Griffin Enterprises

Just wanted to give a shout out to Griffin Enterprises of Kalispell, MT.  I like companies that stand by their products.  Griffin is definitely one of them.

I use a 14-year old Griffin Superior 3ARP vise regularly.  More than my other two vises.  It's very dependable.  But like anything else, it wears with lots of use.  Man, have I used it.  It's without a doubt the most versatile and useful vise that I own.

Recently, I cracked a small adjustment knob/screw on the vise jaws.  I then contacted Griffin about it and now have a replacement for it just three days later.  I wasn't charged for the part or its shipping.  They've sent me o-ring replacements for my vise jaw assembly in the past too, free of charge.

Customer service lives.  Griffin is a great company.

Larger Tail Spinners

Tied these on jigs weighing 1/4 of an ounce.  My paint is a mixture of powders that form a color called 'rum raisin'.  The hooks are size 1/0.

More Tail Spinners

I've always had reasonable success with brown-colored baits for smallmouth bass, so I tied the tail spinners pictured below.  Each weighs 1/4 of an ounce and has a #1 bronze hook.  Their red eyes are made with fabric paint.  A bulky brownish chenille yarn covers the hook shanks.  'Root Beer'-colored flash is added to the jig bodies, just ahead of their golden #2 Colorado blades.

The swivel, split ring, and blade assembly clips onto the back of each jig.  It is easily removed and replaced by a feathered or fur-covered treble or single hook.

These are very fun to tie.

Clear Water Tail Spinners

Created some black and white-colored fabric paint eyes for larger jigs, so I decided to paint and tie 1/4-oz. tail spinners.  Used a gray powder mix to paint the heads.  The bodies are tied with gray-colored chenille yarn.  Each jig has a bronze #1 hook.

I plan to fish them in rivers when or where the water is clear and longer casts are necessary to avoid spooking fish.

Chartreuse Jigs For Bass And Panfish

Made a nice craft fur find at a local fabric store recently which inspired me to do some tying.  The fur is a fluorescent chartreuse color that seems comparable, to me, to the old Targus Foxx Fur.  I purchased a half yard of it.  It is a valuable and treasured find indeed!  A swatch of it appears below.

Tied the four of these jigs on Friday and Saturday evening.  Those to the far right are tailspinners.  The one furthest right has a tandem of flicker (00) blades behind a three-way swivel.  Each jig head weighs about 1/8 of an ounce and has a number two hook.

Each jig has eyes made of fabric paint and the heads are coated with gloss glaze for protection.

Here's a nice article covering hair jig fishing with jigs like these:  Fishing with Hair Jigs in the Fall - FISH THIS PA

Simple White Bass Jigs With Craft Fur

Tied the jigs pictured below with some great-looking pearlescent white craft fur purchased at a Burlington Store.  Included are two jigs that feature individual "clip" portions of jig spinners tied in to accommodate the attachment of a swivel and spinner blade at the end of their hook shanks.  The swivels aren't ordinary either.  I've used knurled screw clasps in place of crane swivels.  This gives me an option to quickly change their blades at home or in the field.

After-Christmas Sales For Tying Materials

Keep your eyes open for bargains on tying materials from after-Christmas sales.  I found some fine tinsel to use as flashabou on small jigs and floral wire for tied-in weed guards.  A silver craft fur stocking will provide a lot of tail material for many crappie, trout, and bass jigs.

Spinnerbait Modification

Replaced my spinnerbait's crane swivel with a knurled screw clasp.  The clasp will allow me to change blades by replacing the threaded barrel section with another having a different blade attached to its split ring.  This gives me a quick change option for switching blades.

Three different sizes of Colorado blades, in gold and silver colors, are pictured above.  I plan to powder paint several more of them with additional colors and to add a few willow leaf blades to my set.

Spinnerbait

Materials:

•  Eagle Claw 249WA-3/0 Weedless Hook
•  Hammered-silver no. 3 Colorado blade, 2 split rings, and crane swivel
•  Coats & Clark Trilobal Polyester Machine Embroidery Thread 40-wt. - electric green
•  Caron Glimmer Chenille Yarn  - apple
•  Loctite Super Glue Gel
•  Bullet Weights Rubber Grip Sinker - 1/16 ounce
•  Clear Nail Polish
•  FeatherCraft FlyFishing 3/16" 3D Holo-Silver Eyes
•  Hareline Dubbin, Inc. Baitfish Emulator Flash - fluorescent chartreuse
•  Michaels Bright Wonder Beads - fluorescent yellow

Lizard

This one's 7.5 inches long. Perhaps a smaller one should be tied for smallmouth bass, of maybe 4-5 inches in length. I'm hopeful that its tail floats well. The combination of dumbbell with googly eyes provides similar advantages to fishing a lightweight football jig. This could be fished as a 'bed dragger' for some in largemouth bass circles.

Materials:

• Gamakatsu 02412 Octopus Hook 2/0
• UTC Ultra Thread 210 denier - red
• 7/32" dumbbell eyes - unpainted
• Googly eyes - 4 mm diameter
• Lion Brand Suede Yarn - olive
• Pony beads - olive shades
• Craft fur - olive gray
• Loctite Super Glue Gel - amazing stuff
• Clear nail polish
• 0.3 mm 7-strand beading wire for guard
• Elastic cord - black
• Latigo lace

Recent Ties In Between The Holidays

Here are some 1/8-ounce jigs I've tied recently for winter finesse fishing. Their trailers are made of suede leather with a 'chunk' portion consisting of sandwiched craft foam. I'm hoping to fish these soon as I've been successful with similar baits for cold weather largemouth bass.

The top jig is tied with craft fur. The other two are tied with kid goat hair, which I've never used before, and red flashabou. Kid goat hair is somewhat slick, but it's relatively soft and manageable. The combination of black and red colors (black neon) are popular in my area.

These are hair jigs tied with hair from deer hide (not cut from bucktail). Used a hair stacker for my first time to even the hairs prior to tying these. Their suede leather trailers will darken when wet and feature orange and brown foam chunks as well. I may add a touch of orange-colored glitter or fabric paint to their tips at a later time.

These are bucktails, with their hair cut from the base of the tail.

 More jigs tied with the hair from deer hide. I'm a fan of olive and red flake color.

 
This one's going to get a workout this spring. Its tail is very buoyant. I'll use a slip sinker or bull shot ahead of its eye to fish it.

Another Finesse Worm

This one has a nice shimmy in hand and it rattles.  Length is approximately four inches.  Its hook is a bronze, 1/0 sproat.

Floating Finesse Worms

Will be back to tying jigs soon.

In the meantime, here are three finesse-style worms tied for river smallmouth bass fishing.  Again, their major components are chenille yarn, latigo lace, craft fur, and pony beads.  Remember well that pony beads float in water.  A fishing suggestion appears on the right side of my vise platform.

Bring some toothpicks along for pegs when fishing these as they can make a bullet weight adjustable in its position along the line.

Pony Bead Flukes

Tied the lures below on latigo lace with craft fur tail material, a fluffy chenille yarn, and pony beads.  Pony beads come in a variety of colors and can be combined to produce interesting patterns.  These are designed to sink very slowly as their lace absorbs water.  Their sink rate may be increased by adding suspend dots or small wraps of lead ribbing.  Hooks are bronze 1/0 sproats.  The red tying thread is a 210 denier.

I plan to fish them in clearer waters with either a 9/10-wt. fly or a medium light spinning outfit next spring.

The Super Salamander

Comprised primarily of pony beads and Latigo Lace, this 'super salamander' approaches 12 inches in length.  Bulky chenille yarn and googly eyes surround the long lace tail tied onto the 4/0 hook's shank.

I would like to fish this in a farm or retention pond containing trophy-sized largemouth bass and a limited food supply.  However, I'll more than likely cast it about my local reservoir sometime soon.

How To Sharpen Fishing Hooks

How To Sharpen Fishing Hooks

Recent Works

Now tying worms and flukes with beads and leather.  The beads float, providing an interesting characteristic for designing floating or neutral buoyancy subsurface lures.

Bucktails

Rarely do I tie bucktail jigs.  However, I'm often looking to expand my experience with materials, so I took a little time recently to tie a couple.

 Materials:

• Unpainted ball-head jigs weighing 3/16 and 1/4 of an ounce with 2/0 and 1/0 hooks, respectively.
• Rosey's Powder Coatings - Olive Grey 85% Gloss and Green Grey Powder Coating - RAL 7009.
• Rosey's Powder Coating mixes with glitter - Clear Coat High Gloss 100% with green and red glitter, respectively.
• UTC Ultra Thread (140 denier) - olive.
• Hedron, Inc. Flashabou - red.
• Bi-color tinsel - emerald/magenta.
• Wapsi Strung Rooster Hackles - olive/natural.
• Wapsi Bucktail - olive.
• Lion Brand Suede Yarn - olive.

Reapers

Designed after the Mar-Lynn soft plastic bait from years ago, only these are made of ice chenille and leather.  Silver glitter is applied to the tail using Tulip Puffy Paint.  The tail's 'rays' are formed by cutting the  leather at 45-60 degree angles in hopes of segmenting the the tail for better flexibility and movement when wet.

Other versions will be created, provided that they fish fairly well.  I look forward to fishing them in the local river while trying my luck for smallmouth and spotted bass.

Pinkies!

Tied with kip tail, pinkies are a favored style of jig for my mid-winter to early spring fishing.  I've caught trout, bluegill, crappie, and both largemouth and smallmouth bass with them.

Each is tied on a 1/32-ounce darter-head jig possessing a #6-8 Aberdeen hook.  Used a 70 denier (or slightly smaller) polyester thread to keep the bulk down on the jig collars.

I like to tip these jigs with curly-tailed grubs of about 1 inch in length and fish them beneath a float.  It's a bit like still fishing, but during winter it allows you to take in your surroundings and enjoy nature's wonders.  Do dress appropriately to stay warm!

The image below shows a couple of commercially-tied pinkie jigs with grub trailers attached.