®
Spring 2023
T
here are many reasons
why making your own jigs
is rewarding. Saving cost, creating unique patterns, taking pride
in the creation, a fun way to prepare
for fishing trips, and including my
favorite, which is to create the best jig
with the best hook for the job.
There are two ways to make your
own. Buy premade (but unfinished)
or make your own from scratch. This
article and video will give you an idea
of what is involved in making your
own from scratch, and how to paint
them.
SAFETY
Safety equipment and practices are important (wear long sleeves, gloves, eye protection, and work in a well-ventilated area. Lead is hazardous if proper precautions are not taken).
POUR YOUR JIGS
Requires you to have a supply of lead (anything from buying lead scrap metal, tire balancing weights, roofing lead sheets, or purchasing lead ingots). Then you need a lead melting pot or melting ladle (commercially available).
You will need a mold built for the
jigs you wish to produce. Do-it Molds
and Hilts molds are two popular
choices. Some even make their
own molds but that is a subject for
another time.
Before melting lead and pouring
it into your mold, coat the inside of
your mold with a “release agent” to
make it easy to remove the product
from the mold after it hardens.
Release agents can be commercially
bought, or you can use a candle flame
to smoke the mold cavities. To smoke
your mold just open it up and hold the
metal cavities at the tip of a candle
flame and let the smoke from the
candle apply a thin coat of black to
the cavities. Commercial mold release
agents are simply sprayed into the
cavities like paint.
You will need the appropriate hook model for the mold you are using. For instance, when making my football head jigs, I use a Gamakatsu 90-degree bend O’Shaugnessy hook in my Do-it mold.
For jigs with weed guards, like my Do-it Weedless Football Jig mold, I use a 60-dgree bend flat eye Gamakatsu hooks. Weedless models also require aluminum pins to put in the mold along with the hook so that after pouring and removing the pin the lead will have a hole in it for
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