My last trip to the cabin and Lake Superior to chase Lake Trout in the boat at the end of September got shortened up some by not having any decent Trout jigs along. I'm taking care of that problem now. Since there is no trout forum in the lead section, I'll post what I am doing here. The mold is Do-It's Banana Jig, model JYS-1055L. Everything I am doing is using the largest, the 2 ounce, cavity exclusively. No alterations to the mold have been made.
Lake Trout jigs almost always will employ a stinger of some sort with most simply tied into the hair as the jig is finished. We've have several of these jigs fail in the past and to counter the problem I am using 60 pound 12 strand wire and casting the wire into the heads of these 2 ounce Banana Head jigs. I make a loop thru a crimping sleeve as shown here in the middle, then the loop goes over the eye of the hook, is cinched up tight and the sleeve double crimped. Then a copper wire wrap secures things further and also keeps the 12 strand close to the hook shank, especially in the end where the wire runs out the tying collar. The second wrap of copper simply keeps the 12 strand in place so it comes out of the collar on the outside of the hook bend. The wire is less likely to bind when fighting a fish when it is kept outside of the hook bend. Once cast this second wrap gets taken off. Where the 12 strand exits the mold near the rear of the jighead there is ample room in the cavity for the wire to simply ride along side the hook without any need to tinkering. I could have used 80 pound wired but I had the 60 on hand so.....
I didn't think to add anything for size reference, but the hook is a 7/0 Mustad 32786 Black Nickel, 60 degree. From the front of the eye to the back edge of the bend the hook is almost 3" in length. These hooks are "sticky" sharp and its my thinking that they will out perform the "tinned" hooks the mold calls for. At this point the heads weight slightly over 2 ounces. The tinned 410 hooks are slightly longer but the Mustads used here have a larger gap and with the stinger they'll be deadly.
The next steps are painting, tying the hair, and adding the #2 Gammi wide gap trebles as the stingers. The stingers will get the same crimp as the loop that's been cast in the head. I'll have another photo showing the finished product....hopefully in a day or so. For those wondering why the large jigs for Lake Trout, Lake Superior can kick out fish in the 50 pound range and very often the jigging is done at depths approaching 175 to 200 feet. The big jigs sink fast and cut down on waiting to for a bait to drop to those depths. A ten pound Trout can inhale a jig of this size, even with a 6" to 8" Cisco hung on it for that little extra.
