[woodenfeather]

I love tying jigs with rabbit too. I like to push the hook through the zonker strip, tie on a body of chenille and hackle, and then pull the strip tight up against and over the body and tie off at the head. I used to slay the smallies in a local river with these jigs in mostly natural colors. The rabbit breathes so well that most of the takes were when I was dead stickin it.

If you want to try another pattern that has proven deadly on all fish, then tie up some wooly buggers. Use webby hackles to add bulk and movement.

[Party Crasher]

Woodenfeather, those look great. What weights are you pouring them? Is there a little flash material in the chenille? Are you securing the zonker at the bend or just pushing the hook through it? Thanks.

[Mac10]

Excellent tips!!! Thanks Guys......

[woodenfeather]

Party crasher,

I don't secure the zonker at the bend with thread as the hide is very strong and has never torn where the hook goes through. I do however put a drop of glue on it right where the hook goes through when the jig is finished, so it wont slide up the hook if the skin stretches.

As far as weight, I make 'em from 1/8 to sometimes 5/8 ounce. Since moving to MA. I've gotten into saltwater and have made some 1 to 4 ounce monsters.

To answer your question about the flash, I sometimes use ice, pearl and metallic tinsel chenille. I also use mixes of hair and flash and form a dubbing brush.

If you want to put a mono weed guard on it, slide the strip to the head after pushing the hook through, then tie the mono onto the hook to about 1/3 around the bend. Then slide the strip back and over the wraps, tie on the body and pull the strip tight up against it. Tie the strip off at the head and then tie the weed guard with just enough wraps to hold it but still allowing you to slide it. Cut it a little long and use a lighter to melt a ball on the end. Then pull the guard back so the ball is up against the wraps and tie off. Glue the head and tail.

[Mac10]

WOODENFEATHER.....

Excellent jig you posted...thanks for the great picture. I'm trying to tie a smaller jig and when I tie the zonker ( the one punctured with the hook) on the top and stretch it gently taut to tie it off, the tail section bends down as the hookshaft passes through....giving my jig a broken tail look.
Any suggestions? Thanks and good fishing, Mac

[woodenfeather]

Hey Mac,

If I understand your problem correctly I'd suggest building the body farther back and slightly up the bend. That way the hook is more perpendicular to the strip when it butts against the body.

[microtek60]

I tie 1\8th and 1\4 oz. jigs in black, olive, white, Chartruesse, red, and orange. I buy from jannsnet craft using their northern deer hair. I also tie jigs in black bear hair. I think that the deer hair has great action. You should also invest in a cheap fly tying vise to help out the process.

[bassfanpa]

As stated previously, marabou and fox is just about perfect for tying smaller jigs. If you are tying larger jigs( bass, pike, etc) Yak hair and if you can find it, polar bear hair make excellent jigs. I tie very large (14-16in) flies for billfish, and these are awesome. Use your imagination to come up with what you want out of it. When tying bass jigs, I usually use a combination of bucktail, marabou and fox to acheive the look and movement I want. Experiment, and let us know how you make out.

[Mac10]

Here's something you may wish to try in your jig tying.....it's called targeting the hook. Simply put, use a different color at the hook point or near the hook as it emerges from the tied materials. In a white jig, for example, you could use a Sharpie Marker to put a bar or dot at the hook or near the hook point. I've read that the fish will hit toward the different color spot when attacking the lure. How really true it is, I can't say....but something to think about.
One fellow wrote me that he uses a spot of melted red plastic on his plastic worms near the exposed hook....seems to think it works well.

Along the same lines, I'm tying some olive jigs. I start with a regular zonker strip for tail and then using crosscut zonker, creating a slim collar near the jighead.

Now, to target the hook, I'm approaching the collar tie differently. I start with a single wrap of chartreuse crosscut, and then overlay with the olive crosscut letting the chartreuse show for about a sixteenth inch when beginning the three wraps forward to finish the collar itself. This not only makes a chartreuse line for a target, but when pulsed, will flair out the collar and flash the chartreuse from the side and especially back views.

Hope this helps, Mac

[fish wizard]

Last June in Canada I made a bunch of 1/8 oz hair jigs to walleye fish with all very bright colors, hot yellows with hot pink, bright oranges and etc. Imean they were Bright and then brighter, some had flashabou accent in them. The smallmouth at lake of the woods went crazy over them. Caught far more smallmouth than walleye on them. I think ever one that had flashabou got bit off by the pike. Chartruse can be a great Smallie color.