First Ever Ties

[Predator861]

Well its a start...

[theygotaeat]

Nice gnats

[DockShootinJack]

The fish should love them. .

[skiptomylu]

Bet the crappie like them and that is the real test! Looks good for first so welcome to the addiction which is hardly got a good hold yet, but it's coming, LOL!

Skip

[Predator861]

Ha thanks. I've got to work on the whip finish and wrapping the rubber material. My apologies for not using the correct terminology for the rubber material.

When end I add it in it seems to shoot out all over the place and takes twice as much wrapping to get it hidden or wrapped down. Any suggestions or does it normally do that? I've also tried using extra long length to wrap and then gold back over and wrap. That seems to work better, but can sometimes give me a bulky wrap.

One men question though, when tying these gnats, can I use a straight Aberdeen or is the jig style hook the only way to go on these gnats?

[theygotaeat]

I use Aberdeen hooks to make my version of crappie candy and they work good

[Fatman]

They look good - you can use whatever hook you want

[lowe175]

Welcome to the sickness. Before long you'll be up to your eyes in jigs but it sure is fun

[Predator861]

This is very addictive!!! Seems like all I can think about is tying the next one...very strange to me. Never thought I'd have the patience to do this. Granted I'm only tying easy little things, but they are fun to tie

[CTom]

One men question though, when tying these gnats, can I use a straight Aberdeen or is the jig style hook the only way to go on these gnats?

I'd do some on both hooks. Up here when the water gets covered with ice, there are two distinctly different presentations that fish want: horizontal, like what you jig hook ties will give you, and vertical, such as what an aberdeen tie would give you. Most people up here and fishing under the ice will use the horizontal presentation to find out if fish are actively hitting. If they are slow the horizontal presentation is what will get the fish, but if they are smacking the bait many of the anglers will go vertical because it tends to offer an even better yet bite.

This ideology will work just as well in open water just as well as it works under the ice. Savvy ice anglers quickly learn that huddled fish crowding the bottom when cold fronts move thru or when the water is at its coldest are the slowest fish to bite and that they can prefer the bait being offered flat and with very , very little movement. Fished under a float these gnats should make those neutral and even negative take a swipe at the flies. These same savvy ice anglers will know that the crappies that are off the bottom and up in the water column a ways and come and go fairly quick on the flasher screen are those actively feeding and are the ones to target. If you get lookers at those higher up using a horizontal fly, switch to a vertical fly without a float and do a slight lift/drop type of jigging keeping the line tight on each drop....the drop is where the hit will come.

I see you're from Mississippi Predator, but when the water is cold, its cold all over and the fish won't give a hoot about the ice unless they are froze to it. Just remember that all of the fish we are after live in liquid and that they are not hindered by the latitudes at which they are found. 40 degree water in Mississippi is the same as 40 degree water in Minnesota, the barometer and the length of available light are the only two variables the fish care about.