Make your own jigs...Video

[TubeDude]

   LINK TO JIG VIDEO
Looks like Mama Nature is about to get all wintery and will shut down everybody but hardcore ice tanglers.  But even they use jigs.  The point is that during the next few months there will be a lot of indoor time…waiting out the weather.  Why not use some of that time to make your own jigs?
 
Shortly after I moved back to Utah from Arizona in 2004, a lot of the Utah members on the still new BFT boards started asking for my help in learning how to make their own lead head jigs.  So we had a series of “jig parties”…in which I would bring all the necessary gear for pouring and painting jigs.  We usually had some food and drink on hand and the get togethers were a lot of fun…and got a few newbies started in making their own stuff.
 
I don’t do group gatherings anymore but am usually willing to do one-on-one sessions for serious students of jigography.  And I have posted some of my PDF files on different aspects of making and decorating jigs in the past.  But now that I have my GoPro camera I have been getting requests to put something together on jig making. 
 
So, here ‘tis.  It is a little over 1 hour long and is a fairly in-depth presentation on pouring lead lures and in painting, glittering and putting eyes on them.  I have also included video segments on wrapping marabou jigs and on making the little pony head jigs (Roadrunners).  The video includes lists for the tools and materials necessary both for pouring the jigs and for trimming and finishing them with your choice of paints and glitters.  And there is one section with a lot of fish porn.
 
The main point I like to get across when someone asks about making their own stuff is that if you get into it to save money you are a dreamer.  There can be a pretty sizeable investment in lead melters, molds, hooks, paints and other stuff necessary to make more than just one size of one kind of jig.  You usually have to make and use a lot of jigs before you can begin to realize your first penny of savings.
 
The main reason I got started in making my own was to have just what I wanted and needed for any specific fishing trip…on any given water…for any particular species of fish…under the prevailing water and weather conditions.  I got tired of going into a tackle shop and asking for something, only to be told “No.  You don’t want that.  This is what you need.”  But what they were really saying is “This is what you need because this is all we got.”
 
If you have good connections and are lucky you can find inexpensive melters and molds.  And you don’t have to buy hooks 1000 at a time.  So it is possible to ease into it without missing a couple of mortgage payments.  Thank goodness for Ebay and KSL.com.  This video should help guide you in your purchases.  And you can always contact me to discuss any potential purchase before making the move.