Thread: Experimental and Opinions Acceptable

Great looking Jigs for sure. Even the chicken heads. You sir have some great skills their painting them heads.

I sure hope the crappie raid the Hen House.



These are some 0f my 1/16th ounce jigs. There are a few more with the whirlling blade trick. I tried to make multiples in the same color patterns of plastic, and varied the chenille according to my mood. These will be on my outside rods, running shallow.

Been reading that colors really don’t much matter, nor designs, rather presentation is king. Maybe so. Dragging along a team of jigs though would make me conclude that some will be better than others.

Been reading about placing plastic bodies onto jigs/hooks. I am developing a style in which I am getting some great results. The process is tricky if you intend to get it just right, and some say that just right really does matter. After doing up a particular plastic on the same hook, the length of insertion becomes easier. I keep the jig in alignment with the plastic the entire time. Really tough to explain but it is simply a matter of training yourself.

If the bait is slightly off or cocked a little bit it will not run true and will glide at an awkward angle. Still catch fish, but no where near as many as a perfectly inserted plastic.

I read that our jigs actually wobble slightly as the glide through the water column. That the movement is barely perceptible. That means the fish MIGHT notice the visual, or MIGHT feel the vibrations, or MIGHT hear the sounds created. Interesting idea, this wobble.

Some of my 1/4 ounce jigs. The chenille serves several purposes. One is as an extra color. Another is that I dob glue onto the threaded hook shank and the head of the lure, then when I slide the plastic up it goobers the chenille and forms a solid base. A fusion. Two glued surfaces. Lastly it pushes the lure further back, giving the tail more action and this extra distance back also helps prevent the tail from fouling on the hook.

I saw a company that is selling 100 count bags of curly tail grubs 40% off. Gonna get me some to have lying around. They sell 2” and 3” and I am interested in the 3” as they can always be cut down. I read where a man cuts his grub’s heads off at angles to produce enhanced actions. This will give me something to play with.

I also saw where the tails on grubs are not all equal. Some are wider and some thinner and whispier. I imagine thin tails would wrap around the hook more readily. However, pushing everything back a little bit might render the issue mute. Anyways I feel that a selection of grubs is going to be a good thing. My friends uses little curly tail grubs exclusively and seems to do just fine. Buys his jig heads, too. They look like el cheapos. Like he doesn’t think it matters.

It is hard to know who to listen to anymore. Color matters- color doesn’t matter. It appears to be similar to dancing. Folks just get out there and do their thing, and over time get a little better at it. There is however one thing that everyone agrees on, and that is that there must first be fish present before you can catch them.

Yes sir, If you a feeshn' and der be no feesh to be feeshn' fer, somin' goen' be hongre....

So……my new rods came today. Oh Boy are they nice. Ozark 11’ Lite Jig Rods at $36 each. Got four of the devils. They haven’t been fishing yet but they feel like money in the bank. Flexie tip with some backbone down lower. Cork handles. Tony Edgar specials….whoever he is.

I added my Optimax spinning reels and spun on some new line. Cheap braid in 10lb test. I added a small swivel at the end using a loop knot from my old surf fishing days. Braid line does not relax like mono does, and it continues to tighten. Over time it can and will sever itself. So I use a series of six over hand knots to form a loop knot, and then pass the loop through the swivel, and allow line to grab the swivel where the loop leaves the sleeve vs. doing a Cats Paw with the line. This is an extremely durable setup when using quality line and will outlast UNI knots.

Anyways I wanted a long sensitive rod for my long line trolling operations. The other rods I was using were way too stiff and it was difficult to know when I was getting a bite. The 16’ Jenko Spider Troll rods had no problem indicating bites, and these new rods should also. That flex helps keep fish pinned as it is hard for them to get any leverage to rip themselves free. Like a coyote chewing his leg off, they will rip their face up getting free. Flexie flexie will keep them connected.

My first task next trip will be to run the lines out the back and drag them for a while allowing any twists and such to spin out. I get good results with my lines when I do this right away.

I had been using three different weight of jigs and will continue to do so. Last several times the heavy ones were in close to the boat and shortest in length of line out, mid weight in the middle, and the lighter jigs projecting out from the boat the furthest and furthest back. I am going to try just the opposite and see if that does better as far as handling and working the spread and such. I know it will make casting out much easier. It also makes sense to have the jigs closest to the boat spaced out and away the furthest.

Tonight and tomorrow we will be enjoying our Tropical Storm, and so I will be playing with my gear and making jigs and such. Might get some things delivered, never know. The ground is saturated around here with ponding water everywhere. It has been like this for several weeks. Now we add a TS and it’s water and our trees will start to fall. Saw several down on my way home tonight. Sucks because I would love to go fishing tomorrow.

My jig supply so far is a selection of Bobby Garland Stroll’Rs on 1/16th, 1/8th, and 1/4 ounce heads. To that I will have a similar selection of jig heads but with Curly Tail Grubs as the baits. Then I will have similar heads on swim type jig baits like the paddle tails and wigglers. Soon I will receive a sample of something new to me, and I will test those out and report back. Not sure what they are but they are for trolling. I didn’t realize that some baits were designed simply for jigging, and while they might work for trolling, would not be as effective as jigs designed to be pulled. My tube jigs go without any love even though they have caught fish. They might do better come Winter when the fish want small stuff.

What I did was take all my Stroll’Rs and dump them onto my desk. Then I made three piles mixing the various color patterns into an even spread across all three weights. So each weight had a similar number of each color pattern. Then began combining them jig head to body using my thread, chenille and glue technique. Then each weight of jig gets it’s own small tackle box. In each box is also a selection of spinning blade jigs in that same weight size.

I will do the same 3 box spread with the curly tails. I will also have a single large box with just the paddle tails and jokers and such. I also have crank baits in another box, but so far the fish have not been attacking those. Once I have this done then I can focus on finding them fish. I can know that it isn’t that they don’t want what I am serving, rather that they are elsewhere and I need to keep looking. I know I am going over crappie that are either not noticing or simply don’t wish to chase my baits. I catch a fish or two, turn around and go right back through and nothing. Going back through in the same direction sometimes helps but usually not. Them fish must be fickle is all I can figure.

My Crappie.com store package arrived today. Slab Sauce in the little bottle, which I plan to dribble inside my boxes. Let that chenille suck it up. Boonie hat which is too small for my head, and the pink visor which I was sure she would adore but alas does not. So now I got gifts to give someone. I didn’t order the shirt because I knew it would never fit. He sent decals so those will be handy. Happy to be a team player.

I also found an umbrella at Target on sale and bought some PVC pipe and fittings to make shaded front chair. Not sure how it will go with long rods and such but I just have to at least try. My wife needs shade when we go as she burns fast. The heat doesn’t really wipe me out but a little shade is always nice.

Oh I forgot my new fingernail polish comes tomorrow. Atomic Yellow and Neon Green. Can’t wait to make up more jig heads. I like white head, dipped in UV powder, baked, and then the eyes and polish, then resin. Quite the deal making these jigs as there are about a dozen processes involved. Like I said previously, I do not really snag up and lose my jigs, so I don’t mind the effort. No way I would wish to start a business making them. Hope I can stay away from making plastic baits. Man I am afraid I would like that.

I am thinking that I need to start a new experimental stuff thread. Maybe in the beginners section as nobody seems to want to post anything in there. Someone coming to learn to tie jigs might get confused by my musings and sucn.

I have the 1/16th ounce and the 1/32nd ounce Do-It Ponyhead molds. Problem is protecting the little swivel when powder painting. So I just create my own spinners.



Still able to add plastic baits.