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Id get a few new molds.just smelted down 125lbs of lead the other day.been making 6 and 8oz no rolls for catfishing lately.
Will these do it molds only be for lead pouring or for soft plastics as well? I started pouring my own ice plastics this season and had quite a bit of success with them.
The bubba scud is ok. The tentacle arms don’t have much action though compared to some of my other molds. I’ve fished mostly blue Gill, crappie, and perch with the plastics and always have a number of bass that hit them.All work, and depending on the day and fish mood they seem to either want the smaller ones or the larger ones. The ice pick, ice tickler, and waxie wiggler, and ball tail have all been good.On neutral to tuff bites the tiny curly tail and small ice bug really pay off.
I really like the ice dancer from Fat guys fishing.
Speaking of molds i just bought a spinnerbait mold.im a lucky strike jimmy Houston spinnerbait fanboy and sick of paying 6$ a piece.can make almost the exact replica for less than 2$.found another lead connection and paying about 20$ for 120 lbs.its harder wheel weight lead but works fine for jigs,sinkers.splitshot need pliers to close tho.i ladle pour 6 and 8oz sinkers.my lee bottom pour is too slow for big weights as hard lead with antimony/tin cools faster than pure lead.
For those that don't mold lead a lot--When pouring VERY SMALL jigs like these, use a HIGH or pure lead for these. I buy the lead pipe flanges at Menards and melt down (easy to get when I need them) BUT, it's an expensive lead that's ONLY used for ice jigs-- rest of my lead is for big bass/musky jigs and can use wheel weights for that.
I get most my molds from rock island.i scored 4 molds at a garage sale friday,3/4 oz jig mold,3/8 to 1/16th jig mold,1/2 to 3/4 cannonball mold and a 3/8 to 1/2 jig mold along with 600 brass eyelets for 50$.2 molds are in the new original packaging.
I’ve found that spraying molds with Frankfort drop out, and heating the mold up before you pour it makes a world of difference, and will allow a guy to use the lead that is not so pure for small jigs. It is a bit of a learning curve though. If anyone is looking for molds. Rock island sports is the best price on molds, and is free shipping with $50 purchase. Also, I’ve found that putting the small plastic molds in the oven at 170* warms them up and will get tails to fill out in tuff molds. (Like my 1in curly tail grub)
Thanks IA, like that Frankford tip, will give it a shot-- mold a bunch of 1/64th oz and they are a BEAST!!!!!!Anyways, I know this isn't lead based but, whats the BARE MINIMUM setup for shooting ice plastics- injector, microwave, mold, plastics-- missing anything that's important (other than PPE)?THANKS