How to make fishing jigs. How to make a cat's eye jig with your own hands

What is a jig? This is a small weight of a certain color and shape, into which a hook and a hole for fishing line were mounted. Jigs serve as artificial bait for fish. Various alloys and metals are used for manufacturing.

In this article we will talk about homemade jigs, look at several ways to make them, and compare homemade and purchased jigs.

Making a jig with your own hands

Now we will look at several types of jigs that can be made at home, as well as methods of their manufacture. It will readily respond to these jigs both.

A jig made from lead pellets

To make this pellet you need minimum tool, namely: a lead pellet of the required weight, a hook (read below on how to choose the size), a thin awl or needle and a soldering iron.

Take a pellet and pierce it through the middle with a thin awl (needle).

Next you will need to give the pellet cone shape. To do this, you need a flat surface with sufficient friction. As such a surface, you can use the back side of the tile or a table on the surface of which sandpaper is spread.
When the pellet turns out to be approximately the same as in the photo, you need trim the edges of the pellet with a file, after which you can proceed to the next step. Make a puncture diagonally from the thick end of the pellet (see photo on the right). Through this hole you will put the future jig on the fishing line.

Now about the hook. Look at the resulting jig blank and select a hook whose width about a quarter more, than the diameter of the body of the jig. Now cut off the ring from the hook and tin the rest of the shank with soldering acid.

Just in case, in the place where the fishing line will be threaded, before soldering, insert a wire that cannot be soldered. Tungsten wire works well, or just an old rusty piece of steel wire or nails.

You need to solder the hook to the body of the jig in such a way that the tip of the hook looked at the attachment point jig to the fishing line, or at least it was as close as possible to this. Then all you have to do is wash the jig with soap.

If necessary, the jig can be painted in any color. For coloring the jig there are many ways. For example, you can immerse a jig for a couple of hours in a solution of potassium permanganate, the temperature in which will be approximately 60 degrees Celsius. After a couple of hours, the jig will turn dark brown. The result can be seen below.

Jig with a hook made of copper

Copper is a relatively heavy material, and it can be used to obtain good jigs . To make a jig you will need copper wire (approximately 3 mm in diameter), a hook, a file or a hacksaw for metal, and a soldering iron.

Take a small piece of copper wire and use a file to shape it into a cone shape. Next, using a hacksaw, make a recess in the cone relative to its generatrix. The body of the jig is ready.

You can see another option for making a jig with your own hands in this video, where the author talks in detail about making nozzle jig. In addition to another option for making a jig, this video shows many tools that will be useful to you while working on a homemade jig.

Advantages and disadvantages of homemade jigs

Many people probably have a question: why bother making jigs if the store has jigs of any size, characteristics, shapes, made from any necessary material, both branded and homemade? Opinions differ on this matter. Some experienced fish make their own jigs or buy them from craftsmen, while others deny the benefits of homemade jigs and use only branded ones.

The advantage of homemade jigs is that you choose all the parameters yourself jigs, making it for yourself. Not all purchased jigs will meet your requirements. The disadvantages of homemade jigs can only appear due to insufficient experience in their production.

The topic of making jigs is very extensive, and each fisherman has his own experience in this matter. What advice would you give on making jigs?

A jig is an artificial bait for catching fish. This is a small weight with a certain color and shape with a built-in hook in which there is a hole for fishing line. This device is made of different alloys and metals. Can be attached to a jig different types bait or do without it (during winter fishing). It is suitable for catching different types of fish (predatory and non-predatory). Many fishermen, buying jigs in stores, try to remake them at their discretion. Most fishermen make this bait themselves.
You can attach different types of bait to the jig or do without it (during winter fishing). It is suitable for catching different types of fish (predatory and non-predatory). Many fishermen, buying jigs in stores, try to remake them at their discretion. Most fishermen make this bait themselves.

To make bait at home you will need a minimum number of tools and widely available materials. At home, jigs are usually made of lead (soldered or forged).
The materials can be thin-rolled scraps of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as their alloys. This can be bronze, tungsten (for this you need machines and special tools), tin of coffee cans, cupronickel, stainless steel, coins (royal or made in the 20s).
Gear can be made from any available materials: cans from canned food, various types of containers for metal packaging (they sell piece and bulk materials). The baits are coated with anti-corrosion material.

Fishermen also use other materials: copper wire, plastic, epoxy resin, stainless steel electrodes. Homemade baits can be used for all types of fishing (summer, winter).

What should you pay attention to when making your own jig?

There are dozens of types of gear, they have many distinctive features. For a novice fisherman, the procedure for selecting certain parameters is the most difficult. It is for this reason that you need to follow some tips for making bait.

Fish, when searching for food, rely on hearing, smell, touch and vision, which is why when choosing a jig, its shape is important, it is this that influences good game bait. Every fisherman needs to know how the shape affects the play of the jig; often the fish starts to bite when it is very close to the bottom. When making gear with your own hands, its shape will play a very important role.

Form

The shape of the jig and its effect on the game: If the shape is flat, then it will form small clouds of turbidity and at the same time disperse them; Flattened on both sides (top and bottom), capable of raising turbidity and located near the bottom; If it has the shape of a pellet or drop, then hitting the bottom it will create fountains of turbidity; The “ant” or “Ural” bait does not deviate from the vertical during the game, but their hooks are capable of making turns left and right; With a “devil” or “barrel” shape, the bait is immersed in the mud; if the position is vertical, then deviations to the sides are excluded; If the jig is in the form of a cone, then at the bottom, it only enters the top layer of silt.

Weight

Types of these gears are divided according to weight category, there are light and heavy. In the manufacture of the latter, a hard alloy of metals is used, but this type has a big drawback - they are difficult to process, which is why they are rough in shape, as well as with uneven edges and holes. Because of this, the fishing line may be damaged. A lightweight bait is made of elastic nylon or plastic, its weight does not exceed 35 grams.

How to catch more fish?

Over 13 years of active fishing, I have found many ways to improve the bite. And here are the most effective:

• Bite activator. Attracts fish in cold and warm water with the help of pheromones included in the composition and stimulates its appetite. It’s a pity that Rosprirodnadzor wants to impose a ban on its sale.
• More sensitive gear. Read the relevant manuals for a specific type of gear on the pages of my website.
• Pheromone-based lures.

Hook

The hook also plays an important role; it must be soldered in very well, otherwise the fish will break off. The best would be a single-bend hook. When purchasing a set of hooks, the set may contain overheated ones (they will be brittle) and unheated ones (they will be soft). Strength can be determined by pressing the middle of the hook with your fingernail. If the quality is good, then it will bend only with strong pressure.

The tip of the hook should be sharp enough (to ensure strong hooks). To make tackle, it is advisable to use hooks with a forged cross-section; they are many times stronger than similar ones.

Color

Research has proven that any fish can distinguish a range of colors; there are also species that distinguish a greater number of shades than humans. Waterfowl are able to distinguish colors even in the dark. It is for this reason that it is necessary to make bait exactly the same color as the food of this type of fish. Red is generally preferred due to the fact that many fish feed on bloodworms. You can also make black baits; they look like leeches, bugs and crustaceans. Those feeding on fry will bite on silver or golden bait. If the fish eats algae, the color should be green.

Manufacturing methods

There are several ways, using which the gear is made:

1. The cutting method is considered the simplest; for this you need to prepare one of the materials: copper, brass, bronze, steel (stainless steel) or silver. Using a metal file or jigsaw, cut out the desired shape. Sand the edges with sandpaper or a fine file. Then you need to take a hook, no larger than 4 in size, and solder it to the workpiece. To add weight to the bait, you need to drop a small amount of lead onto one of its sides.
2. If the soldering method is chosen, then you need to take thin sheets of metal that resemble foil in appearance. From these sheets you can make the desired shape and insert a hook into the hole, after which you need to solder the result well. To increase weight, you can also drop lead. Using soldering, you can make jigs from wire.
3. To make bait from lead, forging is used. Using a hammer and anvil, you need to give the required thickness to the workpiece, then use a file to give it the required shape. You will have to remove the eye from the hook and thoroughly clean the fore-end, treat it with soldering acid and solder it to lead.
4. The longest and most difficult method is casting. You need to take two blocks of wood from flat surface. In both bars you need to make similar holes for jigs so that when connected, you get a single whole. A hook is inserted into the holes and filled with metal.
5. You can also upgrade any purchased jig at your discretion. After the bait is ready, you need to proceed to the painting stage, it can be of several types:
   1. The jig is covered with wax, and so is the hook. The wax must be removed from those parts that will subsequently be blackened.
   2. The bait is placed in a glass with a tight plastic lid and put away in a warm place (preferably on a radiator). After a few days, the areas that have been cleared of wax will begin to turn black. When they turn completely black, they need to be immersed in water for a couple of days. If you need to paint the jig, you can use any type of enamel paint. Some fishermen also coat the bait with nail polish.

Features of do-it-yourself jigs for certain types of fish

Jig for crucian carp

In order to make bait for crucian carp, you will need to select the following items: a soldering iron, a hook size from 12 to 14, a thin pin, acid, a fluoroplastic plate, a small piece of rubber, lard or oil. When manufacturing, you need to take into account the following details: the diameter should not be more than 3 mm, the material should allow the bait to quickly sink to the bottom, the shape should be a ball, a droplet, a pellet, a disk, an ant or a bug.

Jig for perch

The following shapes are chosen for perch: droplet, ball, insect or larva. The size should not exceed 4 mm; if fishing takes place in a river with an excellent current, then the size can be larger. For perch, it is necessary to make a bait that is not too heavy and colored either in dark or shiny colors.

Jig for bream

The sizes are chosen independently, the larger the bait, the bigger fish will peck. It is better to make the shape elongated and elongated or in the form of a drop. The largest specimens will peck at the oatmeal. The color scheme should be calm, because... Bream may be afraid of bright bait.

Jig for roach

For roach, you should choose bait that is most similar to natural bait. Ant shapes (necessarily black), droplets up to 4 mm (preferably dark) or uralka.

Improving the quality and catchability of winter jigs

Quite often it happens that a well-made jig has a very bad hook. To eliminate the defect, you need to use a soldering iron and replace the hook. But this is only possible if the bait is made of tungsten. It happens that there is a need to correct the shape; for this, the bait is ground off by hand or by machine. Also, to upgrade the bait, you need to insert a plastic cambric so that the sharp edges do not tear the fishing line. To improve catchability, paint the bait in the required colors. To turn a jig into a nozzle, an object is hung on the hook that will move or make noise under water. For any fisherman, the approach to choosing a jig is usually very careful. But it happens that when you buy a device you like, it does not quite meet the necessary requirements or the purchase is of poor quality.

In these cases, the fisherman begins to independently upgrade the bait. Many, having suffered with this type of acquisition, prefer to make their own jigs; after spending a small amount of time, they receive an item that fully meets their desires and needs.

DIY jig video

Many will ask - why? Why do something with your own hands, if now everything can be bought at any fishing store. That's right, a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors, prices, branded and handicraft, are presented in fishing stores in a wide range.

Installing a cambric into a jig:

Another tweak, is to improve the attractiveness of the jig, not only from the aesthetic point of view of the fisherman, but also its working properties - catchability. Everything is quite simple here. If you are not satisfied with the natural metallic shine of a tungsten jig, jig can be painted by dipping into the desired color of varnish or paint, which is not afraid of water and has good adhesion (adhesion) to the metal.

To turn an ordinary jig into a nozzle, also called rewindless, or mothless, you need to hang something movable on the shank of the hook that creates additional noise under water. These can be colored cambrics, beads, wool. Although, you can successfully catch without any attachments at all, due to the technique of playing with a jig.

Video

In this collection of videos you will find many ways to make jigs at home - by casting, soldering, mechanically.

Making catchy jigs

Catchable jig in 10 minutes

To prepare and replenish their arsenal of gear for winter fishing, anglers have to buy a large number of jigs. To put it simply, a jig is a consumable, it doesn’t last for a long time, and it’s terrible to fish as much as you want, so the purchase trips continue again. Losing a jig while fishing is commonplace. The fish breaks it off, just like the fisherman does with a sharp withdrawal, sometimes it gets untied due to unreliable fastening, and the jig hook also breaks. When you come to the store to buy a jig, you are sure to buy something else, it’s like a disease... Having a little time and desire, you can make most of the jigs, even from tungsten, yourself at home. I’m not bragging, but all my homemade jigs are of much better quality than similar store-bought ones. Otherwise, my friends wouldn’t pester me with constant requests. solder they need jigs.

At home there is nothing complicated in self-production soldered jigs type " peephole". If you calculate the time and money costs for making one soldered jig, they are very low. In one day it is quite possible to solder a hundred catchable and high-quality jigs for the entire winter fishing season.

To make a soldered jig you will need:

1. A steel plate with drilled holes as an anvil, at least 10 mm thick (at your discretion, even a piece of rail will do);
2. Balls from bearings with the diameters with which you want to make jigs, please note that the holes in the steel plate must have the same diameters as the balls;
3. Electric soldering iron;
4. Copper or brass foil;
5. Fishing hooks;
6. Tin, soldering acid, rosin;
7. Emery cloth, file;
8. Toothpicks;
9. Pliers;
10. Awl;
11. Sewing needle;
12. Potato tuber.

The procedure for making the eye jig

The principle of making a jig is to knock out a crown from copper or brass foil using a ball from a bearing. How to understand what diameter of the ball is needed to make an eye for a jig? To do this, you need to take a caliper and measure the diameter of any similar jig. This way you can choose as many as you like different sizes balls, both larger and smaller in size from the jig that you measured. Selecting drills to match the diameters of the balls, we make holes in the steel plate. After drilling, remove the burrs.

The equipment is ready, the materials are prepared, let’s move on to making the jig.

We take copper or brass foil, place it on the drilled hole, and place a ball on top.

Using a hammer, lightly hit the ball.

The ball will press the hole into the foil, giving it its own diameter.

You will get this convex blank for the crown of the jig's eye.

Then we need to place the workpiece on a hole with a slightly smaller diameter, this will help to punch soft copper or brass evenly along the entire circumference by hitting a steel ball. To quickly separate the crown, it is necessary to strike with a hammer in the direction of the edge of the hole and so on along the entire diameter.

We get a convex mold of the future jig in which the hook will be mounted.

Using an awl, we punch a hole for the fishing line to pass through.

We insert a toothpick into the hole for convenience and grind the edges using sandpaper or a file to smooth them out.

We take a potato tuber with a shape that prevents rolling, for which you can trim bottom part and make a hole on top.

We place a crown on a toothpick and stick it into the potato, so that the toothpick protrudes sufficiently into the hole of the crown.

We clean the hook for applying solder.

Take soldering acid.

Apply acid to the hook with a toothpick.

Apply soldering acid to the crown.

Using an electric soldering iron, apply a layer of molten tin to the hook (tinning).

We fix the hook with sticking on the tuber as follows.

We seal the hook in the hole of the crown with tin.

The hole sealed with tin along with the hook should look like this.

Take out the toothpick. We remove the remaining wood with a needle.

Use sandpaper to sand down the uneven surfaces and protruding edges of the tin. For shine, you can polish with GOI paste using felt.

The jig is ready.

• Fishing in the region:
• Fishing during the seasons:
• Fishing:

Every experienced fisherman, already in the summer, prepares in advance for winter fishing. Sets up gear, repairs lures and makes fishing crafts with his own hands. Purchased baits can be beautiful and catchy, but manufactured gear with my own hands, it’s much more interesting and there’s something to spend your free time on. Today we will try to make a homemade jig from wire, which will definitely show good results in winter fishing.

To make a wire jig you will need the following materials:
copper wire (can be used of any diameter up to 0.5 mm);
lead or tin;
pin or piece of steel wire;
wire cutters;
pliers;
stationery knife;
hook;
beads (color can be changed as desired).

The process of making a winter jig from wire:
1. You need to wrap several strands of wire on pliers or you can use sushi sticks.
2. We cut off the excess pieces of wire and get a blank for the future bait.

3. Take a wooden block and use a pin to attach the wire blank as shown in the photo.
4. Insert a fishing hook into the future jig and secure it with sewing needles or regular wire.
5. Heat the lead over a fire and pour it into a wire jig. The result is a sloppy model of the bait, which needs to be processed using wire cutters - to separate the excess lead and finish it with a file to make it beautiful.

6. We put multi-colored beads on the hook (in this case, yellow and brown) and thread the fishing line.

A winter wire jig is ready for use on a pond. All that remains is to wait for the cold weather and strong ice and you can go after trophy fish. I wish everyone successful and productive fishing! Invent and make your own fishing lures!