Went to the Sportco sale tonight. I bought a DO-IT jig mold make especially for Gamakatsu
jig hooks. The Gamakatsu jig hooks seem kind of thin and flimsy. The thing that I liked about this particular mold is that it had a slot for many different sizes of jig head (from 1/32 to 5/8. My question is, does anybody have any experience with the Gamakatu jig hooks or this particular mold. Can this mold be modified to fit the Eagle claw O'shagasy style hook (eagle claw 630).

Shawn:

Recommend that you take a look at Owner jig hooks. We find them to be very sharp and stronger than most other brands of hooks. On the speedie side but the pay back is less hooks that are straighten out when playing a fish.

http://www.barlowstackle.com/

Good place to buy molds and hooks...

"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

The mold can be modified for the 630 style hook. Go with the heavy wire Gammy's and you won't have any problems.

where do you get lead for pouring jigs and what do you heat the lead in? I remember my Dad heating the lead in a cast iron skillet on a Coleman gas camp stove.

Aaron

You can get lead at junkyards and melt it in a melting pot.

I just use the lead you get in big spools at Outdoor Emporium (it doesn't take much) and I have a plug-in melting pot to melt it down (ventalation is plus)---anything that will liquify the led will work--you just have to be able to pore it with some precission.

i use a oxy-acetlyne torch and melt the lead in a cast iron pot. i have about 40 or 50 10 to 15lb lead bars. those should last me a lifetime. my father somehow accumulated them over the years. does sportco or gi joes sell 2-8oz jig molds?

I have heard people say you can use lead tire weights and melt them down for pouring into jig molds. Any truth to this.

One other question. Is there anyone on this board who would pour say 50 or 100 jigs of 1/16 and 1/8 sizes and sell them to me. If so what would be the cost.

On the where to get lead question-- junkyards, sure. Boeing Surplus may even have some. Lead tire weights are not pure lead, but they do melt and will give you a decent head, if somewhat brittle. Yards sales can be a source of lead or lead sheeting-- they used to use lead quite a bit in some of the flashings on roofs for vents and such.

There are so many different places to get lead that if you keep your eyes open you can find it. I used to buy lead tire weights from Les Schwabs for 10 cents a pound, but it was pretty dirty stuff.

Today, I was at Sportsman's Warehouse and saw a bunch of pyramid anchors for $15. While it's a shame to waste something like that, the cost for that lead was $1 a pound, and there are an awful lot (256) of 1/16 ounce jigs in a pound of lead.

If you're serious about pouring jigs and can pony up the $60, buy a Lee Precision pot. They have a spout on the bottom that lets you pour directly into the mold and avoids the possibility of splash.

And ventilation is a must-- the fumes are fairly toxic, but if you're outside, or in an open garage, you should be OK.

Keith

I have the lesser Lee pot, not the production pot, but I use a bullet pouring ladle to pour lead into the mold.

A few suggestions.

1. Get the mold that has all the same weight jigs, then you can get into some serious production. One at a time is a drag. Variety is nice, but you will seldom use jigs other than 1/16th-1/4 ounce.

2. Get a mold that does not have the worm barb, unless you want that. It will save you lots of time trimming.

3. If you have a drill press you can drill out the eye portion of the mold to handle the Eagle Claw 630 hooks. Some folks use a triangular file to widen the hook "channel".

4. Always do your lead smelting outside with plenty of ventilation.

5. Stock up on fingernail polish. I have more colors than my wife. It makes for a good head coating that is cheap and easy to handle. I never use my jigs two days in a row. I tie plenty, and it is nice to know you have a hook that has not been rebent 8 times, so durability of the finish is not a huge issue. It just needs to last an hour at most.

6. If you use the powdercoat stuff, clean the eyes out prior to baking.

Have fun, and experiment with float types.

I have a melting pot and a shad dart jig mold that I ordered from Cabelas. Every other year I end up ordering 2 100pack gold jig hooks, I do have the jig paint but I mainly juss dip em cuz I dont have a compressor to spray em. If I remember right there was a deisel shop I bought this lead ignots or whatever they call them I bought a box of 50 for like $20 and I think each oen weighs a couple pounds each, kinda ran low on them gotta see if that guy is still around, but I do have a bucket of wheel weights I got from Les schwab that I got for free

I pour my downrigger balls and 10# bars for shrimp pots and can put in some input that might help for others in question on pouring lead. Never poured anything as small as your jig heads. When you melt the lead, the impurities float to the top. You can take a spoon and scoop it off the top. All that is left is the pure shiny lead. I use a crab cooker and a thick aluminum pot. I melt about 15-20 pounds at a time and my lead comes from sheet lead we use to build leaded X-Ray rooms. If you are melting big quantities of lead, I leave about an inch in the bottom of the pan to cool of for the next time. It is easier to melt this. This heats up quickly to start adding more lead. An empty pot is hard to melt lead in until you have a good amount of liquid lead to help melt down the new added lead. If you are heating a huge chunk of solid lead this really makes the difference. I use leather welding gloves, a welding bib and a face shield. I am careful not to breath the fumes as I do it outside. DO NOT do this when there can be any rain. Water or rain will cause an explosion!!!!! I was running out of propane one time and the lead started cooling off and I did not get the downrigger all of the way poured before it started cooling off in the funnel. The mold did not fill all of the way. I had a hollow ball at the bottom of the ball. I left this ball outside and when I poured more, I remelted this ball. I believe it might have had some water or just the air in it made it explode when I put it in the meltdown pot. Luckily it didn't hardly get me. It went all over the house and deck. You should really wear a respirator as these fumes are deadly. When you have a new mold, the best mold release is candle soot. Make sure and get the inside good and black. This works great. Another tip is get your mold hot and you won't get layering lines in your ball or weights.