Do It Shad Bait Lure

[ruck]

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.

[ctom]

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.

[ruck]

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!

[ctom]

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.

[Bucko]

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.

[ruck]

Bucko, The one I have does have a place for an eye on top along with the ones in front and back.

[Jerry V]

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.

[Bucko]

Sweet!  I must have only seen pics of them with without it.

[Kasilofchrisn]

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.

[Partycrasher]

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

[ruck]

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?

[Jerry V]

If you can pull that wire eye out of the top of that bait... with a team of horses...  I'll eat your shorts.   

[pjmcla]

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.

[Partycrasher]

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.

[Kasilofchrisn]

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.: