Don't fear the collar - A tutorial on tying on collared jigs

[Shoemoo]

Most tyers prefer to tie on jigs without collars, but that doesn't mean you can't make a decent tie on a collared jighead. I tied up some today and took pictures as I went along. Hope this helps a few newbies.



Our starter jig, a 1/16 ounce. As you can see, this jig has a collar with a barb for holding plastics. There are three things you can do with the barb, and all have their advantages and disadvantages. You can flatten the barb, cut it off or remove the collar entirely. Many collared leadheads have up to half the weight of the jig in the collar, so removing the collar entirely will drastically change the weight of the head. You may find your 1/16 ounce head is suddenly a 1/24 ounce or 1/32 ounce. Flattening the barb doesn't change the weight of the jig head, but it can leave an unsightly bulge in the finished jig. I prefer cutting off the barb. It changes the weight slightly, but leaves a nice flat surface.



Pinch the barb near the base with a set of needlenose pliers. Twist and the barb will pop right off.



Start your thread wraps behind the collar. Go back to slightly behind the point, then wrap back to the end of the collar. Since you don't have as much thread as a collarless head, secure it with some clear nail polish.



Tie in your tail material behind the collar. Add some flash if you like.



Now we bring the thread up to the area just behind the part of the head that will be visible.



Strip the chenille down to the central fibers, but only on the part that will lay over the collar. This pic turned out a little blurry, but hopefully you can see what I mean.



Tie the bare thread in just behind the bulge and wrap your thread over the chenille until you get to the end of the body.



Wrap your thread back to the bulge and wrap over with the chenille, then tie off as normal and you're done!

[yellowjacket]

very nice jig and tutorial

[skiptomylu]

Don't fear them, but only care to use some for thread neck jigs and actually don't like the ones with a barb either, but most come that way. I buy 95% of all my jig heads with no collar at all and prefer them like that.

Can you tie chenille jigs on a collar type jig head? Sure, but don't see any advantage, but do see a down side for sure and that would be heavier than what is said to be. If you have 2 1/32 Oz. heads the same except one has a collar and both heads are the same size and all, the one with a dollar will be a good bit heavier than the one with and usually most like a jig to fall slower not faster. So there are a lot more reasons to tie on jig heads with no collar than just the looks or because they are a bit different.

Nothing wrong with either position though and is more a personal preference for me.

Skip

[skeetbum]

I tied my first ones on collared heads and put the maribou on the collar and then chenilled over that. They caught fish but the thread wanted to slide off the end of the collar while tying. Good looking jig.

[Shoemoo]

The purpose of the tutorial is just to help people make use of the materials they have. I agree there's no reason to buy collared jigs over ones without collars as far as tying goes, but most commercially poured jigs come with collars. If you bought jigs at a store, 99% of the time they're going to have collars. That's just the way it is. So someone who has only fished with plastics probably has a lot of collared jig heads on hand. Plus you sometimes find nice sales on jigs with collars. I'd hate to see someone pass up a deal just because they think they can't tie on a collared jig head.

If a jig is rated 1/32 of an ounce, it's going to have 1/32 of an ounce of lead on it whether it has a collar or not, give or take a fraction for variances in manufacturing. A 1/32 ounce jig with no collar has a larger head than one with a collar. The weight is the same, the proportions are different. Keep in mind that the rated weight of a jig ONLY includes the weight of the lead, not the hook. There's no way for the mold manufacturer to tell what size hook will be used. So a 1/32 ounce jig actually weighs a bit more than 1/32 of an ounce. I don't have any jigs with collars and without with the same size/style hooks, but check out the weights on these 1/32 ounce minnow heads:



For comparison, 1/32 of an ounce is 0.9 grams.

[Donald@CrappieLogic]

nice looking jig shoemoo i tie on nothing but a collored head and sell around 60000 a year have never had 1 come apart am in 106 stores here in mississippi gonna be in crappiworld magazine for the second year in a row and ship all over the united states seems like everyone ties on a colarless jig so why not be different slater has been tieng the same jig everyone else ties for 50 years and they are good jigs just my opinion i can tie the jig on a head without a colar but every body and there grandmother is doing that i can take anybodys jig and catch a fish on it so it gos back to what u have confadince in if u dont have confadince in your jig it aint gonna catch fish be original and to each his own have yet to see a crappie with a scale weighing jigs before he thumps them

[Cray]

Thanks Shoemoo, I just tie for my self and I learned something from your post that will help me out. That's what this site is all about.

[skiptomylu]

I agree with you and yes if people already have jig head with a collar they can use them and either way, cut them off or tie over them. I was not complaining on what your trying to do with this thread and it's a good idea to show how to use them. I was just saying I like the heads better without. Also let me take a picture for you of mine that have both. One will be .40 Oz and the other will be .055 Oz. It's a 1/32 Oz head or so it's supposed to be so both are heavier than 1/32 which would read .03125 if accurate and a 1/16 is .0625 Oz, but I find you have to get all the way down to a 1/64 to find a head that weighs what it is supposed to be. So while even the head without a collar is over a 1/32 it's not a lot, but with a collar it's closer to 1/16 than it is 1/32 and I have some heads that are like this weight (055) which are supposed to be 1/16 and work for that ok. I will post the pics below and while it's not a huge deal I do believe at times the weight makes a difference. Again I am not trying to say this is a bad idea for a thread and I think actually it's a good one and great idea you had to do it as well as helpful especially for beginners so please don't take my post wrong.

I just like dealing in Oz over grams as it's easier for my old brain to understand, LOL! So I guess to me since the one without a collar is already over 1/32 by adding a collar it's even more and close to the next size up. Actually the one with out a collar is closest to a 1/24, LOL! I guess I am mostly trying to point out that if guys have some collar heads maybe they should think of them as the next weight size up over what it said they were??

Skip

The purpose of the tutorial is just to help people make use of the materials they have. I agree there's no reason to buy collared jigs over ones without collars as far as tying goes, but most commercially poured jigs come with collars. If you bought jigs at a store, 99% of the time they're going to have collars. That's just the way it is. So someone who has only fished with plastics probably has a lot of collared jig heads on hand. Plus you sometimes find nice sales on jigs with collars. I'd hate to see someone pass up a deal just because they think they can't tie on a collared jig head.

If a jig is rated 1/32 of an ounce, it's going to have 1/32 of an ounce of lead on it whether it has a collar or not, give or take a fraction for variances in manufacturing. A 1/32 ounce jig with no collar has a larger head than one with a collar. The weight is the same, the proportions are different. Keep in mind that the rated weight of a jig ONLY includes the weight of the lead, not the hook. There's no way for the mold manufacturer to tell what size hook will be used. So a 1/32 ounce jig actually weighs a bit more than 1/32 of an ounce. I don't have any jigs with collars and without with the same size/style hooks, but check out the weights on these 1/32 ounce minnow heads:

For comparison, 1/32 of an ounce is 0.9 grams.

[Micropterus salmoides]

Great tutorial Shoe!


Sent from my iPhone using TapatAlk

[revtoby]

i wonder if the crappie have scales? great tutorial. I have some collard jigs i wouldn't touch but now I'm going to try a few.