Washing jigs?

[Gringo Pescador]

After a day on the river, I normally get home, unload everything and put it away. In that process I take my jig boxes, open them up and put em on a shelf to air out/dry off.

Well, I just got back from vacation, went to hit the river and realized that on my last outing before I left I didn't take the jig box out of my fishing vest. Opened it up and sure enough there were little mold spots on the foam and some on a few of the jigs. Luckily I carry a small box of go to jigs in my vest and a larger box full of replacements in my backpack so all I had to do was go to the backup jig stash.

There are about 15 jigs in this box and I hate to trash em all (most likely I would cut em all down and re-tie them). I was thinking about washing them. My 1st thought was clorox, but I don't want to bleach out the colors. My 2nd thought is dish soap. Either way I am worried about scent turning off the bite.

Anybody have any suggestions?

[scott080379]

Vinegar and baking soda....all natural............then boil them in a pot and let dry. That is the best thing I have found and to be honest it all natural so no chemicals to worry about. When you boil them it will take all the vinegar smell out of them.

[G-Man]

There is something about Lemon Joy that seems to work wonders on removing scent from lures. It's a tip that has been around for decades. If your using scent or bait with your jigs, it's in your best interest to wash them after every use.

[scott080379]

There is something about Lemon Joy that seems to work wonders on removing scent from lures. It's a tip that has been around for decades. If your using scent or bait with your jigs, it's in your best interest to wash them after every use.

that works as well and a lot of fisherman use that method to was all fishing gear. I use it to wash my flashers, also some people will put a couple drops their flashers and spread it around before sending it down.

there are many things that you can use out there. The main reason I brought up the baking soda and vinegar is cause of the mold. it is one of the safest ways to kill mold.

[Gringo Pescador]

Now that you mention it, I have heard about using Lemon Joy. Didn't think of baking powder and vinegar. Due to the mold, I will give that a shot.

I wonder if the jigs will hold up to boiling water though..

[Bodofish]

I just use a tiny dot of dish soap in bunch of water. Rinse well ang hang to dry. Always nice and fluffy for the next time.

[akochman09]

never done this but why not borax? its soap and we put it on eggs...........

[scott080379]

The joy will not kill the mold jsut make it go away until the next time they get wet and stay that way. you have to kill it to get rid of it.

Joy is the best thing to use after a trip though.

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

throw in a borax solution

or use them as is with the mold. after a few casts, the mold will wash off anways. plus, the fish don't care. and after all, a river is not exactly a pristine mold-free/bacteria-free environment anyways.

[Gringo Pescador]

Washed em in baking powder and white vinegar with a toothbrush
(if you do this, make sure your container is large enough to contain the foam that is created when mixing the two#-o )
Rinsed em in boiling water
Then washed em in Joy with a toothbrush
Rinsed em again.
Strung em on a length of line, dried em with my wife's hair dryer.
A few still have small mold stains, a couple faded a little, but for the most part they turned out great!

Thanks for the tips!

[panfisher]

Vinegar and baking soda....all natural............then boil them in a pot.

Throw away the lures and Drink the soup

[scott080379]

Vinegar and baking soda....all natural............then boil them in a pot.

Throw away the lures and Drink the soup

nasty.

[Anonymous]

Washed em in baking powder and white vinegar with a toothbrush
(if you do this, make sure your container is large enough to contain the foam that is created when mixing the two#-o )
Rinsed em in boiling water
Then washed em in Joy with a toothbrush
Rinsed em again.
Strung em on a length of line, dried em with my wife's hair dryer.
A few still have small mold stains, a couple faded a little, but for the most part they turned out great!

Thanks for the tips!

One tip.... Mixing soda and vinegar defeats the purpose. They will neutralize each other. Vinegar is used for cleaning fishy smells because it's an acid and will attack the proteins. Really very good at getting fish smell out. Soda is a good odor absorber and is mildly abrasive and somewhat caustic. It's abrasive nature that makes it good at cleaning/grinding stains out.

I guess the big question is...... Are we talking about rubber jigs or feather and fur???? I'm guessing rubber with the aggressiveness of the scrubbing.

If they are rubber you might want to try oxi clean next time. Very good at removing organic material. I use it for washing plugs and kwik fish.

[scott080379]

Washed em in baking powder and white vinegar with a toothbrush
(if you do this, make sure your container is large enough to contain the foam that is created when mixing the two#-o )
Rinsed em in boiling water
Then washed em in Joy with a toothbrush
Rinsed em again.
Strung em on a length of line, dried em with my wife's hair dryer.
A few still have small mold stains, a couple faded a little, but for the most part they turned out great!

Thanks for the tips!

One tip.... Mixing soda and vinegar defeats the purpose. They will neutralize each other. Vinegar is used for cleaning fishy smells because it's an acid and will attack the proteins. Really very good at getting fish smell out. Soda is a good odor absorber and is mildly abrasive and somewhat caustic. It's abrasive nature that makes it good at cleaning/grinding stains out.

I guess the big question is...... Are we talking about rubber jigs or feather and fur???? I'm guessing rubber with the aggressiveness of the scrubbing.

If they are rubber you might want to try oxi clean next time. Very good at removing organic material. I use it for washing plugs and kwik fish.

you are 100% correct on the purpose of both but when you combine the two it creates a chemical reaction that will help get the mixture into all the fur/feathers or any other part of the jig.

Never even thought about oxi clean, I am sure that would work great as well....hmm I have some in my closet that I never use........Thanks Bodo

[Anonymous]

Washed em in baking powder and white vinegar with a toothbrush
(if you do this, make sure your container is large enough to contain the foam that is created when mixing the two#-o )
Rinsed em in boiling water
Then washed em in Joy with a toothbrush
Rinsed em again.
Strung em on a length of line, dried em with my wife's hair dryer.
A few still have small mold stains, a couple faded a little, but for the most part they turned out great!

Thanks for the tips!

One tip.... Mixing soda and vinegar defeats the purpose. They will neutralize each other. Vinegar is used for cleaning fishy smells because it's an acid and will attack the proteins. Really very good at getting fish smell out. Soda is a good odor absorber and is mildly abrasive and somewhat caustic. It's abrasive nature that makes it good at cleaning/grinding stains out.

I guess the big question is...... Are we talking about rubber jigs or feather and fur???? I'm guessing rubber with the aggressiveness of the scrubbing.

If they are rubber you might want to try oxi clean next time. Very good at removing organic material. I use it for washing plugs and kwik fish.

Thanks Bodo - they are feather and fur jigs. What I did wasn't really scrubbing, more like brushing out the matted mess.
To be a little more precise, I took an empty plastic salsa container, put about 2 tablespoons of baking soda in it, then about a cup of vinegar and dropped the jigs in while it was reacting.
Then once it died down I stirred the soup (causing more reaction) for about a minute.
After that, took the tooth brush, brushed out each one (kind of like brushing tangles out of hair - ah I remember when I had hair).
Rinsed well and then basically did the same with the Lemon Joy wash.
Oh, I also took a 2nd (dry) tooth brush and brushed em out again while drying them with the hair dryer (my wife already thinks I am nuts - so when she saw me doing this, she just rolled her eyes and moved on).
It might have been overkill, but damn if they didn't come out nice!
Wish I would've taken before and after pictures!

[Bodofish]

Hehehe yeah, I remember that hair stuff too.... I'm pretty sure you're far from alone when it comes to wives thinking you're nuts. It sounds like your jigs were kinda nasty. Just wash 'em when you get home and hang them to dry, when rinsing them, just run the water over them the right way and you won't need the brush or the hairdryer. They kind of look like a drowned cat but when they dry a little shake and puff of breath and they look like new.