Lure &
Tackle Making
Some fishermen choose to build their own tackle,
as a hobby or
a way to save money.
Lure & Tackle making is a fine hobby
and something to do
when cabin fever set's in. Sometimes it just feels better to fool a fish
on something I made instead of bought.
There is a wide range of Lures you can make from tying flies to melting
lead. Some of the more popular store
bought lures can be made just as nice at home and the fish don't know how
much you paid for the lure!
In Ohio some favorites to make are homemade jigs, flies, egg sacs, spoons
and especially worm casting
or trolling harnesses. Below are some examples and ideas of tackle that
you can make at home at minimal cost
submitted by members of
the OHIO fishing report forums.
JIGS
A great lure to make and catch fish just about anywhere especially in Ohio is
the Jig.
Jigs can be made in many sizes and styles and its really up to what you prefer
based on what your trying to
catch or where your fishing. A few things you will need to make your own jigs
include raw lead and means to melt
and pour it, jig hooks, some basic hand tools, paint, and a skirt or body if
necessary.
Although you can melt lead in an open steel over a HOT heat source, I recommend
a lead melting pot specifically for
producing fishing lures, Lead is very dangerous to work with and pour so its
alot safer to work with a production lead
melting pot.
The one I purchased is a lee production pot and its perfect for the
molds I use and the amount of lead I
need to pour. You simply plug them in, allow a few minutes for the lead to
melt, then lift a lever to allow molten lead
to pour into your mold.
To view more lead melting pot and tools, far below
retail your best deal is here >
Melting lead is not only dangerous its also highly poisonous, so I do this
outside as I don't want the fumes lurking
in the house or even the garage. I fill the pot with lead and turn it on, then
wait until the lead has all melted into liquid.
You can get lead at your local metal scrap yard, alot of old plumbing systems
were made out of pure lead, and as
houses and buildings are updated the lead ends up at the scrap yard. Its not
very expensive and for a few bucks you
could buy an old sink trap, and have enough lead to make jigs for 3 years. Lead
can also be found at sporting goods
stores in small quantity's but its often pricey.
To view more lead far below retail your best
deals are here >
Once you have melted your lead you will notice that on top of the lead there is
a thin layer of "dark" covering.
This is impurities in your lead. You don't want this in your pot because it will
clog your tube where the lead pours out.
You want to remove the darker material by removing with an old spoon. You
lightly scrap the top of the lead and the
impurities will cling to the spoon. Once removed your ready to pour your jigs.
I prefer molds made by the "do-it" corp. but there are tons of different molds
on the market.
The reason I prefer do-it molds is they specialize in precision cutting and
proven quality molds.
Any mold designed to make jigs will work and you can find a few here.
To view more jig molds of every size and style
far below retail your best deals are here >
I start by making sure the inside faces of the
mold are clean of debris on BOTH sides, if 1 single piece of dust or
dirt gets inside your mold, then the mold will have a miniscule gap when you
close it.
This gap will make your lead escape the cavity and the result will be misshaped
jigs. Big defects from such a
small piece of dirt. I take a small sharp razor blade and place it flat on the
face of the mold, then I scrape
evenly across the mold being careful to let the blade cut into the metal, you don't want to
scratch the mold in
the very least ! You want to scrape the dirt or dust off in a soft even movement with the blade
completely flat
on the molds face. Also be sure you oil your mold every few months at the hinge, pour oil through
the hollow
hinge pin, along with the hinge itself. After your mold is oiled & cleaned and ready to use your ready
to add
your jig hooks or hardware.
Most molds have inscribed inside the hook size or hook model #.
You need to know this and have the proper hooks before you begin the job.
I prefer eagle claw jig hooks and most molds are compatible with eagle claw
hooks.
Most of my molds (but not all) require eagle claw 570 or 571 jig hooks. The new
rage is jig poured over red hooks
but I stick to the eagle claw bought in bulk.
To
view more jig hooks of every size and style far
below retail your best deals are here >
Place the proper hooks in the mold by placing them in the groove in each cavity
Now its time to preheat your mold. Some more modern molds have a "preheating
cavity" on the bottom
of the mold, pouring molten lead into this cavity produces a lead ingot which
makes the mold HOT enough to produce
jigs or sinkers. If you do not preheat the mold, the cold metal of the mold will
cool the lead before it has time to fill the
cavity and the result will be disfigured jigs or sinkers. If your
mold does not have this preheating cavity,
then you have to preheat your mold by other means. Before you preheat your mold
check that all your hooks are in
proper position. If a hook pops out of the groove while your closing it, the
mold will not close all the way and the
slightest change in the hooks position will again give you a whole mold full of
disfigured jigs.
Now your mold is loaded with hooks and your lead pot is ready, you keep a firm
grasp on the molds 2 handles
to keep it closed all the way and you turn it upside down. You place the mold to
the pot until the lead tube is above the
hole on your molds preheating cavity. You let the lead out to fill the cavity in
1 rapid flow until lead comes out at the top.
Then you know you filled the entire cavity. After you fill the preheating cavity
immediately turn the mold over to the top
and begin filling the molds cavities with lead. You let it cool for a moment and
open the mold, and if you did everything
right you will have produced perfect jigs, however they are not finished.
After you finish all your pouring and you unplug the lead melting pot, then
clean and oil your molds its time to finish
your jigs. Some tools I keep on hand are a small file and some fine sandpaper.
Most jigs will have little trouble spots
you need to work on and this is normal. You take each jig and decide if it
needs work, if it does you take either the small
file or the sandpaper and fix it. The file could be used to lightly file away
rough spots and the sandpaper when layed flat
on your workbench can do the same. You simply take the jig and rub its trouble
spot on the fine sandpaper until its
smooth and your happy with the surface and shape. After your done with the jigs
your ready to paint them.
I prefer painting my jigs with pro tech powder paint and I have about 20 colors.
Some of the colors are considered
"glow" colors and when charged with a
flashlight or even the sun they will glow underwater to entice the fish.
You can also use other paints such as enamel or vinyl paint produced just for
painting jigs.
To view more jig paint of every color and style
far below retail your best deals are here >
No matter what method you use to paint your jigs, your going to deal with drip.
Painting jigs can be the worst part of the job until you get practice with
detail.
As I mentioned above I prefer powder paint , and I had to learn the hard way the
do's and don'ts.
I will share some secrets so you don't make the same mistakes I have. Before you
powder coat the jig, you have to have
it the right temperature , if its to cool, the paint wont stick evenly, and
worse yet if its to hot the paint will clump up so
thick when you cure it it will be 1 big "drop" of excess paint. You can use a
cigarette lighter or candle to paint these jigs,
but I recommend you use a toaster over or even your stove to cure them. I use a
small toaster oven and I use the ovens
rack and tray for 2 rows of jigs. You could fancy equipment for powder painting
such as a unit that electrifies the jigs, or
a powder spray gun to spray, or vibrating bowls to loosen (fluff) the paint, but
I don't use those things.
I start by getting together a few tools including needle nose pliers, in my book
they are a must. Also I light a candle on
my workbench and I set out my paint. After I set out the paint I do a little
thing that helps alot. I fluff the paint, I do this by
turning the paint slowly and softly upside down and let it fall to the bottom,
then repeat a few times until the powder is
light and fluffy, not compacted. I use the needle nose pliers to pick up the jig
by the eyehole (where you tie your line on)
and use the pliers to protect the hole so NO paint will come anywhere near the
hole.
I MUST STRESS RIGHT NOW that if any powder
gets on this hole while this jig is heated up, its not coming off, you
cant poke through this paint with the little tool they sell to poke the hole
clean. If you bake powder paint on this hole the
only way to get it off is by heating the jig again and its a sticky mess to
remove. Protect the eyehole on the hook .
Now you light your candle and you hold the jig above its flame about 2 inches
from the flame, if you put the jig any closer
to the flame it will melt the lead onto your workbench, and your jig is
destroyed and your hooks a mess, you have to heat
the hook in your lead pot to get the lead off in order to salvage the hook.
(Hooks and any metal floats in molten lead) You
just throw the jig in and the hook will float up, but its still a mess.
You hold the jig head above the flame, your goal here is NOT to make the jig red
hot, more importantly your goal here is
to EVENLY distribute heat throughout the jig. It helps to rotate your wrist and
keep the jig head moving above the flame.
A good distance between the jig and the flame would be about where your finger
begins to burn, no closer or you will
overheat the lead. The correct amount of time you will have to learn through
practice but I can tell you that its a matter of
seconds. Once you have evenly distributed heat throughout the jig head, you take
your jig head and make sure you have
the eyehole side facing up and completely protected by the pliers. In 1 LIGHT
quick motion you "swoosh" the jig
through the paint. So lightly that powder should not touch your pliers or you
went to deep. If the jig was to cool, you will
see where the paint is barely sticking and you have a thin layer, if the jig is
to hot you will see that excess powder is
clumped on the lead, and curing will ruin it. If this happens as FAST as you can
remove the paint, I recommend you start
cool and work your way hotter until you find the perfect temp for a good even
light coating. Cooler is better than to hot
when it comes to repairing or recoating. 1 word - practice
After I achieve the proper coat of powder I hang the jig inside a toaster oven
because now it needs cured. You can
(say in your boat) heat up a raw jig with a lighter, coat it with powder right
on the spot and fish with it, but the paint will
eventually come off when in contact with rocks. Powder paint (when cured) is one
of the most durable, hardest
coverings available. Most of the big 3 auto manufactures use powder paint
because of its durability and ease of repair
by adding heat. This stuff is the best coating you can use for any type of
metal.
After your jigs are coated you cure it, if you choose to cure it with your
candle or open flame, be careful, pick up the jig
with your pliers and hold it the same distance from the candle as you did last
time. You will see the paint "gloss over"
when it reaches the right temp. Let it cool and its shiny and dry. However its
not going to be as durable as one cured in
the oven for a length of time.
I place my jigs inside the toaster oven (preheated) by hanging them on the ovens
rack side by side careful not to let the
jigs touch, so they don't instantly stick together. After I place all the jigs
in the oven I close the door and let them bake at
the required temperature for the required times. Most powder paints including
pro-tech have the proper temperature
and curing time printed on the label, for my paint I believe its 350 * for 25
minutes. When the curing time expires let the
jigs cool either in the oven while powered off or on some sort of cooling
hanger, I use a piece of monofilament line tied
across my workbench. They don't take long to cool and you have the best paint
job known to fishing lures.
Your jigs are now ready to fish, unless that is you want to decorate them with
other features such as eyes or a tail.
The sky is the limit on this part as you may want to make unique lures. I like
to tie squirrel tails, whitetail deer tails and
even fancy feathers. You can also buy manufactured "hair" in every color
imaginable to add to your jigs. Also they sell a
variety of "eyes" you can stick on your jig.
For some ideas on how to tie the jig with a hair or fur or feather tail, visit
If you have any ideas or methods you would like to share in photographic
detail
please share them in the
forums or
contact me at OHfishing@aol.com with Lure
making tip in the subject
Here is some other tackle that YOU can make at your home
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