Anybody make them or do they fall under the chatterbait patent lawsuit deal? Can't find them anywhere.
Anybody make them or do they fall under the chatterbait patent lawsuit deal? Can't find them anywhere.
Lite parts offers a jighead
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I see where I used to buy them quit carrying them.. I suspect they were included in the patent lawsuit deal...
I used to also be able to buy a similar insert to pour in my own jigheads and I don't see those anymore either...
They're starting to show up again in some ways. I'm not sure what the deal is but that may be a sign that they could become available as they used to be. As an example, the D&M version is being sold on Tackle Warehouse as a "swim jig" now. The eye appears to be such that it could be pretty easily opened. They're like $5-$6 a piece and come skirted and all, but that tells me that the mass of products pulled from the market was maybe an over reaction to the patent disputes. I'm no lawyer, but I can't imagine how a company selling a swim jig with an open eye could be violating a patent. They can't control what people do with it after they purchase it.
They're also selling the original Phenix Vibrator as a swim jig. Apparently that eye cannot be easily opened (similar to trying to open an eye on a normal swim jig), but it might be worth trying.
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Thanks for the info I'm going to look into the heads you mentioned.
Gosh it's been a long long time but barlows used to sell open eye Jigheads and all the components to assemble your own baits. I'm assuming Z-man put an end to being able to buy the heads. Had I known at the time that was going to happen I would have stocked up.
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I don't think any lure supply stores sell them anymore. Barlow's tackle use to sell them but they no longer do because of patent infringement, Z-Man's patent includes not only the blade shape but how it is attached to the head so having the open eye heads is an issue. I'm sure if someone pushed the issue in court they could win but it isn't worth the cost and as soon as someone sells an open eye jig head Z-Man will issue a cease and desist notice and the tackle shops don't want to deal with it so you have to make your own by opening the hook eye yourself.
be careful opening the hook eye, I tried this on several different occasions and it did not go well, @ 2/3 of them snapped, I think some of the eyes are tempered more than the rest of the hook maybe?? either way I got a few to work, but then the eye holes were too small for the blade to really work... either way I never trusted them enough after so many broke.. I guess you could try like a bronze eagle claw.. those may not be as hard????
its part of z-mans patent and they will send a cease and desist to anyone selling them. My guess is you probably got some PMs about it as lots of people can make them, but don't want to pay for a lawyer.
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I use an Eagle Claw 730 from Barlow's to make the few I use. I made a 'tool' from a 4-5" screw driver (just a smigin larger than the hook opening) and sharpening the point to make an ice pick type point. I set the hook over a vise, opened just enough to get the tool through, and place the hook over the opening and drive it through until the hook opening is enough to add the blade. I close it with a miniature set of vice grips. Never broke a hook. I use my jig mold for the heads, some with a weed guard and some without...BF
I can make them but only for myself. Adding the split ring gets around the patent. The figure 8 clips inside are what makes the open eye. These are nowhere to be found.
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Guess I was wrong Mike. I don't think the barlows or janns is the same. I searched for 4047 - 02 on lure parts and didn't find it. Apparently it is not listed that way it is only listed as 4047
Last edited by bkeenom; 04-01-2018 at 11:56 AM.
The Jann's in 9/16" is the same size as Barlow's #2 size. But, the Jann's is made of slightly thicker wire.Originally Posted by bkeenom
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You're doing it wrong, I use a mustad hook made for the brush jig mold, don't remember exactly which one. It is a black nickle 60° hook. I use it in a poison tail mold. First thing to do is get a propane torch and heat the eye of the jig down the shank just a little bit and let it cool on its own. Then after you pour your desired head you can open the eye and place the blad and close the eye with no problems of them breaking, and I've heard they straighten out easily but I have straightened the hook out before the eyelet has opened, pulling a snag lose
If you use a punch to open the hook eye, do so with a series of taps with a small hammer. One hard blow will snap the wire.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
I tried the punch and still broke several trying to re-close the eye.. probably wasn't holding my mouth right.. i still didn't think the eye hole was big enough and i didn't really trust it after that.. i like reelstruggle's idea about heating the hook to soften them..
You will need to be very careful to do so, needs to be heated in cycles to 400-500F to anneal and lead melts at 625 or something like that. Additionally, you will never be able to reharden it without melting the lead.
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I wouldn't worry too much about rehardening it. There's so little leverage against they eye of the hook vs the point of the hook it will most likely straighten the hook before the eye opens.
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