Why would you not just use and ordinary jighead? Well it could be I am getting a little slow in my strike timings and having a treble is a far more reliable way to hook up with toothy critters like pike. The other reason is it separates the hook from the bait and with small pike and large that can mean the bait is on the outside of the mouth so it is much easier to access with a pair of grips, doing less damage to teeth and mouth parts. When fish are deeply hooked the short wire stringer leader can also be snipped and the hook fed out through the gill openings, something i have done a few times.
I cast he jig head in lead free pewter using homemade high temperature silicone mould and a small barrel swivel. The wire for the corkscrew was .8mm s/steel mig welding wire. The tool for twisting the wire was based on design from Mel Fishing lures, I modified it by adding a concrete screw so as the block turns it also creates a spaced screw. The bait I used was a homemade silicone shad, which is a lot tougher than your Normal shop bought soft plastic so it hopefully lasts a little longer
