Thread: Michigan wiggler

Very cool jig!

thx for the great info on these.
do you have a pic of one, or illistration on how you tied this?
love to tie one like you said, just don't understand how your doing that tail.
thx,
dave

Originally Posted by wicklundrh

We used to tie and sell thousands of those things!

Here is a trick. We used to tie our tails different than the hair across the bodies.

Start with a bundle of hair (two different colors together). Tie the bundle on the back of the hook with all the hair facing away (not towards the eye). At this point you can do one of two things depending on the look. The most common is to put on your channel, then wrap your hackle, then take your back color and bring it over the top. The differnce is that you get a much cleaner look to the fly and you don't have to use as much hair! The butt end will have a different colored tail and instead of the back going directly over the top, it will come out of the body.

The second, less common way is to tie the same as above BUT, put your back hair on before you wrap your hackle.

These are very common wet fly presentations on the Manistee river in the late winter and prior to the spawn bite/spawning of the females. Brown bodies closly resembling the wiggler (or mayfly larvea) work great with contrasting back hair.

Another trick is to tie your hair with deer hair instead of squirrel tail hair. Deer hair is more hollow and will allow this wet fly to be a little boyoant and float above the bottom during the presentation. Deer tails work best due to the longer hair.

Great looking tie. I like it on the jig head!

Dave,

If you look at the tail (where you are tying on your squirel hair) you tie that on first (right). It runs from where you want the tail to end up, all the way to the eye of the hook. Some guys tie it on before and hold the overtop hair back while they put on the chanell and hackle. After that is done, you lay the hair over the top and tie the front. Other guys will put the channell and hackel on, then tie the tail at the front and back.

What I do is start at the back. I take the bundle of hair and tie it on the back (just like the tail. Trim off the excess as it does NOT need to go towards the eye of the hook. Tie on your channel and hackle, wrap your thread to the front, then your channel, and then your hackle and tie them off, next, take a section of the hair tail and "BEND" it back towards the eye of the hook creating your hair over look. Instead of a tied look on the back and front, you will no longer be able to see your thread in the back, the tail will come OUT of the body, and the back hair will have a bend coming out of the body and over the chanell.

*take a section of the hair tail and "BEND" it back towards the eye of the hook creating your hair over look.
i got you now. then you don't have to tie off that big bundle of hair at the front then. that would be nice.
i'll give it a try tonite. have to go try and hook me some more steelies right now.

what was some of your best colors for these on the steelies ?
thx for taking the time to explain.

Originally Posted by wicklundrh

Dave,
If you look at the tail (where you are tying on your squirel hair) you tie that on first (right). It runs from where you want the tail to end up, all the way to the eye of the hook. Some guys tie it on before and hold the overtop hair back while they put on the chanell and hackle. After that is done, you lay the hair over the top and tie the front. Other guys will put the channell and hackel on, then tie the tail at the front and back.

What I do is start at the back. I take the bundle of hair and tie it on the back (just like the tail. Trim off the excess as it does NOT need to go towards the eye of the hook. Tie on your channel and hackle, wrap your thread to the front, then your channel, and then your hackle and tie them off, next, take a section of the hair tail and "BEND" it back towards the eye of the hook creating your hair over look. Instead of a tied look on the back and front, you will no longer be able to see your thread in the back, the tail will come OUT of the body, and the back hair will have a bend coming out of the body and over the chanell.

Originally Posted by naturenut

thx for the great info on these.
do you have a pic of one, or illistration on how you tied this?
love to tie one like you said, just don't understand how your doing that tail.
thx,
dave

Here is the proper way to tie this as a fly, but just taking it to a jig should be the same. At any rate you can see the way to tie it.
https://youtu.be/ZX-pePUQ8oc

Skip

That example in youtube is the way you originally built it. Try it the way I explained and you will get a much cleaner look. Plus you can make contrasing colors of the tail section.

He is using lead in order to weight the hook as I am sure they are using it on an actual fly rod presentation or a spey rod setup. The normal setup for most michigan waters is to tie it without weight. You want it to be above the bottom and not on the bottom. The weights you use will be your sinkers. Whether they are attached with a three way and dropper set or inline with your fly.

Neutral or darker colors for dark days or days without sunlight were great. Brown's, grey's, black, and purple were great during these days.

For bright days, chartreuse, bright green, white, hot pink and blaze orage were really good.

Remember, western steelhead fishing is far different than Michigan steelie fishing. Our waters in Kzoo, GR, Ludington, Welston, and Frankfort are far different. The KZOO area fishes different than GR which is different than the PM, which is different from the Mainistee (big and small), which is different from the Betsy, which is different from the Plat. I've fished them all with this wiggler presentation. Bouncing bottom with this setup has been the preferred method.

I'll see if I can dig up a few examples. Been a long time since I have pursued them in the winter. Other passions have gotten in the way. I have more dry flies laying around than I do wet flies for some reason.

Just a hint... These were also dynamite on springtime perch!!!
Another great springtime perch bait was a simple hair style jig tied on a hook. Ron Springs out of Montague ties about the best rig I have seen for perch fishing but... years ago, before he was even around to sell them commercially, we used to tie our own. Simple number 6 aberdean hook, red thred on the front and hair. White was always the best at that time. I remember going after the dog with a pair of scissors because he had a nice long white patch of hair on his chest that was perfect for tying!!! Tipped with a wiggler that setup couldn't be beat. Still can't. I just prefer to buy Ron's gear now as it is already made up!

Originally Posted by wicklundrh

That example in youtube is the way you originally built it. Try it the way I explained and you will get a much cleaner look. Plus you can make contrasing colors of the tail section.

He is using lead in order to weight the hook as I am sure they are using it on an actual fly rod presentation or a spey rod setup. The normal setup for most michigan waters is to tie it without weight. You want it to be above the bottom and not on the bottom. The weights you use will be your sinkers. Whether they are attached with a three way and dropper set or inline with your fly.

Neutral or darker colors for dark days or days without sunlight were great. Brown's, grey's, black, and purple were great during these days.

For bright days, chartreuse, bright green, white, hot pink and blaze orage were really good.

Remember, western steelhead fishing is far different than Michigan steelie fishing. Our waters in Kzoo, GR, Ludington, Welston, and Frankfort are far different. The KZOO area fishes different than GR which is different than the PM, which is different from the Mainistee (big and small), which is different from the Betsy, which is different from the Plat. I've fished them all with this wiggler presentation. Bouncing bottom with this setup has been the preferred method.

I'll see if I can dig up a few examples. Been a long time since I have pursued them in the winter. Other passions have gotten in the way. I have more dry flies laying around than I do wet flies for some reason.

Just a hint... These were also dynamite on springtime perch!!!
Another great springtime perch bait was a simple hair style jig tied on a hook. Ron Springs out of Montague ties about the best rig I have seen for perch fishing but... years ago, before he was even around to sell them commercially, we used to tie our own. Simple number 6 aberdean hook, red thred on the front and hair. White was always the best at that time. I remember going after the dog with a pair of scissors because he had a nice long white patch of hair on his chest that was perfect for tying!!! Tipped with a wiggler that setup couldn't be beat. Still can't. I just prefer to buy Ron's gear now as it is already made up!

While I agree there are a lot better way to tie some flies and jigs than the original, but some of the guys here are new to tying and a video at least shows them the way a pattern is tied. Then later on it's easier for them to understand what we are saying when we change how to do something and then they can decide what they like nest. Just my 2 cents!

Skip

No Skip, not my intention at all to diss the post. I actually liked it. I was just pointing out the difference between the video and the precedure I was talking about. I didn't want the OP to get confussed with what I was talking about and the video you showed. He is doing it the right way (no wrong way really).