Experimental and Opinions Acceptable

[Micanopy]

This one smells horrible.

[Micanopy]

[Micanopy]

[Micanopy]

So she says boat ride and I said YES !!!

We went just down the road to Orange Lake. This is a shallow lake with huge blooms of hydrilla weed. This weed is a great environment for little fish to turn into big fish. It is however a disaster if you attempt to troll jigs through it, so out into the middle of the lake we went. There the water reaches crazy depths like 6 feet and sometimes even 9 feet, but the hydrilla isn’t an issue so that is where we started trolling our jigs.

The lakes in this region are all connected in some manner or another. Newnans Lake drains into the River Styx and ends up in Orange Lake. The water then goes from Orange Lake through Cross Creek into Lake Lochloosa. Lake Wauberg also sends it’s water to Orange Lake.

We went from Orange lake through Cross Creek into Lake Lochloosa today and looked around. There is a marked difference between the two lakes. Orange has grass around the edges and Lochloosa lily pads and cypress trees. It was interesting making the crossing but it wouldn’t be high on my list of repeats as there were some thuds along the way.

In the main lake, we long lined five rods out the back but no takers. Varied speeds, lengths of drops, directions, jigs, etc and could not find a bite. It looks so easy when the others do it. We dragged jigs for about 3/4 miles before she said she was too hot and wanted to get some relief.

I was able to test some of the new jigs that I made and the bucktail jig was impressive when pulled beside the boat so I could see. The little tiny one looked especially cool. I think that combed yarn is nice and it sure is easy and inexpensive and the variety will be off the wall. Above you can see some of the colors, even two tones. I added flash to a couple.

I must say though that it is frustrating when I discover something new and then find a YouTube video demonstrating exactly what I discovered. Yup….. a man was even using the dog brush to comb his yarn. I think I saw him with a flea comb too, another of my ideas. Probably be years before I luck into something the others haven’t figured out yet.


So we got her all setup to work on her tan, read her mystery novels, and relax on the boat.



Happy Girl…….

She was doing very well driving the boat around using the trolling motor. She went straight through the lily pads. We got confused at one point and turned onto what was later discovered to be an air boat trail. I had to take over TM duties to get us through and past the sunken logs and such. Little alligator was sleeping until we went right over top of him. The creatures were all looking at us if we were just dumb or something. The 20 foot boat breezed right through like nothing. Finally found where we needed to be.



Here she is passing from Cross Creek into Lochloosa. Very scenic lake.



I checked my RADAR App on the phone and it was time to try to make it back to the ramp. Usually she gets upset when we go fast, but when she saw the lightning it was fine to go almost 40. Felt great, I know that, as it was hot today.

She posted up a short video she took of me painting jigs and posted it onto TickTock and got 1,500 views. Who knew people were interested and would waste their time watching such drivel.

I think I will still need regular painted jig heads. The lizard skin ones are interesting but white, chartreuse, neon green, purple, black and pink are also very important. Boring to make, but still effective. Of those yarn jigs above only the black and the purple do not reflect UV light and glow. My Lizard Skins glow in speckled fashion as the green reflects and the crinkle silver does not. Also, the eyes do not reflect which is mildly disappointing. Can’t have everything….or can I ?

I have decided that I need to pick out the jigs I plan to start with, and then select my backups, and head out with just a select few jigs. Having over a hundred is just too difficult to manage. Too many choices.

I moved the rod holders from poised to spider rig to where they held the rods straight out the side, up front where I can sit and operate the hand controlled TM. I am able to ease back in the seat and watch out the back of the boat. Very easy to see when the boat is being blown off course. Two rods out each side, a 16’ and a 10’ that is slightly angled inwards. Then one straight out the back out of the rocket launchers. The rod holders simply work no matter what I need them to do. Need to order two more for up front. There were no tangles even though I was steering a zig zag course much of the time. I still like my planer boards don’t get me wrong but I need to start catching some fish here or folks will begin to talk.

So I think I am all ready to go, just can’t seem to find any stupid fish. Surely I could trick them. How is it that I just don’t seem to ever catch any fish ?

Trolling for gator…..

[Micanopy]

The action of the yarn is amazing. It spreads out in water, and when the jig moves it contracts. So it kind of puffs. Looks similar to how mariboo moves.

So…..is there an advantage to using stiff deer hair vs. soft flowing materials ?

[Micanopy]

Once finished- I found that by wetting them, it allows the special “Spotted Moose” hair to be slicked down. Stroked to be not fuzzy, and it dries that way, and keeps that shape. Storage easier.

DrNip suggested bucktails and I can see why. Even though nothing bit one, they weren’t biting the plastics either. The hair jig seems stiff and without movement, unless the jig head also moves. I would think a man could swing one of these down to a fish, tease him up on LiveScope, and simply park that jig right there. The smooth movement of this “hair” would serve to provide the incentive. The movement of the white yarn is especially impressive.

I plan to troll them…..and slow way down. I didn’t try crawling speed last time, but maybe it will help. Nice to have a bait that likes it both slow and fast. At speed it is effortless practically. Good sink rate. Sleek and flashy coming by like a minnow running scared. Reactionary bite type of bait.

Instead of colorful thread forming the collar, I simply stuck with chenille. It’s easy, has a lot of color options, can be kept to a minimum if desired……. covers a multitude of sin. The heads need variety and also need to be interesting. The Lizard Skins I make just lack the eye appeal. Need to pour more heads and paint them neon UV glow colors. Slather the powder paint on and slap eyes on them later.

Gonna consider the colors in thirds. Head, chenille, tail. I know what looks good to me, but unsure what might look good to my local speck population. They might think

Red before Black
Killed my Uncle Jack

Never know about these things I tell you. Anyways I am slowly dialing in my jig preferences. I really liked the short shank #6 hook and the Bobby Garland Baby Shad combo, in several head sizes….. and I like these here. Make a nice choice for a number 2 jig. Each is a swimmer that goes easily. I can obtain and maintain a collection of BG Baby Shads matched with jigs pretty easily, and I can create a nice collection of these jigs, too.

Just need to learn how to fish the dumb things. Never fished a jig ever in my life until I started here in January. Need to dial in my sizes of lead, hook and proportions for the materials. I still like blades and such but I can always get back to that stuff later. Maybe with a better understanding of why something works.

Wish I could show the video of just how cool the hair moves when the jig is jostled even slightly. Being thinned- it loses more than half the fibers from the weaver. Different materials offer different movements. The dog comb idea is champs no matter who got it first. Breaks down the weave into a very manageable bucktail, and it doesn’t require the thread wraps to be flamboyant, or strained in any way. I did one up with just the thread as finish and then coated with UV resin and that looked nice, but chenille better faster easier. Softer too for them to feel and coats up with the Slab Sauce much better.

I plan to buy unusual color yarns and try to find something that will provide a contrast for my neon yarns for some of the two tones jigs. Bound to be some interesting patterns once I have arrived over….on the Dark Side. Where neons are looked down upon by the more sensible colors. I suspect dark can be very attractive when viewed through the prism of ugly water.

BTW- I dipped the bucktail with the four Living Rubber legs. Twirling around inside the jar the legs came in tight against the sides and rode like little alligator legs ride when they swim. Legs tucked in tight. Very nice contrast to the white fluff putting on a show behind them. I think I will use more of these legs.

[BobC]

Enjoyed your adventure with your wife and some of the pics showed really promising water. Good trip!
Bob

[Micanopy]

Enjoyed your adventure with your wife and some of the pics showed really promising water. Good trip!
Bob

She always makes the day fun.


I have been making jigs with the combed yarn and have a pretty nice collection so far. My PonyHeads like the fuzz as well. Trying to keep the amount of fuzz down a little, but I end up adding too much anyways. Tough to become a minimalist.

[skiptomylu]

Well you ask about Stiff deer hair vs something like your using with lots of action and sometimes they prefer one over the other. I can tell you there are a lot of crappie fisherman in Louisiana that use kiptail all the time and it's short and stiff so not much action, but it works! I mostly use marabou so I like the action too, but some times that hair does better.

Skip

[DrNip]

Yes it’s not always about the action. One of the best plastics I ever made was a 2.5” carrot. I caught more crappie on that than any other plastic. I miss it at times.