I asked this on a tackle board with no takers...anybody here try this?

I have a couple older Tady 45s that are duds (when they had 7-8 different molds). Anyone have success trying to reshape duds modeled on ones that swim nice? I figure it couldn't hurt to file on them as they are only good for restaurant fish net decorations currently.

Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

Try it and if it works post pix please.
Tight lines,
Wade

Do it David. Give those duds some hips. What are you going to use to grind them? A bench grinder would be perfect, if you have the right touch. At least Tady doesn't have that issue anymore.

Amish Ed
You can't catch it again if it's dead!

TacklePro/FKPFishing Pro Staff Member

I had some time today so I drew an outline with a pen around a proven swimmer on paper. I then took two duds and individually traced each one over an outline of the good jig. I could now see what had to be reshaped (excess bumps, wrong hip, etc.). Fortunately, the jigs I have are roughly the same in shape (same mold?) so I could do this. I have another that is not from one of those molds, so no hope there. I transferred the offending areas to the jigs with a Sharpie pen and then slowly filed away. The outlines now match (hip points, subtle offsets, etc.). I also looked at the jigs' profile and noticed that there were areas that bulged up on the curved side of the jig near the tail. I filed these to match the "hero" jig. Most of the varying prob areas seemed to be from being ground wrong by a worker (dulled hip point, not enough ground off). As Ed mentioned, I think they have a standardized mold now so the variables are far less. I used a flat bastard file for the rough removal followed by a mill bastard file (love those names).

In the pics, the left jig is a good one I modeled. The pen marks show the areas I filed away on the center and right jigs (sides, convex tail area, nose, etc.). The right one was a clunker with excess outline and a thick tail hence the massive filing. The second pic shows outlines better. I tried them out and they now swim beautifully. Before they only rolled side to side. Here's a few pics:

Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

I had a bunch of em when I was a kid that didn't work....I took a ball peen hammer to the back of the jig and dented it in more...They actually ended up swimming better....Now I use the 545 jigs, if you like a loose swimming iron there the way to go...They swim great everyime....Warren

P.S. no affiliation.....