Evolution

[rezz93]

In the beginning, vice output did not deserve or warrant records of the mess that jigs turned out to be. Therefore, the early jigs in this post do not reflect the haste, carelessness, and sloppy nature of the 'creations' from the very beginning. These jigs have long been gone now.

Over time, improvements have been made by more thought and attention to detail about the desired effect for the individual ties. Adding new material, experimenting, and looking for new fish attracting ideas opened up endless possibilities that have made the trip enjoyable.

This post is of a journey. Hopefully, it will prove to be useful to some of you.

The initial endeavors very varied and include making turkey calls, building various items with wood such as tables and whatnot.

Knife making came along and was quite interesting. A lot of information about such things forging, hardening, tempering, and metals was garnered.

A turn was taken along the way when a used boat was purchased.











There have been a lot of improvements and additional equipment added over time.


It was mostly bass fishing at first but a certain amount of catfish and stripers were added for eating and variety.

Attachment 482017

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There were some mishaps of course, but nothing could dissuade the fisherman.

Airbrushing crankbaits became a new passion about this time and some good lures resulted.





There are now a lot of crankbaits to choose from!



Seeing the light, the crappie adventure began. Pickings were pretty slim for a while, but as knowledge grew so did the size and numbers.

Seeking the illusive better crappie jig started a lot of experimenting with new materials and methods of tying them

Early jigs were of marabou, fish hair, feathers, and multiple other common materials.







Down the rabbit hole we now go.










The jigs caught some nice crappie.





Things now were getting serious and the main species was mostly crappie with the bigger fish getting a lot of attention.
A rule was adopted that required the release of all fish over 13 inches. Smaller fish were plentiful and they were kept for frying when needed.

With near constant change and experimenting some wild looking jigs came off the vice as a serious tying setup with multiple materials made it necessary to add a few more colors, materials, and size.



Rolling on.



































































50 attachment upload limit reached. Another post coming.

[skeetbum]

You’ve been busy and the progress is easy to see. Some nice work and even nicer fish.

[SuperDave336]

Wow

[rezz93]

Had to split up the post due to length and errors with uploading.

Knives:

Attachment 482071

Boat pic:

Attachment 482072

Moving on to recent ties:

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During this evolution some jig features/looks became favorited.
Black thread bodies for contrast, colored rings and collars, lighter use of material, different types of flash, triangular/walleye jig heads, hair highlights, multiple colors, etc.
Bottom line, proven fish catchers
Thanks for the trip!

[Timbertodd]

Thank you for taking us along on your tying journey.

[MCG1]

Creative individuals always seem to find multiple outlets for their talents. Thanks for posting pics. Helps give others fresh ideas.

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Phew! I’m tired now! You do some beautiful ties sir.

[rezz93]

Thanks everyone.
Been thinking about something like this for a week or so.
The post did not turn out as envisioned primarily as the result of frustration with images did not post correctly. At times they are full nice images, but then appeared as text links to attachments. Some of the text links show the images when clicked while others give and error message.

While trying to straighten up the mess, some parts were deleted and the result was not a very good flow to the overall idea.

Anyhow, it's there now and with some deciphering may make some sense.
Thanks for looking and commenting.
It's been interesting for sure!