San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Okay, my friend Gus gave me a bitchin Jackall tailspin. Casts a mile, catches fish. And once you find that guy in the Ukraine who makes knockoff molds cheap, you can build your own. But before my mold arrives in a few more weeks...took a shot at modifying the ultra minnow mold to make tailspins. There are instructions here and there, and there's even a video on the Do-It website.
How I got this far...

Made a wire form with loops for the top and bottom of the jighead, and a long tail that would stick out the back where the hook would exit the cavity. Put it in the mold...gave it a squeeze to . make a light indentation. Hogged out along the indentation with a 1/16 engraving ball (5 bucks at Home Depot) to get this:
Went ahead and made a few heads for different layouts. Eventually they'll be epoxy powdered..but for now, nail polish prototypes.
And an idea for a loooong tail tailspin, with the blade far enough aft to clear the Yamamoto skirts....
The cool part is that it doesn't mess up the original mold. If you want to cast up regular Ultra Minnows, you can block off the new parts of the cavity with high temp rtv to keep the lead from flowing in there....or just trim off the extra lead loops after you pour the lead.

Now I'm looking at modifying my Diner Shiner molds for rigging with an underspin. Here's the first prototype "Li'l Gus."

I think you should make one with a rotating blade like this https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Duo_Rea ... DUSPN.html and then put a small treble hook behind the blade so Gus can put the hurt on the smelt that are biting the tails off his soft plastics. Maybe a Panther Martin style blade as those seem to work well.