My first Crappie Jig- Question: Long or short tails?

[thill]

Sat down a few minutes ago, and tied up a few simple crappie jigs. If the same holds true as with saltwater flies, sparse flies tend to catch better, even though they don't look as good to anglers. So I tied them the same way I would a saltwater fly, but using a general style of some of the crappie jigs I've seen.

I have a few questions. I notice that most crappie jigs I see are sort of "square", with short tails not too much beyond the bend of the hook.

Is that because crappie are short strikers, and the long tail will make them miss the hook, and then not bite again?

Does the technique of dropping the jig right in front of their nose, and barely moving it have something to do with this?

I'm used to tying Clousers and Deceivers which have a long, sparse, streamlined profile, and they catch well. So for my first jigs, I kind of went in the middle- not too short, but not too long either.

Here is a pic. Tied on 1/16 oz. jigs with red hooks:


What do you think? Let me know. The colors were just the first thing I grabbed out of my tying box. Pearl, chartreuse, and a little red, which I always like. Will eventually do a search to find out what colors you guys are most successful with.

Thanks.

-TH

[thill]

Oh, and I was going to paste on some holographic eyes, but wondered if white might be better? Or does it really matter?

-TH

[DockShootinJack]

Those look good.

[VaCrappieMan]

IMO I think your ties look good... I generally do a shorter tail but a lot so longer than what you have tied... I don't think the eyes matter... Those will put fish in the boat for sure

[Crestliner08]

Take a look at the Bobby Garland's Baby Shad plastic bodies. They are about 2" long and the single, thin tail extends beyond the bend of the hook, similar in length to your ties. So I see no problem with that at all. Forget the eyes....non-value added in my opinion. And tie up some with pink body and chartreuse tails.....dy-no-mite!

[shipahoy41]

Welcome from Alabama. I would think you would get more responses if the moderators posted this in the jig tying section. I have been tying jigs and making soft plastic baits more than 20 years now. In my honest opinion, those are good looking baits but the tails are much too long. When a crappie bites you want them to bite the metal hook and not just the feathers. I believe if you try to shorten the tail you will have better results. In soft plastics you will want a tail to quiver and move a little even while motionless. The soft plastic tail is designed a smidge longer to do that motion.

[thill]

Interesting.

I just measured them, and they are between 2 1/2" and 3" long, to the very tip of the longest bucktail. Without the bucktail, the jig is exactly 1" long. So that means I have between 1 1/2- 2" of tail beyond the hook. I'll have to tie some shorter, maybe 1" max. But it's easy to shorten them in the field.

Question: Does anyone know if crappie are "head hunters"?

Saltwater fish without cutting teeth tend to grab their prey by the head. Saltwater fish with teeth tend to bite off their quarry's tail to immobilize them, then come back to finish them off.

So for Stripers, you can have a 10" long plastic, with a short-shank 4/0 jig up in the head, and you will nail the fish on every hit with an instant hook-set. But Bluefish will bite the tails off again and again, and you will never catch one until it gets short enough for them to get the hook. But put a stinger hook in the tail, and you will nail them every time.

If this holds true in fresh water, maybe these longer jigs will work well. But if it's a still presentation, they might just grab the wrong end.

HMMMMMMMMM....... I need to experiment!

-TH

[bowhunter012463]

I'm with ship on this one. As far as the eyes goes, I have catch crappies on unpainted jigs, painted jigs with no eyes, painted jigs with painted eyes and jigs painted with halographic eyes and they seem to the best for me. I think that extra little flash from the eyes does the trick.

[bowhunter012463]

Ps. Those do look great.

[CrappiePappy]

Thill ... I don't think Crappie are exclusively "head hunters". And seeing as how most of their fish "prey" are soft finned, they're not particularly prone to swallowing their food "head first", either.

If you watch underwater camera videos, showing Crappie hitting a (moving) jig, most often they approach the jig from behind & below and inhale the jig ... once they're convinced it's something they want to eat, and commit to eating it.

As to the length .... personally I think they're a little long, and would probably trim them back a little if I were using them. But then I trim the marabou on a 1/16oz Roadrunner, also.
Now, would they catch fish "as is" .... most likely !! Would they catch more fish if shortened ... debatable.

... cp