Try some Marabou or Hackle as they will have more action and maybe a little deeper? I don't know the Northern waters like I do down here, but in summer here you need water depth of 25' at least. Now you may only be fishing down 12' to 18', but water depth is much more. Other than that, like these guys say sometimes soft plastic will win over a hand tied jig, but I don't think that is a lot. For me personally I tie on a hair jig when the water temps are around 50 degrees and once over that in spring I have a hard time not using marabou! For some reason I do go mostly to hackle after spring is over, but feel both will work in both!

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