RyanJay11's Crappie Jig Thread

[SuperDave336]

Looks very nice. Now there’s no stopping you. Skies the limit and you will only get better each time.

[ryanjay11]

Thanks Dave!

I decided to organize my supplies a bit this morning, so it would be quicker to get out/put away, and hopefully find what I'm looking for. I just took some paracord and made a knot about every 3/4" after putting on each bag. To help everything compress a bit more and fit into the box easily, I took a hole punch and put a hole in each bag.

I have a really old lawyer bookcase with the flip up glass doors where I store my vise. I was looking for a container that fit that space and held everything. This ended up being perfect. It's basically a small tackle box, but it's aimed at art students. I could see where having everything out and accessible on racks/stands would be more desirable, but this is working great for now.

I try to keep all my stuff together in containers, so it's quick to get everything out and ready to go. I haven't found a tote big enough for my toaster oven though...



Here is a better picture of the jigs I tied yesterday. I am going to trim the tails down a little to prevent missed bites.


And here is the first jig I tied, that I thought to myself, "Man, that is a sweet looking jig. I better take a picture!"

[ryanjay11]

2 1/4” seemed to be the right length.



I tied up a few more as well.

[SuperDave336]

Yeah that length looks good. For future jigs if you leave the natural ends of the feathers you will see better action in the water with the thinner tips of the feathers.

[Cray]

I agree with SuperDave, learned that from Skip. Leave natural tips and trim for length on natural end where feathers attach. Better flow and movement in water. Another suggestion that took me forever to get in my head, try only wrapping your body to stop just at point of hook to not have extra material in way of hook set. Just a suggestion, because those sure are nice ties.

[skiptomylu]

Yes never cut the natural ends off of marabou!!! Not everyone, but I even take the barbules off the stem and make a stack until I have enough. Then pinch it all about where I want to cut off the ends I tore off the stem and then tie in your tail with no stem to hamper the action. For me the actual length is of no real consequence as long as it's close.

Here are what mine look like.

Skip

1/32 Oz.


1/16 Oz

[ryanjay11]

I really appreciate the tips. I will make some changes before my next batch.

One weak spot in my system was the short racks I was using. I was only curing around 40 or so at a time and it was bugging me. I found component systems who makes the TJ Tackle racks and had them cut me some at 15”, which fits perfectly in my toaster oven. This will allow me to make larger batches less frequently. Cost effective? Absolutely not, but they will be handy.



I tied several this weekend and my neck was absolutely killing me. It’s comparable to “Livescope neck”. The cure for that was a taller mount for my graphs and the cure for this is Regal’s $20 longer stem available at Mad River Outfitters. While I was at it, I bought a few more supplies.

[skiptomylu]

When I was still tying a lot I started using some gutter guards that I rough shaped and added some pieces of scrap tile for weight to hold them steady. Now I used these in my big oven, but like you mostly I use a toaster oven. I also made sure to know really how hot that oven is with a different temp gauge so I could make sure to reach the right temps.

This is a bit rough as you can tell, but I could cure like 120 at a time like this.

Skip

[ryanjay11]

I tied a few tonight I’ll call Lucky Penny.



The one on the right got a little too hot and deformed, but I’m sure it will still catch fish.



It’s supposed to be cold all week with a low of -15 on Sunday, so I’ll likely be spending some time tying the next several days. I have accumulated quite a bit of supplies, with several more on the way, so my imagination is pretty much the limit now.

[SuperDave336]

Nice looking jigs and sure the deformed one catches as well. Love the workstation pic!! Quite a nice selection of tools, supplies and organizational skills. Very very nice!