Mac10

Just a thought, might be good to hang the lure on the fish's mouth toward the camera. Fantastic fish and very good pictures!!! Thanks!!! Not only does it show your fans what you used, but also documents the lures used for yourself...... Good fishing, Mac

I make aspirin jigs by crimping splitshot onto jig hooks.....this is an inexpensive way to make the jigs. I start by squeezing from underneath to position the shot on the hook, then squeeze from the top down with the pliars to shut and seal the seam. I then use powder paint to finish the head. After curing in the oven, the paint holds the splitshot shut. Have never flung a shot off the hook and can vary the weights by using different size shot. New innovation....use some Bass Pro Shops Clam Shot...it's an oval splitshot and when compressed, makes a nice minnow shaped head for FnF and Swim Jigs too. Been using 1/0 Eagle Claw jighooks with the number 5 Clam shot, both from BPS.

I've cut off the skirts on old tubes, put some marabou feathers sticking in a plastic worm section, melting the end a little with a soldering iron, then jamming the worm section with the marabou into the tube. This makes a solid tube with the stuffing held in with the hook. Actually, there is an air chamber at the front end as the worm section was only about an inch long. If you want the worm section secured, a thin hot wire can be run around the inside of he tube between the tube and worm to seal it in. This is quick, easy, and yields about the same results. Nice looking tube with your results.....Good Fishing, Mac

Check out the Cabela's online store, also go to a Cabelas if you have one nearby.....best place I've found for round head jigs with a selection of hook sizes. I was informed that the store may not carry the same as the catalog, or the catalog and online catalog may also vary....but overall you still get some choice. I paint my own two ways....1 is powder paint and 2 is using nail polish over acrylic craft paint. Much cheaper if you paint your own.

I've had great success over the years fisning a senko type stick without any internal salt......falling much slower than internally salted baits. I don't know if the external salt does much in the long run, but without the internal weight, it works very well.

Repeating Big Time Buzzer's comment about using porcupine quills.... They are the best bobbers I have ever used. Simply sand the end that was in the skin of the porcupine, just to remove a little of the roughness, superglue some light weight copper wire by wrapping it in the glue about 4 turns and then wrap the wire around a small straw a couple turns, then clip to make an eye for your line to pass through. Then get some black rubber bands to twist and slip on the quill body about midway....use this rubber band to hold your line on by passing it through a couple of the rubber band wraps and then down to the end with the copper wire and through the eye.....you then can slide it when needed to change depth. It's by far the most sensative float I've ever used..... If worm fishing, a split shot isn't needed at all, but a very small one near the hook aids in casting. I always used mine with 4 lb test line on an ultra lite outfit. The bobber lays flat in the water if your copper wire is light enough....then stand up on the bite.

If the craft or natural hair is long enough, you can tie it on with an equal length sticking on the front and then after 4 wraps of thread, bend it back and wrap some more. This bent hair is locked in. If tying with bucktail hair which is thinner at the rear end of the fly, tie it on the jig with 4 wraps, cut off the front excess with a slanted cut by pulling the hair upright in front of the wraps, then cutting with the scissors slanted down so it's tapering the hair down towrard the ball head....then, apply some nail polish or head cement to the tapered hair and wrap with thread. This cementing will hold the hairs in place once the cement dries.

Great tip, JBlaze!!! Thanks and Good Fishing, Mac

Sagacious, had to look it up, excellent user name!!!

Color....for nearly clear or clear water, be sure to include watermelon/red among your colors, also another one that works well at times is green pumpkin. I've also had some good action on watermelon/gold glitter at times.

Glaucus, Excellent Post!!!!

Another option other than an egg sinker, use a bass casting sinker with the brass wire clipped. first, twist an eye with the swivel on it, then press the two "arms" together and slide the sinker up to the eye holding the swivel, then spread the arms and make an eye on each arm end, add a couple snelled hooks and you are good to go.

If you want to emulate a small fish, mount the lure on the hook so the tail is upright on edge, vertically. If you want to emulate leeches, mount it flat horizontally on the hook. I've done a little fishing with them. Several approaches, one is horizontally and weightless.....you get a nice wafting glide, another way is to use a lightweight stand-up jighead and moving slowly across the bottom will emulate a feeding minnow or fingerling. I need to learn more....

Also, www.fishingskirts.com

Netcraft sells a wire bending tool originally created by Herb Ludgate, it's the little bench type model, not the hand held bender they also carry. After forming an eye in the middle of your wire, bend the eye over so it hangs equally in the center using needle nose pliars, bend the two legs together and slide on an egg sinker, then spread the legs and using the wire bending tool, put an eye on each end of the leg wires, you can even use small barrel swivels on each end if you like or perhaps split rings to tie the line onto. I've made a bunch in the past and had no problems, even if one wire leg ends up a little bit longer than the other, the weight of the sinker balances them out. The wire size that comes with the tool is good for spreaders. Hope this helps, Mac

One local fellow was catching a lot of crappie on some dog hair jigs. They were made of a number of colors, brown, gold, white tip, grey and black. When a buddy asked him what he was using, it was the body hair of an old german shephard. When the friend stopped by to visit, he noticed the dog had gaps.

I got this off a post some years ago. Go to a dollar store and get a round ladies hair brush....before buying, be sure it has little rounded knobs on the end of the bristles and be sure when you look at the end of the bristle sticking in the handle and be sure you can see a little end at the very base sticking in the hole beside the bristle shaft.....when you take a pair of needle nose pliars and pull them out of the brush there should be a little hook bend in the plastic making an anchor for the bristle. I use the rounded end sticking out for crab and craw eyes and use the hooked end to tie on tube insert hooks for hooking on grubs as a bait keeper onner...ahem.

Hookup's post is a good one. I use a lot of rabbit strips for making hair jigs. They are packaged and called by two names.....zonkers are the strips with the hair running in the same direction as the strip....these are used for tails and claws, crosscut strips are the same size, but have the hair shooting off one side of the strip only....these are used in making the body or collar (shoulder) of the hair jig....you really need both. There are no rules as to color....you can mix colors having one for the tail and another for the collar, or, you can match. Start with a zonker strip tail and pierce with the hook down near the end, slip it on so it lines up with the hookshaft and tie off and clip at the front....tying off can mean wrapping 4 or 5 turns of the thread and then making a loop and sliding it over the leadhead and pulling it tight...this makes a half hitch...several half hitches pulled tight will hold it on....then about a half inch from the head, start a crosscut strip and wrap it forward having the hair on top of the hide and pointing to the back of the jig....three wraps are good, then wrap with thread making a thread collar and tie off. The sideways hair forms an overlay and gives the shoulder some depth. I finish mine after several half hitches by clipping the thread and coating with clear nail polish. Like Hookup said, there are tutorials you can find on the web. It's going to be hard not to buy other materials along the way, but starting with Hookup's rabbit hair is a great place to start. Rabbit hair moves enticingly in the water and is great for winter fishing and cold water fishing in general. I would add the following to your materials....along with the hair......holographic flashabou in silver color, silicone strands in several colors including blue, green pumpkin, black. The flashabou is great for adding a little punch to your jig......just a few tiny strands adds a lot of zip...just tie a strand on matching the length of the tail piece, after a couple wraps, bring the front end of the strand back and wrap some more and trim even with the tail as well....this bending back and wrapping locks on the strand. Flashabou strands are very narrow....often they are sticking together in the bundle, be sure to separate them in use and you will get your money's worth. My favorite thread is made by UTC and has a size number on it (280)....I've tried other sizes and brands, but this is a good and sturdy thread. I'd suggest starting with red, black, and olive which will cover you in most tying situations. Good fishing, Mac

For swimming jigs, I use mainly the rubber skirt materials....they bend back nicely and quiver a lot. I tend to tie them sparsely and use some flashabou in silver holographic in between some of the rubber. If you spray the rubber jigs with Armor All occasionally during the year, they will keep well, especially through the summer. In winter, I like the silicone for swimming jigs as they don't have as much action more like a cold minnow or fingerling. I use silicone for strands on my rabbit hair jigs to emulate crawdads...they lay out nicely and basically stay prettymuch with the lay of the hair....I only use three or four strands over the rabbit hair. I tie mainly smaller jigs, 1/8 to 1/16 ounces, so am using thread for the process of making the jigs. Hope this helps, Mac

One of the easiest leadheads to tie on is the grubhead jig sold at Wal Mart....they only come in 1/8 ounce size and are flat on the top and bottom of the head, having a long lead collar to tie on. A pack of ten runs a little over two bucks, but they work well.

Reading an article somewhere on the internet, one fellow uses rabbit hair for summer and craft hair for winter..... Says the fish are less active in winter and craft hair on an FnF will move, but much less than the hair. This is one of those things that are either based on experience, or a shared opinion.....hard to tell which.

In order for folks to help even better, put your location in your profile, it will show your location on your posts. If your water is unusually murky, it's possible your lake or pond has had a change over, making the fishing off for a couple weeks. If not, then the above and following tips may help.

As for super glue gel, try the Loctite Brand of Gel super glue, also available at Wal Mart.....it's a silvery color plastic bottle with two ridged blue sections on the sides for squeezing. I've had a bottle on the bench for sometime, doesn't dry out like others....still good after 6 months or so.

Adding a "lot of salt" may not be the best way to go.....salt added to the plastic when melting will make the tubes tear up more easily as well as adding weight. You may want to try this........after making regular tubes to your size and color preferences, simply soak the finished tubes in a saltwater brine for a week or so after production. The saltwater will penetrate the plastic itself and will leave a flavor impregnated in the plastic itself. Just a thought.

In the backyard, run out 65 feet of line on both rods and mark a foot of line with a Sharpie permanent marker, say....black for now. Mark it well by rubbing the point on the top and another swipe on the bottom of the line. Then, after drying, reel in ten feet and mark another foot of line, this time red. In the boat the red will give you a visual warning you are getting close to the black. Another method is to tie a piece of yarn tightly on the line...a simple, but tightly pulled overhand knot will work...then trim the ends making a little ball on the line. Personally, I think the Sharpies would be the best....you could even mark the black for 65, and going a bit further, say 75, the 75 could be marked with a black red black red alternating pattern......... I've not tried this, but if you let them try thoroughly after marking, I don't see how it could fail.