Im New

[Mbirdsley]

My names Michael. I currently reside and grew up in Mid-Michigan.  Primarily I fish for river small mouths or what ever else is swimming in the variouse rivers near my house IE: The Shiawassee, Maple, south and north forks of the Bad River. All of my poles are light or medium ratings and I am useing either 6lb or 8 lb test. I started making my own jigs and inline spinners about 3 years ago.  Find it enjoyable, make exactly what you want, and in most cases cheaper than buying from the store.  This is the first time other than friends and family that i have shown my lures.

 

The buck tail Jigs are the first photo. The bigger ones are 3/8 and the smaller ones are 1/4. the brown one i think will imitate either a white sucker or a crayfish fairly well. I read on the internet that the person tying wants to put the darker color on top and the lighter on the bottom so it looks more like a minnow. The black ones i think will work and the purple one looks cool i don't know what that is supposed to represent i just made it for the heck of it. My next order from Janns I want to get some gold candy powder paint so i can put the brown buck tail up top and red bucktail on the bottom to look like a golden shiner. Also on the immediate to tie list are all 1/4 versions of those and a All white one with red thread.

THe 2nd picture are the jigs i tied out of malibou. I think they may work better in the summer time because, the malibou moves better in the water and the fish will be more active than the winter time.

Finally the last picture are the ones i have poured, painted, and ready untill i get bored sometime.

 

I hand poured all of the jigs with a Lee melter, do-it mold, and eagle claw hooks. Most of the paint is from Janns. After painting, I cured them in my little convection oven for 20 minutes at 350. I might put eyes on them i don't know yet. So what do you think? any and all critiques are welcom i want to get better.

 

 

 

[cadman]

Welcome to Tackle Underground. I don't tie hair jigs, but there are a few guys here that do. One member off the top of my head is Smalljaw. He will comment shortly and I'm sure will give you some good advice. A lot of good info in this forum and a great bunch of guys willing to help. All you have to do is be open minded and want to experiment and learn.

[Jig Man]

I don't make so many now days as I used to.  I never worried about what any jig might look like.  I don't think a fish with a pea sized brain can think about anything like that so I just experimented.  Most every color combination that I made caught fish, some better than others.

[Mbirdsley]

I don't make so many now days as I used to.  I never worried about what any jig might look like.  I don't think a fish with a pea sized brain can think about anything like that so I just experimented.  Most every color combination that I made caught fish, some better than others.

Do you think you did better with the more natural colors or with brighter colors?

Edited January 23, 2015 by Mbirdsley

[Jeff Hahn]

Welcome Michael!  I'm pretty new here to, but have been making tackle for a long, long time.  I tie a similar jig for smallies for fishing in Canada.  Mine are made with a black head and white bucktail, usually 1/8 ounce.  I tip it with a Uncle Josh #210 white Spin Tain (which I don't think they make anymore, but I have a case of them).

[smalljaw]

Hey Michael, first of all, welcome to the board, we look forward to your posts. As my good friend Cadman has already told you, I tie hair jigs or all different styles and sizes and the ball head is one of my favorite heads and bucktail is my favorite material. I really like what you did with your jigs and the marabou is tied well but I'll give you a little advise about tying on the heads you have pictured, if you take a diagonal or side cutter or a gate shears, you can cut a groove in the lead collar about 1/8" or 3/16" wide just deep enough to give a spot for your thread collar to anchor so you don't ever have to worry about slip. I also trim my bucktail to length so when I finish my collar there isn't any bucktail to be trimmed, much neater that way but I know the fish don't really care. Anyway, the jigs look great, the colors are good ones that I use and in clear water natural colors seem better but I do like adding some orange to a brown jig when smallmouth are present and I like using brown and yellow in stained water.

[Mbirdsley]

Hey Michael, first of all, welcome to the board, we look forward to your posts. As my good friend Cadman has already told you, I tie hair jigs or all different styles and sizes and the ball head is one of my favorite heads and bucktail is my favorite material. I really like what you did with your jigs and the marabou is tied well but I'll give you a little advise about tying on the heads you have pictured, if you take a diagonal or side cutter or a gate shears, you can cut a groove in the lead collar about 1/8" or 3/16" wide just deep enough to give a spot for your thread collar to anchor so you don't ever have to worry about slip. I also trim my bucktail to length so when I finish my collar there isn't any bucktail to be trimmed, much neater that way but I know the fish don't really care. Anyway, the jigs look great, the colors are good ones that I use and in clear water natural colors seem better but I do like adding some orange to a brown jig when smallmouth are present and I like using brown and yellow in stained water.

yeah that makes sense. That is a good idea about cutting a slit in the collar. I am kind of just learning as i go.  I try to cut all of my hair the same legnth. but, i think i am starting the bucktail to close to the ball and that is why i have that little bit on the head. Which, has been bothering me a little.  What is a good rule of thumb for the buck tale past the bend of the hook?

[smalljaw]

yeah that makes sense. That is a good idea about cutting a slit in the collar. I am kind of just learning as i go.  I try to cut all of my hair the same legnth. but, i think i am starting the bucktail to close to the ball and that is why i have that little bit on the head. Which, has been bothering me a little.  What is a good rule of thumb for the buck tale past the bend of the hook?

 

There really isn't any, it comes down to personal preference and what you are trying to imitate. If you have a jig head with a lead collar that has a skirt ring, you can tie the bucktail close to the ring and make it tight, this will flare out the tail allowing you to make it represent a bottom dwelling creature. Or you can tie it tighter on top and only making securing wraps down by the ring and this will give you a slimmer profile that looks more like a minnow. I usually go a "shank length" past the bottom of the hook for length, which means if you has a wide flare you need to compensate by cutting the bucktail longer. What I mean by shank length is the distance of the hook shank from the bottom of the jig head until the bend of the hook, that is the distance I usually go but it is by no means a rule of thumb, you can change this and I often do for different patterns.

[Mbirdsley]

Here are some of the jigs that I have tied after recieving the suggestion that I recieved from the thread.  I tied a red and white bucktail jig,

1st picture: I dont know what it will mimic with the red and white but, it looks cool. Tied it farther down on the coller.  I also used some flashibou on the sides to give it some flash.

second picture is of the white jigs that I tied.  The big white one on the left, I actually used flashibou on the entire bottom side of the jig eventhough, there isnt much of a differnce between the white buck tail and the flashibou. 

The last two pictures are showing the difference between tying the hair farther down on the collar rather than closer to the ball.  As a personal perfernce i think i like the puffy look that tying the hair father down.  But, the fish will ultimatly decide

[smalljaw]

There will be a time when one type will do better than the other. I tie some bucktails that have a narrow minnow like profile and others with a good amount of flare because the fish will sometimes prefer one type over the other, it even works like that with materials. What happens is the thinner bucktails fall faster and I prefer those when the water temps are in the mid to high 40s, once it drops down into the upper 30s, low 40s I'll go with more flare, but I do experiment because even in really cold water the fish may prefer the minnow profile and it doesn't matter the fall speed. You are doing some nice work, now throw those jigs and see what the fish tell you!!!

[Jig Man]

Sorry to take so long to reply but I couldn't get any pics to post. I finally got this by clicking the BB code box on this site.

These are some of the color combinations that I carry and use in the round head. I carry 4-6 sizes in most all of them. Every color combination in this box has produced fish. Some better than others. I almost always add chenille to my jigs as I think it dresses them up a bit.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Jig Man

[cadman]

Sorry to take so long to reply but I couldn't get any pics to post. I finally got this by clicking the BB code box on this site.

These are some of the color combinations that I carry and use in the round head. I carry 4-6 sizes in most all of them. Every color combination in this box has produced fish. Some better than others. I almost always add chenille to my jigs as I think it dresses them up a bit.

 

 

Hey Jig Man, those are smokin.hot. When I used to fish walleye, sauger and saugeye, my tackle box looked like that. Man 'o' man that makes me drool. Excellent job on the ties.

 

PS: Glad you got your pic situation to work.

[Mbirdsley]

There will be a time when one type will do better than the other. I tie some bucktails that have a narrow minnow like profile and others with a good amount of flare because the fish will sometimes prefer one type over the other, it even works like that with materials. What happens is the thinner bucktails fall faster and I prefer those when the water temps are in the mid to high 40s, once it drops down into the upper 30s, low 40s I'll go with more flare, but I do experiment because even in really cold water the fish may prefer the minnow profile and it doesn't matter the fall speed. You are doing some nice work, now throw those jigs and see what the fish tell you!!!

I am waiting for the river to open back up as it is preatty much locked up with ice right now. There are some places where it isnt all locked up but its about 15 degrees right now.  I will have a bout a two week opertunity to try them before the end of walleye/Northern Pike season (eventhough, i wanna target bass) on march 15 which, will shut down all artificial bait fishing untill april 15 on all of the southern michigan rivers ( basically only thing that you can use is worms for sucker fishing)

Edited January 30, 2015 by Mbirdsley

[Mbirdsley]

Sorry to take so long to reply but I couldn't get any pics to post. I finally got this by clicking the BB code box on this site.

These are some of the color combinations that I carry and use in the round head. I carry 4-6 sizes in most all of them. Every color combination in this box has produced fish. Some better than others. I almost always add chenille to my jigs as I think it dresses them up a bit.

Those are nice and somthing else to try.  Are your tails made out of bucktails?  I have lots of chenel, because, i bought a steel head jig mold.  But, i never got around to going steel head fishing in the rivers.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Mbirdsley

[Jig Man]

Yes those are 1/8 and1/4 oz jigs with bucktail skirt material.  Most have a bit of crystal flash mixed in.

[smalljaw]

Yes those are 1/8 and1/4 oz jigs with bucktail skirt material.  Most have a bit of crystal flash mixed in.

 

Those are very nice Jig Man, the colors along with the accent material and chenille make those look like walleye jigs which I assume that is what you made them for. When you say bucktail skirt material, are you referring to fish hair or some other synthetic? I'm asking because there are some really good colors in there and I never say bucktail that had that kind of look, if it is fish hair, which I use from time to time, I'll say you are a master at using it, not many can make a nice jig out of it but those are just super nice.

[Jig Man]

Nope it is buck tail all the way. I don't even know what fish hair is. If you click on the pic you can get a closer look at the materal. The other stuff I use if craft hair and that is for Float n Fly. These are not walleye baits though we have taken a few on them. We catch all three species of black bass and some white bass on them in the fall and winter.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Jig Man

[smalljaw]

Nope it is buck tail all the way. I don't even know what fish hair is. If you click on the pic you can get a closer look at the materal. The other stuff I use if craft hair and that is for Float n Fly. These are not walleye baits though we have taken a few on them. We catch all three species of black bass and some white bass on them in the fall and winter.

 

 

Great info, I love the ice blue color, where do you get your material from, I mean it is awesome!!! I prefer a more "buggy" look to my jigs but I'd love to try some in your style with those types of colors as I generally don't use a lot of bright colors. You make a very nice hair jig, I use chenille differently and on different kind of jigs but I'm impressed and I'm going to give those a shot when the water turns back to liquid form, thanks for the info.

[Jig Man]

Thanks for the compliments. I have been tying them for a lot of years. I have tied them by the thousands. I used to make 90 dozen a year for one guy down on Bull Shoals.

On the tails, I either buy from Stamina INC if I need several or Bass Pro if only 1 or 2. The one you call ice blue is more of a baby blue. It has a combination of blue with white mixed in and some whitish crystal flash.

The one type of fish around here that wants nothing to do with buck tail is the crappie. We have 3 kinds of them and none of them manage to get caught on these.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Jig Man

[Mbirdsley]

These are my newest creations seeing how we were just hit by a snow storm.  Would like to thank every body for the tips and ideas.  Also, over the weekend I was able to stop by a very large sporting goods retailer that has plenty of tying material about 60 miles from my house ( got to work that one in as i was on a trip with my girl friend to Traverse City). Its nice tro be able to touch and feel what you are buying instead of hoping and praying its what you want off of the web and pay shipping to boot.  Mainly I pick up a whole piece of Black bucktail, white bucktail, peices of flo green bucktail, brown bucktail, some thread, and some new flashabou which are Krystal flash Silver and Pearl UV Enhancer flash. 

 

First pic is some that i have tied. most of the smaller ones I used the Krystal flash Silver for flash effect. the other jigs That have been tied in the last two weeks I have been useing glow in the dark flashabou.  But, this stuff is a up grade.

 

The 2nd pic is of 1/2 oz.  I didnt pour that one.  I had a bunch of left over jigs from a couple of years ago that I bought. So, i decided just to repaint them.  This thing turned out massive and is probally the best one i have done to date.  Its is Flo green bucktail on top, White bucktail on the bottom along with Pearl UV Enhancer flash on a repainted green jig head.  Good for those high current days in the spring.

 

The third one needs some more refining but, i think i will call it Golden shiner or baby carp.  I have high hopes for that one.in the fish catching department.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Mbirdsley

[Jig Man]

I'm likin' what I'm seein'. Keep up the good work but stop before you get a thousand laying around.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Jig Man

[Mbirdsley]

I'm likin' what I'm seein'. Keep up the good work but stop before you get a thousand laying around.

I know the river is going to eat a lot of them.  It helps the cabin feve though.

[Jig Man]

Another color you may want to make is a dark blue/orange.  It was cold, cloudy, and windy on Bull Shoals lake yesterday.  I threw several baits and could only get bites on that.  I caught largemouth and a couple of walleye on it.  It has always been a good low light bait.

[Mbirdsley]

Another color you may want to make is a dark blue/orange.  It was cold, cloudy, and windy on Bull Shoals lake yesterday.  I threw several baits and could only get bites on that.  I caught largemouth and a couple of walleye on it.  It has always been a good low light bait.

So many bucktail colors LOL.  Ive got a big order i am sending into Janns i know i have blue bucktail on the wish list.  Seems like all the stores have orange, flo green, and flo pink bucktail.  Its finding the blues/dark blue, dark green, and other darker colors is where the internet comes in handy.

[Jig Man]

You can also use purple or black instead of a navy blue.  Both work well in low light conditions.   The absolute best color combo for me has been red/gray.  You wouldn't believe how many fish we caught on it the first year after I started making them.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Jig Man