Hair Jigs vs. Soft Plastics?

[Les Young]

Yesterday they bit maribou when it was cloudy & when the sun would come out for a few minutes it was plastics in my version of bobby garlands licorice with chartreuse belly. They wouldn't hit the maribou in the sun so i think the flash of the red & sliver glitter was the key in bright sun light.

[ksnouf]

I troll and use hand tied hair jigs and tear them up. My buddy uses plastics and I usally do better...but maybe I'm just good.

[TreednNC]

Ford vs Chevy. Opinions are formed by our own experiences and experiences shared with us believed to be fact, but not necessarily proven to be fact.

[Spoonminnow]

Finesse-action lures vary a bit depending on the materials used to make them, overall profile and tail action.
Hair or feather jigs have the same finesse action as soft plastic spike-tail and flat-tail lures as seen when you suspend the lures under a float when there is a surface ripple. The difference: the hair and feather lure's body/tail pulsate as one whereas the spike tail or thin tail depend on tail action. All do equally well in my experience vertical jigging, using a slow horizontal retrieve or under a float.

Thin flat tail:


Spike tail (wacky rigged jig causes the tails to quiver)


Other soft plastic tail designs do just as well such as round blunt tails which wadddles back and forth with little imparted action.


Sassy Shad and curl tail grubs require the lure move at a greater speed to cause the tails to move.



If fish are in a chase-&-destroy mood, action tails like the above do fine. If fish need more time to watch a lure before attacking it, hair, feather and thin-tail lures do better - epecially ice fishing. Much of the time all of the lure actions mentioned above provoke fish to attack in the same water fished/ on the same outing.

So, do plastics or other materials work better? In the hands of a skilled angler, both catch fis, the key being a slow presentation.

[220cst]

Use them all but my favorite is glow in the dark icefishing jigs with drop shot method.

Never thought of that, thanks

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[tim]

In the cold water of winter I like 1/32 hair jigs. In the spring and warmer water times I like larger plastics.