Monday, April 2, 2012

More "Tubeless" Tube Jigs

Tied a few more to imitate tube jigs.  Most have painted heads.  Each of them weighs about 1/16 of an ounce and has a # 4 hook.


The style is simple and easy to tie.  Palmered eyelash yarn and chenille comprise the jig bodies.  I am really looking forward to fishing these. :)

Friday, March 30, 2012

"Tubeless" Tube Jigs

LashMax is my favorite eyelash yarn.  I cannot get over how useful this yarn is for tying.  Keep in mind that it has good action in the water and it can be used for a variety of different ties.  Pictured below are some jigs that I've tied to mimic crappie tubes.  An example of one would be the Creme Mini Tail.


Some jigs weigh 1/16 of an ounce and have # 4 hooks.  Others are 1/32-oz. and have # 6 hooks.  The heads are unpainted since I plan to fish these (i.e. there's no artistic contest here). ;)

There is a soft plastic crappie tube in the picture.  See if you can locate it.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Another Kreature From The Depths...

...of my yarn bin.


Used a stringy olive eyelash yarn in combination with a multi-colored one that is much like mohair.  The "claws" are olive-brown saddle hackles.  Copper flashabou accent provides an additional attraction for bass.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

A Little "Jack Crawford" Style - I Hope

Felt like tying with feathers and came up with this little footballer.


Materials:
  • Brown saddle hackles (4)
  • Barred brown saddle hackles (2)
  • Brown craft fur
  • Number 6 bulky caramel-colored chenille yarn
  • Number 5 dark brown chenille yarn
  • Flat wax nylon thread (140 denier) - rusty brown
  • A 1/8-oz. football head jig with a 3/0 black nickel hook
Did a little web surfing recently and found a discussion of hair jigs made by the Jack Crawford Tackle Company.  It was interesting to me.  If I can find some color plates of the jigs, then perhaps I can create some very similar paint, feather, and fur combinations.  Otherwise, you'll just be stuck with my stuff. ;)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

A Newer Paint Mixture, Style, & Camera

Mixed a pretty nice orange color from the combination of hot pink and yellow chartreuse powder paint.  Here are some of my results.




The newer style that I'm referring to includes the jigs with short chenille bodies and craft fur tails.  I like the possibilities for fishermen who fish hair jigs during the cold weather months and like their jigs to have scent-holding capability.  It looks good to me too, but will it to the fish?  I need to field test this.

Here is a spider grub/kreature bait for Indiana rivers and creeks that contain walleye, sauger, and smallmouth bass.


It is a combination of green chartreuse/limetreuse and light brown colors.  I like it best for big sauger.  Took this picture using a newer camera.  My beloved Samsung D530 may be giving up the ghost.  I've taken hundreds of pictures with it.  It will be missed.  Admittedly, I do like the picture resolution better with the newer camera.  Also, it seems to adjust more rapidly and with better consistency to a variety of lighting conditions.

All jigs weigh about 1/8 of an ounce and have #2 bronze light-wire hooks.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Pinkies!

A classic style of simple hair jigs for crappie, I think.

Materials:
  • Sculpin wool/lambswool - white
  • Ball head jig (1/16-oz.) with a # 4 red hook
  • Pro-Tec Powder Paint/Orbit Powder Paint - Hot Pink/Clear mixture
  • Danville Flymaster 6/0 Nylon Thread (70 denier) - white
Some history about Pinkie Jigs can be found here.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Hairy Worms

Have thought quite a bit about lures from years ago recently.  I'm speaking of lures that my Dad had purchased from the sporting goods aisle of drug, grocery (yes, that's no mistake), and department stores back in the 1960s and '70s.  I have their visions in my mind, though not always their names.  One that I remembered from my Dad's tackle box is Gapen's Hairy Worm.

Some background on this jig can be found in this link:  Recent Rambles - Bill Scifres, February 2006

So, inspired by this lure from yesteryear, I tied a few of my own Hairy Worms.

I plan to fish them in my local river and reservoir.  The bodies are chenille-wrapped and the tails are bobbed.  Length varies.  Also pictured are a few Jig-N-Worms with craft fur tails.  Each is tied on a 1/8-oz. ball head jig with a # 2 bronze hook.