Thread: Verticle Jigging: Hair Jigs vs. Plastic

I use both but have about every color of plastic. I use plastics the majority of time. The more ate up the plastic the more it catches. I keep a tube of super glue and just put a dab on the barb and slide plastic back up jighead. The plastics are very quick to change when looking for the right color and are cheaper than hand ties. Hand ties will oulast a plastic though.


Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
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Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

i am like creek on this i use hair jigs 99% of the time if i am single pole fishing .i use one of our "minner critters" with a minnow if iam spiderriggin!!! i have 7 or 8 color combinations that i use most all the time , if i can't catch a mess on them i go home cause there not biting !!!!!!!!!!

I pefer plastic tube baits most of the time shallow in any temp. But then I use tubes most of the time inserted with leadheads not stuck on the back. When fishing real deep in cold weather is when hand ties shine because they can sink faster than plastics of same weight. Confidence is a large part of the equasion in what to use most days. I can usually catch fish on either with right weight jig. Cost is relative because plastics are cheap but quaility hand ties like MEATGETTERS can last several times longer where you don't lose them.

They both work equally well with a MINNER!!!


Big River Marine
Bill Burnett
870-635-0202

We sell XPRESS, EXCEL, and ALWELD Boats. Yamaha, Suzuki, Evinrude, Mud Buddy, and Tohatsu/Nissan Engines.
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I like the hand tied hair jigs mostly because I tie them myself and it is always a thrill to me to catch a fish on a jig or fly that I tied myself.

Can't say as I have a dog in this race guys, I've caught them on both hair and plastic jigs so to me it's a coin flip and more about the right color. To add to what guys have said here though hair will last longer than plastic for the most part. My problem with the hair jigs is usually when the head eventually gets the paint knocked off it and if fish are really biting it would still work but a new one to me is better at that point. I paint a buncha my own heads with finger nail polish and let them dry then go back over them with a clear coat to help keep the paint from chipping as easily. You can get the painted heads but unless your at BPS or somewhere bigger to buy them all's I seem to find are the smaller sizes and I prefer to go with a bit more weighty heads Winter and Summer due to the depth of the fish.

Just get all the jighead weights in all the colors (don't forget Roadrunners) then get all the Bobby Garland's, Midsouth's and Southern Pro's in ALL their colors/shapes/sizes and you will be ready for Anything they want!! All those colors and combinations in hair jigs would cost a small fortune......

I tie my own jigs but use an awful lot of plastic too. As said before, the hair(marabou) wil stay with you for several limits and will not slid down after a jerk. Even if you do jerk and miss with plastic you don't know for sure if it slid down or not and you might be sitting there fishing on the credit. The other day I had fished a couple hours and had 8 or 9 then tied on a marabou jig and limited (plus) in an hour or less. Sometimes its visa versa. Confidence is the main thing.