Custom Baits - Forum
Jigs, Spinnerbaits and Sinkers => Lures => Topic started by: ruck on 01/25/15 14:03 UTC
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Hey Gents, New to this forum, and just getting into making/refinishing my own lures. Enjoying bringing my many beat up lures back to life.
Anyhow, I bought the Do It Shad Bait lure mold to make my own jigging spoons for lake trout. Gonna make the 1 1/2oz size, as where I fish the lakers usually hang anywhere from 80' to 120' deep, so I need the weight to get down there. Anyone have any experience with this mold/lure? Looking for any tips with this lure.
I will be looking to buy other lure molds to make other jigging spoons as I lose 3-4 per trip, and it gets expensive at $4+ per lure(Hopkins, Kastmaster, ect.) Can anyone recommend a good one for my application? Thanks in advance.
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Welcome aboard Ruck!
I have a couple of the heavy jigging spoon baits on hand for Lakers. I cast up to 1 1/2 ounces and find I seldom need more than that and at times I'm fishing these at 175 feet. Do yourself a favor and doll up some of the lighter colored ones with plain glow pigment on one side. I've begun doing that on my big clunkers and the trout seem to enjoy things that way.
Where are you chasing the big guys?
Again, welcome to the Do-It forums.
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Thanks for the welcome ctom! I plan to paint most of these spoons white or pearl, or leave some lead silver/tin and just clear coat. I actually thought of trying a glow white/pearl for dark days, so will take your advice and give it a shot.
I fish the NYC watershed reservoirs north of NYC. The reservoir I fish most has super clear water, so the fish generally stay rather deep, not just the lakers. With the clear water, lighter, natural baitfish (alewives) colors are the ticket here, even the shape of the lure matters, especially for the brown trout. That's why I bought the Shad mold, it looks the most like a baitfish. I hope it has some action to it, not just like jigging a sinker!
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Partycrasher [Marc} is the ace on jigging lures here and hopefully he'll weigh in on this conversation. The guy is a wizard with the heavy hunks.
I have areas on Lake Superior where jigging is the way to tackle Lake Trout. The one area I mentioned will hand out trout if you are willing to go down to 175 feet to maybe 225 feet. Another area is right around 52-54 feet deep and is on top of a rock pile with steep shoulders that drop into 120 feet. Jigging at 55 feet just at the edge of that break is hotter than hot at times. Nothing like starting the lift on the rod only to feel WEIGHT.
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I've been podering about getting this mold too. If I did I would try to modify it to take a bronze or stainless steel eye in the middle on top. Kinda like a vibrado lure. I imagine some walleyes would take a swipe at that. They are heavy so I could rip em below dams.
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Bucko, The one I have does have a place for an eye on top along with the ones in front and back.
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Bucko, The one I have does have a place for an eye on top along with the ones in front and back.
The Shad Bait Lure molds are available with or without the eye on top, suit yourself.
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Sweet! I must have only seen pics of them with without it.
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Have you checked out my thread on using holographic foil on these kinds of baits?
It's under the painting and finishing forum IIRC.
Make a super shiny very realistic baitfish imitation.
I love using it on my Shawn Collins molds but it works good on any slab style jig.
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That's a good realistic looking bait. If you pour it out of lead you can bend them a little and tweak the action. The one with the line-tie at the dorsal can be fished like a heavy blade bait. As with any of the jigging spoons, I will get up on my soap-box and preach TIN. Pure tin. Pour them, any one of them, with Tin and you will have a super deadly jigging spoon. There is so much more action on the fall when you reduce the weight that 35% by using tin. Tin is crazy expensive right now, but even at $19.00 a pound its still so much cheaper than buying jigging spoons.
For instance, I go through a bunch of 1/4 ounce Flutter Jigs Spoons every year. That's .16 ounces of tin per bait. Lets get sloppy and say that its .2 ounces of tin per bait.... That's 80 baits per pound at $19.00 per pound or $.24 per bait... Add a ring and a good hook and you may get to $.50 per spoon. That's $3.50 cheaper than buying a #3 Swedish Pimple. The 1/2 ounce size works out to $.65 per spoon and so on.
Try Tin!!!
Marc
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Thanks for all the tips! I have tons of block tin, so the price is not an issue. What is the issue is with this mold it specifically says soft lead only?? Maybe the tin cools too fast for the shape of the mold, leaving half a lure? I'll start with lead till I get the hang of it, then I will give tin a shot. I'm sure nothing bad will happen, it just may not work.
Another question. The wire that goes front to back through the lure seems fine, but the tiny little eyes that fit the top of this mold seem awfully small, do I have to worry about them pulling out of the lure on a big fish?
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If you can pull that wire eye out of the top of that bait... with a team of horses... I'll eat your shorts. ;)
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Now I won't do what Jerry will; But those eyes are VERY strong and tough. I was somewhat hesitant when I first poured them; but if you get your lead to fill correctly, they are there for the duration.
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The Tin is fine for any mold.
And I concur with Jerry and Pjmcla, if the cavity fills around the eyelet, you will never pull that out. Especially with tin.
In fact, I have a very early prototype Flutter Jig mold that uses the tiny size "0" wire eyes on each end instead of the current thru wire system. I was a little concerned myself because we were catching Chinooks 20-25 pounds with them. So I rigged one up with stranded wire on each end and clamped it in a vice. My vice is on the corner of my main work bench which is an old solid maple high school science lab table. I pulled so hard I was starting to lift the corner of the table and nothing ever pulled out, distorted, or anything. So don't worry about the eyes pulling out.
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While I agree with the eyelet not pulling out I am tempted to call an old friend of mine who's family owns almost 20 Belgian draft horses.
If we strung enough horses together we just might get to see Jerry eat some shorts.
Might be worth trying guys just for that reason.:P:
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No worries, if the horses pull the eye out, my shorts are clean....I wash them once a month whether they need it or not. :o
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Hey Ruck, I realize that I am late to the party, but I would recommend the Flutter Jig in 2 and 3 oz. I fish deep reefs in the ocean with these, and their fluttering (after a sharp sweep up) is very tantalizing to the fish. I am quite sure the big lakers would be big takers. I use a # 1 treble hook attached to the bottom with a good split ring. We decorate them with holographic scales and a thin strip of ultraviolet down the lateral line. It is tremendously effective. I sometimes mold in a stainless steel ring at the head to tie the line to. This assures that the small wire will not cut it. Or I use Tactical Angler's clips in 125 # size which also keeps the line in good shape and allows quick lure changes. Besides the numerous bottom fish and Lingcod, we have caught several salmon on them, including a tremendous 40 lb. Chinook. Good Luck, Mack
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Mack, funny because on a couple of other guys recommendations I just got the 2 and 3oz flutter jig mold, gonna pour a bunch soon. The Shad Bait lure is OK if you hook up to the eye on the top, kind of like a blade lure, I've caught a bunch of lakers and a few smallmouth on it already. Problem I've had with it is if you hook up to the front of the lure it constantly tangles up, the hook catches the line. For whatever reason it happens much less when hooked up on the top. Gonna try rigging it with those hooks on a short piece of line that attach to the front of the lure, not sure what they are called, but it should stop the tangling issue.
I have reflective tape, but what is the ultraviolet you mentioned? They probably work fine just the shiny tin, but decorating them is a good time passer on a rainy day (like today!) Thanks for the advice!
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I get the UV stick on tape from Dave at http://www.sdcustomdesigns.com/Lure-Tape/Lure-Tape-2-Wide-Strips-c78/
Using small scissors we cut a small strip width-wise, only about 1/16th of an inch thick or less. We apply it as a lateral line, which flashes in ultraviolet light, even deep in the water. It is enough flash to attract fish, but not enough to repel them. We have experimented a lot, and I think it really enhances the lure. I like the pearl transparent color best, although I believe that all colors will work okay. I agree that plain tin will probably do very well, but what fun is that? I really get a kick out of customizing lures and then catching loads of big fish on them.
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Thanks, I'll give it a shot. Funny you say a very thin strip because that is exactly what I do with silver reflective tape on my crankbaits. Especially for finicky fish like brown trout, I have found that a little flash is good, but especially in clear water, too much flash can be counterproductive.
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So after using this bait for a while I wanted to give a quick review. For jigging I catch more fish with the flutter lure. That said what I did not expect is how versatile the Shad Bait lure is. Sure they are good for jigging, but what I have found is they work much better as a casting/trolling lure! I poured a bunch of these out of tin, they have better action out of tin. I don't even use the front eye, I hook up to the eye on the back. It casts a mile, sinks fast, and has an awesome tight wiggle like a crankbait that you can feel in the rod tip. For my needs I like it better than spoons because it stays deeper, spoons tent to ride up the water column quickly.
This is quickly becoming my go to trolling lure too. It trolls deeper than any crankbait, and if I mark a fish very deep I just slow down a bit and down it goes. I am slamming lake trout trolling this lure, and am sure it is only a matter of time before a big brown trout falls for this method too.
If I can find one negative with this lure is that it hooks the line and gets tangled more often than other lures, but you can feel the difference right away, when you don't feel that tight wiggle, it is fouled and being pulled backward. Overall though, this lure is going to be on the end of my line more often than any other lure in my box when I need to fish 20+ feet down.