Tying hair/ feather jig questions

[bassandcats]

Im wanting to get into tying my own jigs. Ive tied flies for a whilie now for trout and gills. Ive never fished with hair jigs but like the idea of not having to change plastics after every couple fish. My question was mostly about the material. Do you like marabou or bucktail more for jigs? Im tying them for casting at cover during spring, like docks, stumps, rocks, etc. Which material is preferred? Could you post some pics of standard jig patterns that i should be tying?
Thanks

[STUMP HUNTER]

For spring fishing the spawn it is hard to top a marabou jig fished the way you said because of the movement of marabou. You also could tie with attic fox or rabbit because both of these hairs have a awesome movement in the water but the price is a little move.

Jig patterns will change with water temp/color but all of the basic colors work great. The fish will bite the jigs if you are fishing where the fish are. If you will stay with the chenille body and marabou tail to start with you will catch the fish. And for the fishing you want to do stay with a 1/16, 1/32 and even a 1/64. A 1/8 and bigger will fall to fast.
I'll post a pic and I'm sure some of the others will give you some color combos to tie.

[bassandcats]

Thanks thats awesome info. Im guessing bucktail is just a slower, less action, cold water presentation then?
Thanks

[skeetbum]

What he said. Many different materials to choose from with different characteristics. Lately I have been working with Craft hair and Extra Select craft hair that are really durable and have good action. With Maribou you will need to pull the tips off of the shaft of the feather and arrange the tips to align with one another and after determining how long it needs to be, cut the excess from the butt end to retain the subtle action. This is done in clumps, not individual pieces. Lots of stickies on the top of the page that will point you in the right direction, and you're ahead of the game by tying flies already. Colors are easy, tie what you find in popular plastics. Black and Chartreuse is a good start. Keep us posted, and save some of your first's to compare with in a few years, and welcome from Middle Tennessee.

[bassandcats]

Thanks!

[willsjwills]

Bucktail and kip hair are two good materials to use if you're expecting the material to stay on the jig for any length of time. Many school of thought on which has the better action, but I've never noticed much difference in fish catching abilities between the materials described above. I think color and weight of head is most important. Plastics catch fishes, and some of them have the action of a toothpick. Good luck in your endeavors.

[STUMP HUNTER]

Bucktail and kip hair are two good materials to use if you're expecting the material to stay on the jig for any length of time. Many school of thought on which has the better action, but I've never noticed much difference in fish catching abilities between the materials described above. I think color and weight of head is most important. Plastics catch fishes, and some of them have the action of a toothpick. Good luck in your endeavors.

LOL I agree with you on movement. I like to fish with kip, squirrel, bucktail and a lot of other materials. Dock shooting I like a kip tail jigs and cold water months I prefer hair jigs. I have caught a lot of fish longlining with hair jigs. Now about the tails of marabou coming out, I have never had one come apart catching crappie. Other fish may hit the tails more but a crappie will inhale the jig and with a sickle hook it is always hooked in the top of the crappies mouth.

[ifish]

BassandCats,
Look up at the top of the thread page in the stickys and you will see a post for pictures. Some of the best tiers in the world showing off there art!

[Shoemoo]

I would go with Arctic fox over marabou. It's just the right size for crappie jigs and a lot more durable. I caught over 150 crappie on the same Arctic fox jig. The packages are a little more expensive, but there's a ton of hair on a tiny patch of hide and you can use every single hair if you're methodical about how you cut it off. Marabou has a lot more waste like scraggly feathers and feathers with thick stems. I have tied around 100 jigs off of a patch of Arctic fox hide 1" square.

I got a bunch of undyed Arctic fox in a box of scrap fur I bought on eBay last year. If you decide to get into tying, send me a PM and I'll hook you up with some pieces.