Dave’s, octopus jig heads

Started by gstours, May 21, 2020, 03:27:04 PM

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gstours

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.

Dominick

Leave the gun.  Take the cannolis.

There are two things I don't like about fishing.  Getting up early in the morning and boats.  The rest of it is fun.

Hardy Boy

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
Todd

gstours

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.

gstours

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.

gstours

The fish were very aggressive on this jig tipped with a small pc of herring.   That day any.

gstours

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.

jurelometer

#7
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

gstours

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.

jurelometer

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.

Brewcrafter

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

jurelometer

#11
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

gstours

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 🎣.

thorhammer

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!



gstours

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.