Bought three bags of mylar shredding normally used for stuffing gift bags. The mylar comes in three colors, silver, red and a light gold.
Tied sixteenth ounce jigs with the silver strands and cut the ends of each strand with a tapered cut. After applying about 3 strands on each side and doubling them back before wrapping, I added one strand of red and doubled that as well. The jigheads were painted red and the tie was with red thread.
Pier fishing in Florida, I caught 5 varieties of fish. So far, in freshwater fishing below a dam, I've caught two.....a few hybrid bass and many herring.
Will be trying for largemouth, smallies, and crappies soon
Yes...the materials are interesting. I use fabric paints from the craft stores to make 3-D eyes on my jigs. AC Moore store has small bottles of Polymark brand fabric paints for 96 cents. I use the flourescents and the glo in the dark to put a dab on each side of the jighead....and let dry for 72 hours. I got the idea from a friend at the tackle shop. Another idea came from a board last year....go to the dollar store and get a hairbrush for a buck, the round type brush and pull out the plastic bristles. They have a bulb shape on the business end and a hook on the other.....you can tie them on crawdad flies for bulbous eyes.....can be used for other bug ties as well.
A Lays potato chip bag makes a good jig skirt.....shredded with shears and mixing the shreads creates a silver skirt with slivers of red, white or yellow, depending where you cut the bag. I prefer the red and silver myself.
DVD cases make good fly cases if the flies are small or streamers....I use the softer plastic cases made with foggy plastic, cut off the protruding areas inside the case, use a piece of self sticking craft foam sheeting to hook the flies into the case.
VHS cases work well for larger flies, jigs, etc. I use the foam sheet and apply it to the inside of the lid as well as to the bottom of the case. When closed, some of the flies hang upside down. These are also made with the almost clear softer plastic.
You're right, a dollar store/ craft store becomes a place of wonder.
You have some good ones,do a search under tips and post them there.I have a bunch of those little paints too.Thin them enough and you can airbrush with them.I go to the aisle with all the beads and use some of the smaller black ones for eyes.I like the hairbrush idea.
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