Do-it Flutter JIG

[Hawnjigs]

I'm gradually getting aquainted with the hard core locals in my area, mostly older retired guys who fish every blessed day weather permitting.  Today,   SERIOUS angler & tackle enthusiast MURRAY (kid you not, 10 spinning outfits racked in his truck camper - my first time St. Croix Legend Elite + similar high ends in hand) mentioned how he has outfished just about any other method at times including baiters with...spoon slabs.  He recommended the Do-it Flutter Jig as the only mold available to cast my preferred finesse sizes.

So, whattaya guys think - are slab JIGS effective?  I'm thinking that for current game wiper they'd be lots easier to surface skim-skip than my current 3/16 ball head Boolie.

 

[slammingjack]

In saltwater oh heck yes they work. Sweet water I have no idea. I was fishing in the ICW one day not catching anything and this guy come walking by and caught three fish with a 1/4 oz. flutter jig.

 

[jiggerjohn]

The Do-it flutter jig seems quite similar to the choice of lures for the Storm "GOMOKu" fishing concept, which has become hugely popular & wildly productive in SE Asia and Australia. Lots of material on gomoku on google, tho I emailed Storm about this for use in our freshwater lakes, and they replied that several of their top guns tried the technique and flutter spoons over here with considerable success! But the company wasn't convinced it would catch on, and held off with US marketting. However, I think a Hawnjigs flutter jig, with his famous shiny tin alloy, would certainly catch a ton ! And,yes, in addition to vertical jigging, these small spoons are often used down under to skim the top for schooling species!

 

[Bucho]

I was very enthusiastic when I heard of a flutter jig lighter than the 2 oz being used in salt water and haven´t been disappointed yet. I have modulated two variants - run-through and swivel - and cast them mainly in tin. It pays off to polish the mold for a more shiny surface.

These things catch anything with fins and are among my best selling articles. Even in areas where slabs are unheard of, s.a. shallow water wading for searun brown trout, they excell. I`ve had double-digit follow up orders for single variants of them which is very unusual.

I send samples to a FB friend in MI who was very enthusiastic about them also- 11 lake trout the first day, 2 large Kings the next, etc. The flo-red/black variant even produced specimen baltic perch foraging shrimp - lets just say that´s rare.

I strongly recommend rigging them with a swivel and single hook for better rotation during stops. It is a very, very versatile and productive lure that has excelled whereever it hit water. High mointan lake browns, jacks on the maldives, salmon in the great lakes, perch in the baltic - I cannot think of a setting where I wouldn`t want to have some at hand.

I wrote quite some articles here on them already and will continue to do so. They`re great.

 

[Hawnjigs]

OK, ordered the mold. Wanted to keep my jigging "pure" with embedded fixed single hook style hardware, which is why I wasn't motivated to comment on forum slab postings. Especially with applications and species diverse from local. Helps to know they will work anywhere on anything tho.

I was wondering whether to polish the flat mold faces for more shine or leave them ruff for a natural appearance scaled effect. Was planning to run them straight out of the mold cast with shiny tin of course, do the prismatic reflective stick ons work better?

My initial use is for surface skimming wipers, and plan to slightly convex bend the bottom to moderate uncontrolled aerial hops. Murray also puts a slight bend about a third back from the front for subsurface retrieves, is this design mod functional?

 

[Bucho]

I never fished them blank but thats only for marketing reasons. I`m 100% sure tins will work just fine straight out of the mold. If, for one reason or another, you should deciede other then bear in mind that stick-on foil wil hold much better on a smoot surface. Half-side brush tappings of pp in particular produce a rough surface that simply isn`t suitable for tape.

Personally, I never felt the need to bend them, they run just fine as they are, either horizontally or jigged. Again, try putting a swivel as a bearing between the slab and the hook. Particularly with the smaller sizes you have in mind, that will significally help with the spin under abrupt stops which is very, very effective.

 

[hookup]

I have two flutter jig molds - one stock & one heavily modified. The modified one takes the 91768 black nickel Mustad hook and a hitch hiker. The smaller hooks go great w/ stick baits & grubs, the bigger swim baits. I'll also shove a piece of a used stick bait up the butt of a tube for more purchase on the hitch hiker. I sacrificed the 3/8oz mold for a 3/16 w/ a dremel and some jb weld on the modified mold.
The stock one I found at a swap meet for anglers for $5. Has the orange handles.

Look around and you'll find a post from me on how I made the jigs. Pix are probably gone with Photobucket changing their policy.

On the rocky ledgy rivers I fish, they are almost snag proof. I can fish on all day & not loose it. Only time I loose them is when I'm running a rapid, cast & get stuck or when I impale it in a sunken log.

Only issue I have is hookup to thumb ratio is not 100 percent.

 

[Bucho]

Hookup I am afraid we´re not speaking of the same thing here.

 

[hookup]

Bucho - you're right

I was thinking of this

http://www.wincoscustomlures.com/Yesterday/html/flutter_head.html

 

[Hawnjigs]

Altho with Bucho's extensive R&D the Do-it Flutter Jig I'm sure it's a superb lure, I actually prefer the fixed hook Do-it Swim Jig design that Hookup GENIUS modified. Racked my brains and the internet for an adaptable vertical eye 1/0 & 2/0 standard gap straight or 30* leg hook to fit, but nada. The only choice fit Eagle Claw bronze hook is a double nono for me.

 

[Bucho]

Modifying the mold to horizontal eye is quick work and opens the whole wide world of 4xlong streamer hooks. Hawn I understand your not a stranger to hook bending and only need a few dozen for private use?

How somebody with your leadfree-skillset can pass on diversifying into such a brilliant lure beats me but I guess thats none of my business. Same for the Do-It Shad Spoon. Excellent tin.

 

[Hawnjigs]

I plead complacency, from satisfactory results with Gulp! on finely tuned for species jig heads. However, the best wiper boil strike motivator appears to be surface commotion best served by poppers, but as a jigger find traditional chunk head jigs inefficient for this purpose, hence investigating slabs with plane hydrodynamics. Actually, I was just thinking today about modifying, and I agree, the brilliant Do-it Swim Jig, for standard horizontal eye hooks. Do you have any favorites - 1/0 & 2/0 black nickel medium wire, not necessarily xlong shanks?

The Do-it style Swim Jig was actually available painted white or yellow & tied with matching feathers 40 yrs. ago, and my #1 favorite surface lure on Hawaiian reefs. But bronze hooks rust and weaken very quickly in salt water, to the point of snapping under load, so had to give those up. Back then had no idea one could pour their own jig heads.

As for the Shad Spoon, the heaviest weight I throw, and that rarely, is 1/4 oz.

 

[Bucho]

The Do-it style Swim Jig was actually available painted white or yellow & tied with matching feathers 40 yrs. ago, and my #1 favorite surface lure on Hawaiian reefs.

Now you got MY wheels spinning! A finesse surface jig for asp would actually be something. Since these are fresh water critters the bronze hook wouldn´t even be an issue. Sorry I had my xxlong streamer hook needs satisfied with a few dozen discontinued VMC Permasteel ones, haven´t looked any further in a while.

Can´t find hookup`s swim jig modulation you mentioned.

Just a thought: Wobble jigs with large props? Never tried them on a fast retrieve, just an idea that crossed my mind. I gave up on swimming them at night for zander because of all the summer-vegitation debris getting stuck in the prop. Not a bad lure though.

 

[hookup]

Hawn - thx for the compliment

I use the Mustad black nickel hook mentioned earlier in the tread. Never had a problem with rust in both salt & fresh - but when fishing salt I rinse everything. I've tried a similar Owner but it was expensive & rusted in fresh water easily.

I have not tired a VMC 7329 hook, but will one of these days.

Bucho - I'll find the thread and post it. No pix because of Photobucket, but I have a PDF if you want me to email it to you

 

[hookup]

www.jigcraft.com/pdf_files/hookup_2012_06_04.pdf

 

[Hawnjigs]

I used Wobble Jig Boolies in Hawaii for slowest possible fall and retrieve in wave wash shallow rock snaggy areas. For surface work, I prefer a hook eye forward jig head, for example, imagine how a Do-it Swim Jig would perform with the hook eye mid slab? So, while ithe spoon design can push a surface wake and the prop churn adds to the commotion, the Wobble Jig isn't my best choice, also because it tends to hang weeds and debris. Another negative for the WJ is poor casting aerodynamics.

The Mustad 91768 and in fact all other brand 28-30* hooks appear to be way oversize for small wipers. Can't speak for the entire line of hooks, but VMC Aberdeen jig hooks in both the standard 9147 and upgrade versions were too soft for my liking. If the Flutter Jig performance or sizes are lacking for my apps guess I'll be shopping for a Swim Jig mold & hooks to bend.

 

[hookup]

The 91768 and the SWM mold works well for the rocky ledgy rivers I fish and are virtually snag-resistant when polishing rocks on the bottom

But then again, my application is small mouth bass in the mid-Atlantic region.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Searched thru the USA Mustad & Gamakatsu catalogs, and couldn't find any black nickel long shank upgrade strength 1/0 & 2/0 hooks, streamer or otherwise, for possible Do-it Swim Jig modified fit. Closest was the Mustad Aberdeen blued finish, others looked like too light wire to handle wipers. Stock fit EC 2190B might be the best choice.

 

[Bucho]

There`s always that one trout around the shipyard that teases me all summer. This summer it was the flutter jig that finally did the trick after even last years winner, the buzz bomb, got only a follow up  and a trout swing tail had only been nibbled. Open water metal jigging is strongly underrated over here. Note the experimental weed guard on the Gami 100 open eye siwash. Works a treat.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Congratulations! - looks like a 2 footer, or whatever that is in metric. Were you cast-retrieving, vert jigging, or something else? Can't tell if the metal is painted - stickered or not?