Crystal Ball Jig (tm) continued

[Sam W.]

I've been making some real improvements in my Crystal Ball Jig (tm). I found crimp beads in the proper size, though I had to go to a company in Shanghai for them. Also, I found the kind of nylon twine I use in 18 different colors, and that's a real breakthrough.

The colored twine is ' way too big to go through the beads, so I have to untwist it and use the strands. That's good, actually, because now I can have multi-colored tails.

In this photo, the jig at the top is 3/32 oz. in a crappie pattern. Blue and white is a good crappie combination around here because those colors match the shad in our lakes.

The two 1/8 oz. jigs at the bottom are meant for big Green Sunfish (we call 'em Black Perch) and Bass. Every fall, our chunk rock banks here are full of Black Perch and Bass feeding on tiny crawdads. The crawdads are greenish brown with orange highlights, they move fast, and they're just the size of these jigs. I know these will tear the Black Perch and Bass up when that time comes again.

The 1/8 oz. jigs, unfortunately, aren't lead-free. The center weights are 1/16 oz. bullet sinkers drilled out to 5/64". Tungsten and brass are real expensive, and stainless steel is too hard to drill, so I don't know what to do about that.

I'm claiming a (tm) on the Crystal Ball Jig name because I might find some way to sell these in the future. Probably not, because when I figure in my time, I think I could make more as a greeter at WalMart. But hey, I'm having a good time making them, and I'll have a real good time fishing with them.

There's a lot of shadow in this photo because of the bright sun reflecting off our Christmas day snow outside. Merry Christmas, everyone!

[GCD]

Really excellent lookin' bead head jigs!!!

What part of the country calls green sunfish Black Perch if you don't mind me asking?

[Sam W.]

Southwest Missouri, in the Ozarks.

I'd fished here for about 40 years before I learned that a "black perch" is actually a green sunfish, and a "goggleye" is a rock bass.