Two-Tone Jig Colors

The bottom three jigs are my initial trials/examples. I added a coat of black powder paint to the top of the yellow jig heads in order to produce a two-tone effect.

Will be attempting several with green and yellow chartreuse base coats later this weekend.

Black 'N' Blues

Tied these on 1/8-oz. ball jigs with # 2 hooks.

Materials:

• A 2:1 mix of Orbit Powder Coating (clear) to Harbor Freight Powder Paint (black matte)
• LashMax Eyelash Yarn - Black Star
• Wapsi Streamer Hair - Saltwater Blue
• Darice Craft Fur - black
• Gudebrod Fly Tying Thread 6/0 - 125 denier

Superpede

A creepy crawler for bass.



Materials:

• Eagle Claw 249WA-1/0 hook
• Boot lace
• Small dumbbell eyes - unknown weight
• Lion Brand Suede - Coffee
• LashMax Eyelash Yarn - Caffeine
• Coats Trilobal Polyester Thread (40-wt.) - Chona Brown

Total length is about 3.5 inches.

Holiday Ties

Tied a few "spider grub"-styled kreature baits and some assorted craft fur minnows.  Mixed a new-to-me powder paint color called "Cotton Candy Confetti".  I think that it's a nice-looking combination of glitters and clear powder paint.

Hope you had a great Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

The Ultimate Bobbin Threading Tool

Price:  $0.00

Palm Tree Knockoff

About the Kinami Palm Tree

My knockoff version tied with body reversed:

Materials:

• Kiwi Boot Lace
• Eagle Claw 249WA-1/0 hook
• Lion Brand Suede Chenille - Olive
• Premier Yarns LashMax - Kryptonite
• Coats & Clark Machine Embroidery Thread (40 wt.) - Dk. Olive & Electric Green

Slimmer than the plastic bait, this knockoff could be fished weightless or with a 1/16-oz. bullet head sinker.  Personally, I don't care to fish with more than a 1/8-oz. sinker ahead of soft plastics in the rivers and lakes that I fish.

Soft plastic baits provide good possibilities for designs.

Egg-Sucking Kreature Bait

Patterned similarly to an egg-sucking leech fly pattern.  Total length is about 3.75-4 inches.

Materials:

• 1/8-oz. ball head with #2 bronze hook
• HF Powder Paint - orange (red/yellow mixture)
• UTC Ultra Thread 140 denier - black
• Lion Brand Suede Chenille - Ebony
• Darice Craft Fur - black
• Kiwi Leather Boot Lace
• Premier Yarns LashMax - Black Star

Hair Jig Fishing - Tackle & Technique For Bass

Here's an In-Fisherman Blog article that a friend of mine co-wrote recently.  Lots of good information here, particularly for Midwestern anglers.

The manifold virtues of the small hair jig, according to Brian Waldman

Now, I know where to find good jig trailers too. :)

Light Kreechers

This is a bait that I've been tying a lot of lately in order to prepare for next spring's smallmouth bass fishing.  It's somewhat similar in appearance to soft plastics like the Yammamoto Fat Ika or any of several skirted Chompers.

Each is tied on a 1/8-ounce ball head with a #2 bronze hook.

Comprised of eyelash yarn, chenille, and craft fur, my "Kreecher" jigs are meant to be fished along lake and river bottoms. 

Crappie Prep - Pinkies and Red-N-Whites

Here are several ties that I've prepared for November crappie.  White craft fur has worked well for me recently.

Each jig weighs about 1/16 of an ounce and has a #4 red hook.

A Swim Jig For Schooling Shad Situations

Earlier this month, I purchased a "new-to-me" eyelash yarn from Jo Ann Fabrics.  It's called Lion Brand Fun Fur Exotic.  The color is "silver fox".  This material moves nicely in the water.  Its silver color is very shiny.

I've combined it with a multi-toned gray craft fur that I purchased from Jo Ann on the same day.  Visually, I like the pattern's appearance and its looks in water.

Pictured below are simple craft fur ties on the left as well as my shad-styled swim jigs.  The jigs are 1/8-ounce with #2 hooks.


Have had initial success with the swim jigs on largemouth bass in Eagle Creek Reservoir of Indianapolis.

More Chenille Flukes & Worms

Tied the following lures before my trip to Tennessee.  Had good intentions of using them there, but the situations did not warrant it.  Hopefully, I still have a chance this fall to fish them in proper situations.

Have discontinued using bungee cord rubber in favor of leather boot lace.  It has an action similar to the rubber when wet.  Also, note that I've begun tying two-tone worms with chartreuse tails.

Recent Fishing Trips - October 20-23 & October 26

Took a trip down to Hixson, Tennessee with the intention to visit my in-laws last week.  Well... most never saw me as my wife told me to go fish.  And fish I did. :)

Spent all four mornings of October 20th through the 23rd fishing below the Chickamauga Lake Dam on the Tennessee River.  A sportsman's paradise.  There are many different species of gamefish to catch there and what a productive river!

Spent most of my time fishing near bridge abutments.  White bass were schooling and willing to bite.  Spotted bass provided some good battles too.  I caught a few largemouth bass, yellow bass, bluegill, and two of my largest black crappie of the year.  Unfortunately, I do not have photos of the crappie.  This became a fishing trip for me, so sorry about the lack of photos.  I fished! :)

My crappie were easily better than 12 inches long.  By how much? I'm unsure.  I caught them on hand-tied craft fur jigs (1/8-ounce) similar to those pictured below, but with red hooks.

I could not entice the white bass with these surprisingly.  Most of those were caught on Yum Mystic Minnows.

Pictured below are two of my white bass catches.  The first is slightly smaller than my average catch.  The second is one of the brutes.  I believe that I caught about 15-20 white bass each morning.  Many were similar in size to the fish in the second picture.

That's a three-inch long swimbait lying across the fishes mouth.  This was truly a nice-sized fish which put up a heck of a battle.

Here is a photo of one of the "fishermen" fishing next to me during the trip, a much better fisherman than I.

Finally, I did a little shore casting over at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis last night.  Caught a total of 33 white bass and 8 yellow bass in just under two hours.  Fished a black-bodied, silver-bladed UV Roostertail Spinner (1/8-ounce).  Often, the fish hit the lure just as it entered the water.  My largest was a white bass of about 12 inches in length.  It was nice to catch so many white bass since I did not catch any true bass other than yellow bass there last year.

The rest of the lures that I fished:

Pictured clockwise from top left:

• Yum Mystic Minnow
• 1/6-ounce white Roostertail
• 1/8-ounce white Roostertail
• 1/8-ounce black UV Roostertail
• 1/16-ounce black Roostertail
• 1/4-ounce yellow Roostertail
• Captain Mick's Minnow Swimbait

LashMax Yarn Jigs for Bass

Plum brown heads (Harbor Freight mix) with caffeine (dark brown) LashMax eyelash yarn tied in over the collar.  Used brown and orange craft furs for the tail.  Cinched everything down with brown-colored trilobal polyester thread.

Heads are 1/8 of an ounce with #2 hooks.

Ultimate Yarn Jig 'N' Worms

I've been tying with eyelash yarns for the past two months.  A fellow tyer mentioned that one of my yarns might make a nice replacement material for silicone skirt applications.  The yarn is durable and has very good movement in the water.  So, I agree. :)

Here are a couple of my latest "mover and shaker" ties.

The hooks are offset slightly from the chenille and rubber tails, so there's plenty of gap available for hooksets.  Jigs are 1/8-ounce ball heads with #2 hooks.

More jig ties with new and different eyelash yarns are on the way...  I hope that you'll stay tuned.

It's Not A Fluke... More Flukes!

I really enjoy tying these now that I'm in control of both, the thread and the weedguard. ;)  Used two more "new-to-me" yarns this evening.  The first fluke pictured is tied with a #6 yarn called Northland Lofty Chenille (honey color pattern).  The second is tied with a fuzzy #6 chenille yarn called Bernat Fab Faux (sable color pattern).

This fluke has an Eagle Claw 249WA-1/0 hook.  It's about 6" long.

This one was has an Eagle Claw 249WA-3/0 hook.  It's 6.5" long.

I field tested one of my other flukes recently with a medium spinning outfit consisting of a 6 foot rod and a reel spooled with 6-lb. copolymer line.  I was able to cast it a pretty fair distance with it wet. :)

Forget about casting one of these dry unless you use a fly rod outfit of about 8-wt or more. ;)

Fluke Jr.

This one measures 5 inches long.  I purchased two skeins of Northland Lofty Chenille (Bulky #6) recently that looked good for baitfish patterns.  This particular color is called "Maplewood".

Used sage-colored craft fur for the tail.  The hook is an Eagle Claw 249WA -1/0.  It rides with its hook point downward and has a wire weedguard to resist snagging.

Little Posting, Lots O' Tying...

Spent some time tying many jigs during August.  Some of the jigs appear in the following photos:

The jigs are 1/8-ounce ball heads with #2 hooks.  Used eyelash yarns in a variety of designs.  Added craft fur tails, flashabou, and safety pin spinners to many of the ties.  I consider these jigs a specialty of mine and hope that you find them interesting.

No Trailers Required

Created these tonight using brown Disco eyelash yarn and orange craft fur.  Each is tied on a 1/8-ounce ball head jig with a #2 Aberdeen hook.

This is one of my favorite "craw" color patterns for smallmouth bass.

Super Leech II

Here's another Super Leech tied with orange craft fur and brown Disco yarn.

I hope to fish this one in the local river for smallmouth bass.  This sure looks like a big fish bait to me.

Super Leech

It measures about 5 inches long.  Tail is tipped with black-colored Darice Craft Fur.  Body is Bernat Disco Eyelash Yarn palmered over the bungee cord rubber strip that is tied onto the hook shank.

Jig head is a 1/8-ounce ball head with a #2 bronze Aberdeen hook.  The head is painted with matte black Harbor Freight powder.

Just For Grins - If I Had Sponsors Like A Professional Fisherman...

Who might they be?  This is a list of companies producing jig tying tools that I really like.  See any surprises here?

Red Worms

Tied on 1/8-ounce ball head jigs with #2 hooks.  Used a chenille print yarn made by Lion Brand.  The color is called canyon.

The jigs are nearly 6 inches long.  I feel that these may make pretty good river bass or walleye baits.

Pup's Super Fluke

It's not a jig or a fly per se. I tied this with Rozetti Velvet chenille, pink craft fur, and a strip of 1/8" wide bungee rubber.

The hook is an Eagle Claw 249WA-1/0. It rides with its hook point down. I use this style of hook when fishing soft plastic flukes for river bass.

This fluke is pretty light, but should gain some weight when wet. It measures just under 6 inches long.

Reviving A Flawed Implement

Last winter, I purchased a pair of curved cuticle scissors sight unseen.  I expected them to be of the same dimensions and quality as my primary scissors of the same make and model.  These were to be my replacement pair when my primary pair wears out.

Well, I was disappointed.  The blades are a little wider and one of the points was blunt.  I put the scissors away and bought another pair made by a different manufacturer.  A couple of days ago, I was cleaning out my scissors drawer when I spotted them.  Several thoughts later, I grabbed a triangular file and took action.

Took an approach similar to sharpening lawn mower blades and filed down along the curve of the blade with the blunt point.  Then, I filed along both of its sides to create a pinpoint tip.  My result?  Well, the blades remain a little thick to my liking, but the points are needle fine.  It's now a wonderful pair of scissors for trimming hair and cutting thread at knots.

I used just my hands to hold the scissors and file.  Though, my bench vise could have made my effort a little easier.

Up My Sleeve: Nail Polish

So much of my web site is devoted to show and tell, that I think it's due for a little more "content".  Today, I'll mention one of my tricks for painting jig heads with nail polish.

Nail polish is one of the cheapest and easiest of paints to obtain for coloring jig heads.  Though, it's not durable and requires a clear coat to avoid chipping off.  Powder and vinyl paints are better choices for durability.  However, if you have a durable clear coat, nail polish provides some of the most interesting and artistic of colors.

I use a two-part, thirty-minute epoxy to clear coat jigs painted with nail polish.  One of the best and most readily available is Devcon 2 Ton Epoxy.

I buy nail polish when it's on sale at nearby department stores.  Often, popular makes and colors are reviewed on web blogs devoted to beauty and cosmetics.  Two that I find quite useful follow below:

• Body and Soul
• Frazzle and Aniploish

What's great about these blogs is that they describe mixing colors together to achieve some very interesting color combinations.  Frequently, they will describe how many coats of a particular polish are necessary to produce an opaque color on the human nail.  This is handy when you want solid, non-metallic colors on your jig heads.  Newer lead is shiny after all.

I hope that you find these sites interesting and useful if you paint your jig heads with nail polish.

Approaching Green Pumpkin - Paint

I feel that this jig head's paint looks very close to the popular green pumpkin color.  The photo was shot with a combination of fluorescent and incandescent lighting.

The jig head is painted with a mix of Harbor Freight's matte black and yellow powder paints in about a 1:1 ratio.  This picture doesn't do it a true justice either.

Or...maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. ;)

Ball Head Jig-N-Worm

Tied this jig-n-worm on a 1/8-ounce ball head with a #2 hook.  Its total length is about 5.0 inches.

Materials:

• Darice Craft Fur - orange
• Lion Brand Suede (#5 chenille yarn) - coffee
• Bungee cord rubber - 1/8 of an inch wide
• UTC Ultra Thread (140 denier) - dark brown
• Harbor Freight Powder Paint - brown-colored mixture

Plan to fish this one as a bottom bouncer for river smallmouth bass.

Yet Another Jig-N-Worm

Tied this one expressly for my local river.  It's intended for smallmouth bass.  Though, it measures 6 inches long.

Used a bulky #6 chenille called Rozetti Velvet.  It's good-looking material I think.  The jig head is painted a brown color that I mixed from black, yellow, and red Harbor Freight powder paints.

These are fun to tie.  Well, except for the craft fur tail that is... ;)

More Jig-N-Worms

Tied a couple more jig-n-worms this evening. The blue firetail is about 7.5 inches long and the green with black tail measures 5 inches. Used large #5 and #6 chenille yarns made by Lion Brand. Plan to fish the blue one for largemouth bass and the green one for both largemouth and smallmouth bass.

Each jig is tied on a 1/8-ounce football head with a #1 or a 1/0 hook.

Firetail Jig-N-Worm

Used thick bungee cord rubber to extend the purple chenille body. Tied in craft fur as the firetail and whip finished over the rubber. The football head is painted with nail polish to match the #5 chenille and topcoated with two-part epoxy.

Thought that this might make a good tie for the largemouth bass in my local reservoir.

Another Rosy Red Minnow

Here's another 1/8-ounce rosy red jig version that I tied recently. Tried a bit of pink over orange craft fur on the body with grayish-silver fur to represent some fins. The head is a salmon pink powder color that I mixed recently.