Got a chance to fish halibut close to home the other day, small tides and in 150 feet of water. The purple one shown is 12 ounce and got some fish interested.
That is way cool. Dominick
Gary: Those look similar to the ones that I use (as discussed) and for sure they can work like wild fire. You are lucky to be able to jig them that shallow. Around here I'm usually 250 to 300 feet butt of course your tides can be way bigger than down South. Good job and its fun to catch them on home made gear.
Cheers:
Todd
The finish is very good on the lead with this mold, the eyes are easy to paint as they are inset and hold up well.
Yes the weight of the jig is important, tides and drift, and depth all play into the game.
Sometimes you can only use a certain jig for an our then the water dynamics change and you must switch.
The fish were very aggressive on this jig tipped with a small pc of herring. That day any.
Here's one of my more interesting ones, I,m waiting until the fishery improves to not loose it with out a good fish 🐠 on it... thanks mr. Dave. Best of luck every one.
THANK YOU GARY!!!
The next best thing to going fishing is seeing my designs out there getting some serious field testing from a pro. Oooh, losta butts! I like the purdy paint job too.
Let me know if you think there is anything that would improve them.
I can make you a mold master if you want to try making a mold for a larger size. Big molds may not last as long, but you might get enough pours out of it to make it worth your while.
-J
Thanks Dave, you're a very talented friend and I may take you up on a barter or purchase of another mold eventually, as you said from experience the heat from the larger jigs degrades the mold. After a dozen pours the material of the mold is becoming harder and some cracks are evident.
Butt I,m being more careful as this was a gift and a very custom design, with the perfect balance for my fishing style. (Style might be non factual and exaggerated)?🤔
More on the jig as time permits.
Hey Gary,
If you are pouring pure lead and not measuring the temperature, you could be pouring up around 800F. Pure lead should pour OK close to 700, but that is still too hot for casting in silicone. But you will get more mold life.
If you have some bullet casting guys in your town, they should be able to help set you up an alloy that mixes some antimony and a bit of tin in. This stuff turns to full liquid at a lower melting point, so you should be able to pour close to 500F. It weighs about 90% of the weight of pure lead.
I use this alloy for pouring 8 oz heads and have poured about 50 heads from of a single mold without much degradation. The alloy might be expensive enough in your town that it still makes more sense to just keep wearing out molds, but I am wondering if we can push the mold size up to 16oz and still get some life out of it by pouring alloy and monitoring the temperature.
At any rate, monitoring the pouring temp is probably a good idea.
I think we might also be able to pour colder if we flip the sprue around to the other side...
Butt on that paint job, octopuses do not have round pupils. The pupils are more like flat ovals or sometimes a "w" . I figure if it bothers me it must bother the fish. Or not ;D
I am sooo happy to see those fishing photos. I went back and looked at them twice already :)
-J.
Dave and Gary - I know the stuff is getting harder to find, but if you can find a print shop that specializes in letterpress, I think linotype alloy lead might work well for you as an option. - john
Quote from: Brewcrafter on May 24, 2020, 04:24:06 PM
Dave and Gary - I know the stuff is getting harder to find, but if you can find a print shop that specializes in letterpress, I think linotype alloy lead might work well for you as an option. - john
Linotype is a good example. Very good!
The (firearm) bullet making guys are good at scrounging source materials. Figure there might be some of those in Gary's area.
-J
Thanks ya,all about alloys and temperatures. I do have a point n shoot thermometer and new really thought of using it for this application. Butt I will. I just poured some more too before I got this information. I did enlarge the sprue some from when I got it and it's pouring good. The dowels fallout some, Butt I've poured at least 25 PCs and it's still going good.
I've learned to pull the clamps off quite soon, and crack the mold open as soon as possible to eliminate as much heat to the mold as possible and this seems to help.
I,D be interested in purchasing a 16oz mold from you and try it with now more experience.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and knowledge everyone. Heaven can wait, go fishing 🎣.
I've poured thousands of jig heads but this stuff has my attention- great thread! We just started deep dropping squid- I gotta think these heads with a glow skirt and a whole squid would get nailed, and i like the idea of being able to use assist-rigged circle hooks when dead-sticking as opposed to a molded in j-hook. keep it up gents!
Yes these can be rigged many ways, Dave's mold provides for an eye for an assist hook as well.
I don't use it for my fishing. But would have a stinger behind a circle hook on everything else.
Quote from: gstours on June 09, 2020, 04:48:54 PM
Thanks ya,all about alloys and temperatures. I do have a point n shoot thermometer and new really thought of using it for this application. Butt I will. I just poured some more too before I got this information. I did enlarge the sprue some from when I got it and it's pouring good. The dowels fallout some, Butt I've poured at least 25 PCs and it's still going good.
I've learned to pull the clamps off quite soon, and crack the mold open as soon as possible to eliminate as much heat to the mold as possible and this seems to help.
I,D be interested in purchasing a 16oz mold from you and try it with now more experience.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and knowledge everyone. Heaven can wait, go fishing 🎣.
Curious as to how much you needed to open up the sprue. I would like to incorporate this into the next iteration.
I would like to get a mold or two into your hands, just need to figure out the best way to do it. Also would you prefer a finished mold or a mold master (mold for the mold), so you can pour your own molds? PM me and we can figure it all out. Might be easier to talk live.
Quote from: thorhammer on June 09, 2020, 06:48:08 PM
I've poured thousands of jig heads but this stuff has my attention- great thread! We just started deep dropping squid- I gotta think these heads with a glow skirt and a whole squid would get nailed, and i like the idea of being able to use assist-rigged circle hooks when dead-sticking as opposed to a molded in j-hook. keep it up gents!
Hey John,
As Gary noted. I rig an assist on the extra eye right above the skirt. With a thick body and a silicone mold, the practical limit is about 12 ounces with pure lead, but there are a few tricks to push it a bit further.
Those jig hooks cast into a traditional leadhead have a lot of advantages when you are actively working a lure like a swimbait. Agree that for dragging a whole squid, they are not so optimal.
I also have been working on some weighted whole squid delivery thingies. How big are your squid, and how deep are you dropping? How much lead are you using now? Do you need to fish tight to the bottom? Maybe we can collaborate on something if you are interested.
-J
As you might have figgered sooner or later another test of Daves jig heads wood be shown. Heres a good fun one.
(https://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/GOPR1712_Moment_zpsbwsspjol.jpg) (https://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/GOPR1712_Moment_zpsbwsspjol.jpg.html)
The paint is failing badly, butt :)
(https://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/p660/gst6814/GOPR1711_Moment3_zpseftagmrk.jpg) (https://s1344.photobucket.com/user/gst6814/media/GOPR1711_Moment3_zpseftagmrk.jpg.html)
Gary,
You use far less bait on these smaller jigs than we used during our days fishing with you.
And I see a white hulled boat, with teak steps, NOT the USS Maiko for sure???
Who you fishing with?????
Wayne
Yes, glad to friends here, there, it's a friend I've met on the water. Nice boat 🚣♀️ butt way too clean 🧽 to be comfortable in! Bloody decks, sunshine 🌞 a terrible combination.!!
Here a change Dave thought would help, increase the sprue size.
It's not difficult to trim the waste when cooled and pours very good now.
12 oz. very nice design. Great clean smooth finish. Fishes good for me. Thanks Dave.
Most of the degradation is from the heat I,m pretty sure. The pins for the eyes have became loose and of course pull out of the sockets when spreading the mold. I try to slightly split open the mold as soon as possible preventing the increase of heat.
There is a split also as I was sucking air at first when pouring, a backing of wood helped under the hand screw clamps. This split has not gotten worse for 20 pours so spreading the pressure out did help in not sucking air.
Catching fish on your creations is fun!