What happen to my jigs?!

[ChrisCarter]

My darker jigs have lost their color! My charteuse jigs have turned white! The clear tail on some jigs have turned white!

I had to cut and peel the top layer of plastic on one of baitman's jigs just to see the original color.

By my count, i have lost the original color in 21 sets of plastic jigs! Most of which are unusable now.

The only thing i can think of that might have caused this is 5 - 6 days ago, while hooking a good size bass, i accidentally knocked both boxes of jigs into the water while i was shoring fishing. No big deal, the water was shallow and the wind was blowing towards me so i didn't have to worry about them being carried out. They sank and as soon as i reeled in my catch and let him lose, i stepped into the water and retrieved the boxes. Took them to my car and dump the water and jigs out, let the sun dry out the boxes, put the jigs back and went home. I finally went back into my tackle bag today to add my new spinners to a different box when i noticed, something wasn't quite right with the jig boxes. Open them up and what is pictured above is what i saw.

I'll try some different things to see if i can get the color back in them. But right now, it looks like i might have to replace a good chunk of these, if not all of them.

[rubicon3680]

You hit the nail on the head by assuming it was water that caused it. My boat has no dry stroage and I've lost some myself to water damage. The last time that happened i picked up a worm binder with the zip style plastic bags in it. Left my grubs in their original package and put (2) packs of grubs per bag in the binder. Three years later and i've not lost any more to water damage. I was actually pretty shocked how much that little binder held(at least as much as the same size boxes in your pic).

[Spawn]

Your probably gunna have to remove the jigs, make sure your tackel box is not in a humid or hot place like a garage. Also dont place in the sun

[Fatman]

Definate water damage!!!!!!!! x2 with Rubicon put them in zip bags then put them in a box or soft sided bag out of the sun and don't leave in a hot garage or car.

[sparkie51]

I would say it's more from sun damage than water damage. Keep them out of the sun or they will fade fast. Never had them fade because of water.

[tail chaser]

I'm sure it's a little bit of everything stated. I also had some problems with fading & even melting in certain plastic boxes. Some of these different plastic's can give off a chemical reaction to a lot of the different plastic baits . I too have been leaving my plastic's in the original bags. It really helps keeping the original scent & oils used in a lot of these baits. Also as I'm getting older, I can't remember, who they are, what that are' & were I bought them. Ahhh , the golden years.

[hunter7711]

I would also say water. As said before get you a binder with zip lock bags and you'll never have this happen again. I know they look pretty all neat in that little box, but that is what can happen.

[bdorman]

Okay, I'm new to fishing...but don't jigs usually get wet?

I thought the color was mixed in the plastic, not just on the surface. Seems like it would more likely be sun/heat/etc.

[ChrisCarter]

This was definitely water, there was some leftover moisture in the box when i opened it. These have been left in the sun for long periods of time and there was no damage at all. But water doing something to these plastic jigs is very real. How it happened or how water can damage plastic jigs, i don't fully understand. But water definitely played a part in ruining these things.

I have decided to apply heat to these to see if that will help. If not, I more than likely will have to spend $50 - $75 replacing all these.

After i put the still wet jigs back in the box, i assumed the leftover water inside would evaporate. I put the boxes back in my tackle bag, which i put inside my apartment, so they never saw sunlight until today.

[skiptomylu]

It's so important to keep you jigs, plastic or feathers out of the sun and keep all mature out. Not only what happened here will happen, but your hooks will rust and all kinds of bad things. The sun will bleach out the color in feathers if you leave them out in the sun! Never put a wet jig back in your box! I have a bag I take with me and on one end of it I have a piece of one of them foam noodles and all wet jigs I take off get stuck right into that fir at least that day and usually more time than that. Only when I am positive they have dried out will I out them in with other jigs.