Salty's jigging lure tutorial

[saltydog]

Gather together your lead pot,lead,welding gloves,mold,mold inserts,and ladle,and put the mold on top of the pot while the lead is getting hot to preheat your mold.

Open mold and insert your lure insert

Close mold and pour lure

Open mold once lead is solidified,it only takes a few moments

Extract lure

Trim any tags and flashing while still wearing gloves,and once lure is cleaned up set aside to cool while pouring others

Once cooled insert a hanging wire into your lures insert and clean the lures whith denatured alcohol to remove any residue from your hands or gloves,this step also helps during the painting process

Gather your required color of paints

And do your finest of painting jobs,don't worry they dont have to be perfect the fish don't really care,as long as it looks edible it will get bit

Add the whites of the eyes,any waterbased paint will do for this and the details

Add your details to your lure,dots stripes whatever you desire,I have found the simpler the better

Now for the messy part,using the hanging wire as a handle you will now coat your lures with a nice coat of 30 minute epoy then hang by the nose until dry.I usually leave them hang for two days so that the epoxy sets up rock hard and then you don't have a chance of damaging your lures.

Now for the part where everyone has a go at it rig it up and fish it,I personally like a large expensive barrel swivel as the hook attachment hooked to the split ring on the lure but some prefer the solid rings and of course I will agree that they are inherantly stronger but I don't use anything above an 80# topshot so I will never break a 200# + barrel swivel.


I hope you all enjoyed my tutorial on how to make a jigging lure from a prefabricated mold.
Coming soon,making your own POP molds for jigging irons and How to make your own rubber shrimp mold and lures.

[Cone]

Thanks for the post Saltydog. The jigs look great. I'm looking forward to the rest. Bob

[wallacewt]

thank you sir

[WCFLA]

WOW! Looks like something that I would like to try!

[Alto Mare]

Very nice job Saltydog, thanks for sharing.
See if you can make me a couple in Green, White and Red,  I want to give them out as gifts to some friends.
If you make a mistake on the red and it comes out too light, no worries, I have some friends in Ireland also.
Sal.

[paal]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing! I want to give this a try also, when I get some more spare time on my hands
Cheers,
Paal

[ACDIII]

Salty...how are you connecting the split ring and the swivel? Hard to tell from the photo

Thanks
Andy

[akfish]

Sort of related: Since the "head" of the jig is heavier than the tail, wouldn't it make more sense to tie onto the tail and attach the assist hooks there? Most butterfly and knife jigs are rigged that way. Just curious...

[saltydog]

On the swivel you just rig it like the solid ring,most of the fish I go after are less than 100 pounds and I haven't seen the need arise for solid rings or 900 pound kevlar line,most of the fish we go after are between 10 and 30 pound Blackfin and yellowfin up to 100 pounds or AJ's that can get pretty big but nothing the guys are pushing in the big oceans like Bluefin.

Now yes they do fall in a head down way but that is part of the reason why I use them,the hooks fall with the bait not above it and you always get bit on the way down most of the time,and when the fish want something a little slower and more crippled looking you just bend the lure and it does side to side arks or leave it strait and it will do a fast side to side with a faster retrive.And to answer your question on a fast retrieve it doesn't have the time to dive.This lure also allows you to bounce bottom but now that you mentioned it I will tie one on backwards and jig it on my trip next weekend to see how that works,now I have to go make a few with the whole insert,this is getting as addictive as reels.

Now for a main reason I make my own,well 10 to 30 dollars a lure is to steep for a hunk of lead.And it is more rewarding to catch fish on your own creations.

[Irish Jigger]

Great tutorial saltydog, thanks for sharing.
Noticed you use Do-It molds, they must be the best sinker/lure molds ever made,pure precision.
There are a lot of two piece sinker molds about over here. They come with clamps and all sorts of supporting equipment and are a nightmare to use.

[saltydog]

Yes I agree Do it has some of the easiest molds to use by far and there machining is very good,but I have run into a few other brands that are complete nightmares,especially the older ones.

[LTM]

Saltydog,

Im looking forward to the rest of your tutorials on making your own jigs with great interest. Any plans for making some aluminum jigs like: Tady 45's (any of the Tady models). I love throwing iron and plastics and you'll have my undivided attention; so please "do your thing" with these tutorials.

BTW, glad this section was added to the forum.

Leo

[saltydog]

Sal thanks for your color choice,these will probably catch fish and also make great gifts.I never thought of national flags as color patterns but they look like they will work.

Thanks
William

[Alto Mare]

They look awesome William, nice job . Of course they'll catch fish, I do and I'm Italian
Very nice.
Sal

[Bryan Young]

Wow, very nice.