Tube fisherman, need feedback

[PoorBoy]

Im am getting sick of paying an arm and a leg for tube heads. I dont have the time or the supplies to do it myself. So i am working on getting quality heads with quality hooks poured up for a fraction of what other companies are charging.

I need as much feedback from as many different people as possible to establish what the masses look for in a tube head.

What brand of hooks do you guys prefer. And what style.

What size hook do you look for for different weight heads.

Do you prefer light wire or heavy wire, or both in different situations.

How heavy do you typically use. Do you cap it off at 3/8. does anyone prefer a 1/2 oz. 1/2 oz is the hardest size for me to find. and when i do find them, i am paying up to $1.17 each for a gamakatsu hook.

Do you buy cheaper heads for practice and use premiuim hooks when it counts?

Please, any input would help. Plus, if all goes well i will have a sweet source for everyone to purchase tube heads much cheaper than we are paying now.

PoorBoy himself

[emeryj]

Poorboy,

My buddies and I pour a few hundred hooks every spring to get us through the year. What I have found out is that everyone is different when it come to weights we all prefer. Most of us are pretty serious, so we almost exclusively use Gamakatsu hooks. I inherited a couple hundred pounds of lead from a guy that used to pour cannon balls. So I pretty much figure that the price of the hook is what I actually have into it. Keep in mind that I'm not factoring in the cost of equipment, I am not doing this for a business, I just pretty much figure 35 cents per jig versus $1.00 plus is good enough for me.

Although recently, I had an old timer show me how to sharpen a hook very easily and extremely sharp, I may be able to get away with some of the cheaper hooks that have the backbone of a Gammie, but just not the sharpness.

I will tell you that a lot of us pour quite a few 1/8 oz hooks. Our local club fishes mostly inland lakes and 1/8 oz is plenty for them unless the wind really starts to pick up.

Just a little tip for you PB, we took a dremmel and opened up the grooves so that we can put 5/0 gamies in our molds... yes even for the 1/8 oz jigs.

Now... I've met you at the DK open and know that you're very mechanically inclined, so this is not rocket science to you, but if you have any more questions please get a hold of me. If you want, send me a PM and I can even give you a call.

Something else to think about is soft plastics, now I don't know you well enough to know for sure... but I'm guessing that you are not the owner of the same name bait company right? Because if you are... then the next thing I'm going to tell you is going to sound REALLY foolish.

I started pouring my own soft plastics a couple of months ago, I can make a Yamamoto quality stik bait for somewhere between 10-12 cents each. AND... they look just like the real thing. I'm also going to start pouring my own tubes and twin tail grubs this winter.

With a couple of my friends and pouring some pretty good quantities... I figure that we can have 3 to 4 times the baits this year for the same money that we would spend at the store, not to mention the time spent with friends being a bonus.

Like I said, if you want, get a hold of me and I can give a lot more info on the phone without typing a novel.

I hope this helps,

Josh

[PoorBoy]

Thanks for the reply. And no i am not the owner of PoorBoy bait company. Wish i would have thought of that one first tho, that guy is makin a killin. I was on the pro staff for a minute, hence the name.

I am not puring these myself. A new sponsor is pouring them. He is a guide and pours tube heads, ball heads and ties hair jigs ( which are sweeeeet btw ). But i told him with his prices i can round up a bunch of business. which i already have just from people i know personally.

But i got to thinking, why should everyone else be paying so much. Other than guys who pour there own, everyone is forking out tons of dough for this little heads. On a good day on the st clair river, or other parts of st clair, or erie i will lose 5, maybe 10, sometimes 20 or more in a day. If i am paying $0.75 each that adds up quick.

I got sick of paying so much, so i went looking. And i found this guy.

He can pour a thousand a day of any size. And has thousands already stocked. they ship in 2 days. And the price is unbeatable.

So in exchange for him hooking me up with product i am trying to round him up some business. Which i dont think will be hard. Right now we are working on getting the right lineup. Originally, he was only using mustad hooks. 3/0 was the biggest and 3/8 the heaviest.

I talked him into stocking gamakatsu hooks in 4/0 and 5/0 and he is also having a 1/2 oz mold custom made.

The price is right. I know they will sell. I took 1000 to one tournament last year and sold all but 150. I sold those 2 days later. Guys couldnt believe the price. And since then, he has shipped several hundred up to guys in Michigan who heard of him from guys who i sold to. All this at the very end of the season. I cant imagine the response if i got hooked up with him in the spring. So thats why we are eyeing 06.

And thats why i want to get as much feedback from guys on what they want. I know we cant make everyone happy at once, but eventually he will be doing custom orders. Once i have a good idea on what the masses are looking for ( which i already have a good idea but want to make sure ) i will display the price list.

I have been doing a lot of homework. looking up everyone who sells them. So far no one is close. Obvioulsy the each price wont look that dramatically different. But on bulk order of 25 or more, it will add up to some real savings.

Where i come in is, i will have them shipped to me at a cheap flat rate. then i will package them and sell them as well. that way guys can save on shipping. Plus, we are looking at a few retailers who wont mark them up so much. The key here is to keep it inexpensive. As an example, we will be selling a 1/2 oz with a Gamakatsu hook for around $0.55 each, $0.50 on bulk orders. the whole price list isnt set up yet, but i think you will agree that that price is phenominal compared to what companies are charging.

It is a good deal for everyone.

PoorBoy himself

[blakstr1]

i picked up 4/0 Owner jig head hooks for pouring last year, they are incredible..expensive but incredible. they have a black fisnish, they don't rust and are the sharpest i've come across. we pour out of one of those little pots you buy at BPS with the handheld molds. it works pretty good for me and my buddy, we do about 200 each for the year, 1/8 1/4 3/8 then a few 1/2's and 3/4's. doing them yourself is the way to go though, the pre-made pre-packaged ones out there, in my opinion, don't measure up.

[Revtro]

Since I fish St. Clair, the channels, and the St. Clair river a lot, heavier jig heads (1/2, 3/4) with 5/O Gamakatsu hooks are what cost me the most money. Another hook I use a whole lot is a 5/O - 1/4oz Gam. I'd love to start saving some money with these.

By the way, EmeryJ, I really want to get into pouring some soft plastics, especially the stick baits. I should own stock in Yamamoto Enterprises and Tiki by now with how much darn money I spent on stickbaits this year. I would really like to learn how to make soft plastics. I understand you need a microwave for it. So I'm interested in learning about the actual ingredients (colors, additives, plastics, salt) and molds. Any info you want to toss my way would be cool.

[cameraguy]

I pour my own jig and tube heads. I use Mustad UltraPoint 3/0 & 4/0 black hooks. I get my lead from my dentist (who also uses them to pour jigs and sinkers,etc) who gives me the lead foil inserts from those x-ray wedge things. I pour all sizes from 1/8 to 3/4 and a 1/2 spinnerbait which is a pain in the butt. Barlow's Tackle is a good source for materials as is Jann's Netcraft.