Do-It 2, 3, and 4 ounce mold

[Crabman]

I'm looking for the smallest Hook for the Do-It 2, 3, and 4 ounce Ultra-minnow mold. SHR-3-L. I know it says 8/0 but that's too big.

 

[Leprechaun]

I'm afraid I can't help with this, except to say that Clint at HTLureco told me that he had to modify his molds to accommodate a 5/0 hook in the jig sizes you mentioned.

 

[BennyV]

Agree with Lep on this one.

Only other option is to get a custom made mold which is going to cost you some scratch.

 

[Crabman]

Well, I guess I will modify the mold. I already have a few ideas.

 

[Crabman]

So, without modifying my Ultra-Minnow mold, I used some of my stainless tig wire that I used when I turned plugs to make a swing hook jig. What’s the consensus on using a swing hook jig over a fixed hook jig. These are my first two attempts, I will get the tail wrap looking better. Top one is a 2 ounce, bottom a 3 ounce. The hook is a 4/0 Siwash Open Eye. I’m thinking perhaps a 5/0.

 

[Leprechaun]

Looks good to me!

 

[Crabman]

How did you spend your afternoon?

I never used a swing hook jig but after today, they will be in the tackle box. If they don't work, which I doubt, they will go back into the lead melting pot. I changed the hook to a Gmakatsu 5/0 Siwash Open Eye and like what I'm seeing. The only change might be to go with the Mustad 3400-BN 5/0 gulp hook. Made up some sinkers while the lead was melted. My sinker mold is really tired and the sinkers need some trimming. I also have a 1 1/2 ounce Ultra-Minnow mold and made a few of them too.

 

[BennyV]

How did you spend your afternoon?

I never used a swing hook jig but after today, they will be in the tackle box. If they don't work, which I doubt, they will go back into the lead melting pot. I changed the hook to a Gmakatsu 5/0 Siwash Open Eye and like what I'm seeing. The only change might be to go with the Mustad 3400-BN 5/0 gulp hook. Made up some sinkers while the lead was melted. My sinker mold is really tired and the sinkers need some trimming. I also have a 1 1/2 ounce Ultra-Minnow mold and made a few of them too.


View attachment 52837

they look good! What’s the plan for paint?

 

[Crabman]

Hi Benny, I plan to powder coat. I used to have a couple of fluid beds with different color paint in each. I gave them away along with my toaster oven when I moved. So, I'm going to make four new ones with the common colors. Fluid beds really help coat the jig heads evenly. If you never used one, try it. They are easy to make. (for those who aren't familiar with a fluid bed, it's a vessel that you can easily make up out of a 2" PVC pipe and hook an aquarium air pump to. The air pump floats the powder coat powder with air from below the vessel and evenly coats the hot jig. When done, toast them for 30 minutes at 325 degrees. I'm sure others have their own techniques, this is mine)

 

[Leprechaun]

CM - Make up a few with White Glow and I'll buy a few in different sizes from you. No need to wrap them, I don't use hair on my "bucktails."

 

[Crabman]

It's not high on the list to powder coat right now. I usually do this over the winter and I have a bunch of jigs on hand. I have to make my fluid beds first. I was bored over the weekend and poured up some crescent and bank sinkers for blackfishing. While at it, I poured some swing hook jigs instead of a fixed hook because I didn't like the size of the 8/0 hook that is used in the 2, 3 and 4 ounces Ultra-Minnow heads. I'm happy with the results but have no experience with a swing hook jig. I will get you some to try out. I would love the feedback, good or bad. I do plan on using white glow as one of my colors.

 

[Crabman]

Does the skirt look familiar? The bottom jig is from HTLures.

 

[Leprechaun]

So the S&S Skinner bucktails are swing-hook. No need to tell you how popular he and others made them.

As far as making up jigs, I think I'm gonna try the reverse silicone skirt thing next season. Not that I have any problem catching them with the jigs I make up now, half HTLureco and half AliExpress rubber squid skirt, LOL! Just wanna play around a bit to see if I can get even better fishie reception with the silicone skirts.

 

[Crabman]

Sounds good to me. And, good luck with that. If you plan to do what I think you are going to do, the nose of the Gulp might fit better. Thanks to you, I use a wrinkled skirt. I'm happy to not tie bucktails. It's a long process. First you have to kill a deer.....

 

[Crabman]

I tried to reverse the skirt and I like the look. I tried two ways. What I really like, is the skirt isn't sitting back over the hook shank as tight. The nose of the Gulp fits into the rubber skirt much better. I think I like the first one better but the second one might work if I didn't cut 1" off the skirt before attaching.

 

[Crabman]

I'm really liking the reverse skirt. I think this is going to be my go-to rig. What I like about it, besides the puffiness of the skirt, is the way the Gulp fits with these skirts. The nose can easily fit inside the skirt which allows for more hook in the Gulp. Using my rubber band, the Gulp really stays in place without sliding.

 

[Leprechaun]

You beat me to it and they look good! But I was thinking more along the lines of these:

 

[Crabman]

Those are some cool skirts. Pretty soon we are not going to afford to allow them to touch the bottom.

 

[HighHook4Hire]

Nice thread and jigs Crabman. I used a dremel to open up the hook eye to support different hooks on my mold. Dremeling the mold is a bit scary at first, but you can remove any overpours pretty easily with a needlenose pliers, knife, and/or razor blade. It takes a bit more time, but worth it to allow me to customize hook sizes more freely. Just my opinion on that last part. Mustad 32786 BN for the win.

I did also experiment with swing hooks using SST screw eyes (open and closed) from Janns Netcraft, but I just wasn't too happy with the ones I made. The hook tends to swing around and point downwards too often for my liking. The length of the screw eyes was also limiting factor and in some of the bigger jigs they barely extended into the body of the bucktail (past the hair tying platform) which is SCARY too. I am sure they work fine, but they are not the first bucks I reach for.

 

[Crabman]

Thanks HH. I haven't ever used the swing hook jig like John Skinner makes and sells. I'm comfortable with what I'm seeing with this jig. I can do a lot of customizing for hook length. I even took a map torch and melted the tail end of the lead jig off. Originally I connected a Gamakatsu 5/0 Siwash. It looked okay but a little longer than I was thinking. I found a VMC 5/0 Siwash that has a shorter shank and I'm liking it. Next, I need to test it. Right now, I'm going to stick with swing hooks because I don't want to modify the mold. I do have a dremel and I feel capable of grinding some changes but I plan to wait to see how these fish.