A dandy pair of jig molds

Do-It has released a pair of new small jig molds that have a wide scope of uses. One mold casts heads of 1/32 and 1/24 ounce while the other casts heads of 1/16 and 3/32. The 1/24 and 3/32 sizes fill a huge gap in weight needs for the panfish angler but that 3/32 will stand up well in the walleye and smallie waters too.

The big thing with both molds is the wire keeper that gets cast into the heads. These keepers are no strangers to river walleye tackle and are something that has been long overdo in the crappie tackle area. No more split plastics from cast-on lead barbs that are always three times bigger than they need be and no more twisting and rolling baits on collarless jigs. The wires are just right for all but the smallest of crappie plastics.

The molds are a “call in order” item right now as they were released only a few days ago. They should be available thru the usual on-line places and in Fleet farm by spring. If you cast your own, these molds cast clean and require no clean-up after the fact. I didn’t have to pre-heat either mold either.

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Those look nice. Do you sell any of your jig heads?

I was going to ask the same thing. Hard to justify what I assume is a decent little investment for a few jigs I use… but having retainers and those sizes are of interest.

I often use a thin gold hook style jig for small crappie plastics, or gulp 1″ minnows. Wish it was possible to put a micro size bait keeper on that would work for those.

The molds are still new to me and I probably won’t do a whole lot of casting with them now at this time of year but next spring….before ice out that is…. I’ll be casting a bunch of these. With the small hooks and the tiny wire its a challenge to keep things where they are supposed to be. I sneezed just before closing one of the molds and scattered hooks and wires all over. lol I’ll be in touch by pm when I figure the molds out properly.

The keeper wire works good on baits almost down to as small as the head end of a Gulp 1″ minnow. Last fall fishing some proto-types on the 1/32 and 1/24 heads I used some fairly small plastics with success but I did not try the Gulp’ I may have to run down and try mounting a 1″ minnow on a 1/32 to see if there is an issue. I’ll see if the two make a picture-worthy rig ad get a snap if it seems so. But on plastic [plastic is more forgiving than the Gulp material], some fairly small baits can be used with the wires in place.

I think the tinkering and making my own would be great… then the practical side sets in. Materials, equipment… and such. Better off getting plain jigs from someone into it… helping them recover some cost, and painting here.

Will look forward to seeing any images.

Here are four baits hung on a 1/32 head. The 1″ Gulp minnow is second from the left…the smelt color. For size reference, the white/chartreuse stinger’s body is 1/4″ diameter. The Gulp was tricky because everything was cold…air temperature outdoors. That’s one of the beauties of an un-heated garage. Gulp is stiff when it get cold but it still mounted just fine once I got a grip on the slippery critter.

The three plastics shown mounted are the three best producers this last fall as the water temps began to sink. Not necessarily the same color patterns, but the same baits.

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Tom do you plan on painting the heads ?

You sure you don’t want to make up some more of these and sell me a few!

Tom Sawvell wrote:

I’ll be in touch by pm when I figure the molds out properly.

Add me to that PM list… I’d love to pour, but as said, can’t justify getting it started for my low use, and low number of friends to share them with.

Great lookin heads Tom. Put me on that pm list too.