Bass Kreatures

Tied a few bass kreatures recently while experimenting with different combinations of hair and chenille.  Silicone skirt tabs are new to my style of tying, as are football head jigs.

A fun way to spend cold winter evenings.

Wool

Tied a couple of jigs with natural wool.  The blue backs are formed with streamer hair, which is Icelandic sheep wool.  The white bellies are tied with lamb's wool.  To me, this is a good-looking material combination.  I hope that the fish like it too.

Materials:

• One-sixteenth ounce ball head jigs with #4 VMC rounded-bend hooks.
• UTC Ultra Thread (white) - 140 denier.
• Saltwater blue streamer hair.
• White lamb's wool.
• Copenhagen blue acrylic paint.
• Black and white acrylic paint for jig eyes.
• Two-part epoxy for clearcoat.
• Krystal Flash - light blue/pearl.

A note on wool.  It absorbs water, which makes the wet material weight a concern to fly fishermen.  Not so for jig fishermen.  The heavier, the better for casting purposes.

Holoshimmer

It's one nifty little film/thread.  Try it sometime to make thread-bodied jigs.

It really provides a nice body look and shimmering colors.  The colors used above are copper and fuschia, I believe.

Holiday Tying

My, I need to visit here more often... ;)

Christmas brought me some very nice, new craft fur that I've been experimenting with.  Also, some new Sulky Holoshimmer, Gütermann, and Kreinik threads.  Here are a few recent ties.

Lots of fun. :)

Recent Ties

Some recent hair jig ties.  Used ball heads listed at 1/8 and 1/16 of an ounce with craft fur.

My Favorite Threads

Which do you like to use?  These are the ones that I use most often.

• UTC Ultra Thread - A very good flat-waxed, nylon thread.  Like the situation where a well-fitting suit makes a person look good, it makes a good tyer an even better one and an average tyer seem pretty good.  Best for collared jigs in my opinion.
• Round Nylon - I purchased a box of several spools of old Gudebrod Gude-Wind Nylon thread which I like a lot.  I use it on jigs without collars weighing 1/8 of an ounce or more.
• Trilobal Polyester -  The 40-wt embroidery threads work well for applications involving jigs without collars.  Their color selections rival those of the fly tying thread manufacturers.  Coats & Clark makes very good ones.
• Nylon or Polyester Monofilament - I really don't know why I like it so much.  Monofilament has memory that can sometimes spring its wraps away from a hook shank.  Maintain its tension and it will stay controllable.  I like the clear and smoke-colored ones measuring  0.004 of an inch in diameter.  Coats & Clark makes both types which are readily available at most fabric, craft, and department stores.

Note:

• Rayon is used in decorative sewing thread.  It seems weak to me, so I stay away from it.  Be sure to read the spool's label when choosing a sewing thread to tie jigs. 

Hair Jigs: Crappie.com Jig Swap Submission

Painted some heads and used them to tie these for a crappie jig swap in progress at Crappie.com.

I call each of them a Fireball "Half & Half".  Each measures approximately 2" long.

Materials:

• 1/16-oz. ball head (collared) with a #4 rounded-bend hook.
• White and black acrylic paint for basecoat and eyes.
• Plasti-Kote B27 Orange Glow Enamel.
• Devcon 2T Epoxy for topcoats.
• UTC Ultra Thread (gray brown) - 70 denier.
• White and fawn-colored (cream) craft fur.
• Silver holographic tinsel.

This type of jig might work for Float-N-Fly fishing smallmouth bass if it doesn't work well for crappie.