Simple Bass Minnows

Simple Silver Hair Minnows For Bass

Materials:

• 5/32-oz. ball head jigs with #2 bronze hooks.
• Darice Craft Fur - silver (not gray or gray/silver).
• Black UTC Ultra Thread - 70 and 140 denier.
• Silver and/or chrome paint for head - the type is your choice (jig head is epoxy covered).
• Black and white acrylic paint for eyes.
• 5-minute two-part epoxy for jig head top coat.

This is one of my favorite hair jig designs for fall bass fishing in clear water.  These are effective swimming jigs that are about 3.5-3.75 inches long.

Jig Ties For Fall - Natural Selection

A natural selection.

So, I tied a few for this fall and winter.  Thought mostly of minnows, leeches, and gobies.  A couple of brown crawfish ties appear for completeness.  A drab green is so versatile.  Think goby or crawfish.

Things I like about...Ultra Thread

• Strength
• Color-coded spool labels state and relate to denier (red = 70, yellow = 140, and green = 210)
• A handy color-coded end cap pinches the thread's tag end for storage and also relates to its denier

I like coded standards.  Good stuff here.

Silver Flake Hair Jigs and Sugar?

I'd been a little disappointed with glitter not showing up very well in my photos. So, I went ahead and purchased some large silver glitter (Sulyn Industries) and created some silver flake jig heads. Each hair jig is a 1/8-oz. ball head with a #2 hook.

Well, I'm not overly excited about the result. But, while I coated the heads with my epoxy and glitter mix, I was reminded of a "Sugarhead" jig. This was a crappie-sized marabou feather jig that I purchased many years ago. It had a head coating that looked like granulated sugar. I plan to design a similar jig with glitter flakes sometime in the future. :)

Ever hear of, own, or use a "Sugarhead"? I tried a keyword web search for this jig and turned up zero hits. :(

Schlappen Ties for Bass

I really like this feather.  It really looks "buggy".  Provides a nice profile when combined with hackle or other feather tails.  Tied on 1/8-oz. football heads with #1 hooks.

Crappie Dot Com Steelhead Jig Swap - Part 2

Finished tying these on Thursday evening.

Each is tied on a 1/8-oz. ball head with a #2 hook. I believe that I'll call this pattern Citrus Drink Mix. ;)

Crappie Dot Com Steelhead Jig Swap - Part 1

This is my first group of ties submitted to a Crappie Dot Com jig swap of steelhead jigs.

Watched a couple of videos on tying Schlappen feather jigs. I've used Schlappen before, though not in the manner shown in the videos. The west coast guys in the videos are real pros at tying these. Mine look nowhere near as good as theirs. I've got a ways to go with this style.

Taught myself some important points about feather selection and learned how to turn these feathers over the shank from the videos. Not all Schlappen feathers are created equal. Watch out for feathers with twisted plumes!

This is turning out to be a very good learning swap for me. :)