solder.

Usually the hardware store stuff is lead free but if you get the electronic solder you can get some that is 60/40 lead/tin .

Make sure the 60% is lead.

This is what gives you the weight for the jigs.

And don't press the solder against the tip of the soldering iron as you'll just burn up your tips.

You need to heat the blade and the hook until they're hot enough to melt the solder onto them and then just add enough solder until you're happy with the shape.

 

[Anglinarcher]

A hint that will help perhaps.  I use the 3rd hand tools from Harbor Freight or others to hold the parts together then I mix 50% epoxy with 50% Tungsten powder I get from Alumilite.  It bonds as well as solder and is as heavy as pure lead.  It is as dense as pure lead so it shows up well on the fish finder.

The only drawback is the curing time, but, for me, it is worth it because I can use any hook I like.