October

[DockShootinJack]

Thank you kindly.

[Micanopy]

Welcome down here anytime Jack.




I got to piddling with my junk, and managed a few.











My infatuation with the Marabou Turkey continues. Woods and Water delivered another timely order for me and the colors were great. I also got some thread and some chenille. I like the quality of their products.

Anyways you can see I been a piddling. Sip some coffee, fiddle some, sip some more coffee. The mornings are a pleasant time to tie some jigs as there really is nothing to disrupt me. Free to venture forward with really dumb ideas. Like this one.




I was inspired by the Woods and Water Crappie Brother Jigs. Not the same material, but the same idea. A waggler thingie dangling back behind. Might have some movement as it is 2mm solid rubber cord. Soft and flexible. I put a UV resin ball on the end to offer some action to it. Might work well, never know.

I discovered that Marabou feathers have a life of their own and travel and cling quite well. I am trying to control the contagion.



I put my large clumps in a plastic box. It is roomy enough that the feathers can expand some. Extra clumps left over….well I just set them on top of the big clump and they will be ready next time. The orange micro fiber cloth is my catch-all thingie. The feathers hit that and stick. Then I fold it up and go outside and shake them loose. Free….free at last. My House Wrens will probably start snatching them up to feather their nest.

I see now that I will need to put together a Marabou Jig Box to display my lovely creations.


I like combining different colors of feathers to produce shades that are different. Been putting white where it will ride on the bottom of the jig like a minnow’s body is put together. The product itself could not be easier to work with. I strip away what I want to start with, lay it too far back, secure it with two loose wraps, then pull forward to adjust the length, then some tight wraps and trim away excess, then wrap it down good. Then if I want more, I simply add more in the same fashion. Not much of a challenge I guess, but I am having fun.

After UP2SPECKS and GRUMPY mentioned Mylar as a material, I have been researching some. The material comes in tubular form and unravels itself very easily it appears. Some burn the ends like you do with nylon rope to prevent this, and some use the loosened fibers as an attractant. They curl up when loosed so typically they make short tightly curled tails in this manner. The tubes are somewhat transparent, so colored materials can be inside and will produce shades when viewed through the sides of the Mylar. An interesting effect. There might be something there for me to discover. I imagine a brilliant shiny material would go nicely.

The idea is to use the tubing to form a minnow like body. It does that fairly well I guess. As mentioned earlier, I suppose it is a pain to fiddle up. A challenge. So I ordered some tubes off of Amazon and plan to share my thoughts, trials and tribulations as I learn. No charge mind you.

My wife thinks I should sell my jigs, but the market has been decimated by those that refused to charge what they are actually worth. They sell them for less than a buck, and I don’t understand why they do that. Then there are the sellers that have huge advantages in marketing and supply and such. I am just afraid there is no room for me to get involved. Besides my stuff doesn’t exactly elicit shouts and cries for me to sell them. Others certainly do better work and can sell for much less than I would be willing to charge. Probably end up with shoeboxes full of jigs that would never sell. I guess I will just have to keep gifting them away in order to make room for the new models. LOL



More house duties this weekend. She is having a Halloween Party and of course I must be supportive and get all my projects completed in time. Been burning the big stump, and that isn’t too much of a hassle. Mowed last weekend and the grass hasn’t grown since. I have to straighten up my ManCave because she claims it upsets her when she sees behind the door. I don’t see what the big deals is, it is just a collection of my jig making stuff. Guns. Shoes and boots. Stuff like that. Looks fine to me.

Have you been to the grocery store lately ?

It is down right depressing, and I have to go there again today. I am seeing poor families trying to cobble together some food they can pay for. Many are having troubles at the register paying. It is sad to see the looks in their eyes as they wander the aisles looking for something to feed their families. I wonder what other things in their lives they are sacrificing in order to get out the door with some food. I have had to become very picky, and we are trying to plan meals more closely.

[Micanopy]

Mornings can be so peaceful and serene. Here are a few from this morning’s session.



Not sure how I feel about the rubber stump thingie. I suspect it will be a similar attraction as the Baby Shad stump. The Marabou feather draw down into a stump like fashion whilst being pulled, too.



Wanted to have some alternative colors with me next trip.




What decent crappie could refuse a gal with a pink boa ?

Father and son crappie hanging out in the middle of the lake. Then these come along and the son starts to rise for the take.
Father says-That ain’t no girl son. That is a cocktail waitress in a Dolly Parton wig.
Son- Yeah dad, ain’t she cool.

I wonder if my style leads more towards the smaller specimens. Maybe natural colors would produce larger fish for me. Does anyone know anything about that ? Do natural colors catch bigger fish ? The older fish with all the wisdom and experience spot my bright imitation and like bright colors on a Coral Snake……warn of impending doom.

My Mylar tubes arrive tomorrow. Not sure what I will do with them, but a challenge is a challenge. I just have not seen any pictures of lures made with this stuff that thrilled me. Most look amateurish and pitiful. Maybe the material is just some junk somebody tried one time and people keep getting fooled into trying it. You know, like smoking their jig molds. It just isn’t appealing. Then there is the Mylar strips that get put on the sides of jigs. They look nice but there are already so many alternatives to that stuff. Flash-A-Boo is popular and this is the time of year for goblins and such. Maybe I could find what I need- Wish-A-Boo. Strap some on and just hope for the best.

I like that I can mix Mare-A-Boo feathers to offer two colors. Might could ease in enough to do three. Not sure if that is the way to go though. What looks good to me doesn’t always catch fish. I do like using the White as a belly imitation.

Saw where folks make flies that look like minnows. Most are fairly simple affairs, but with lots of steps. Like layering the materials three and four times. Jigs are different than fly fishing hooks and I like the short shanked hooks so maybe my attempts would be fool hearty and futile. Still I think I can make a go of it anyways. Maybe a chenille heavy body shape with a feathery overcoat.

Hmmmmmm……

[DockShootinJack]

Great looking ties

[Jamesdean]

Great looking jigs. You do great work for sure.

[Micanopy]

Thank you very much, but you are too kind. Just so so at best.

I have watched a ton of videos regarding feathery objects, fashioned just so. I’m interested in a few things fly tying related, that might transfer over to jigs. Mind you that it is not straight forward monkey see monkey do. Many of the reasons for particular feathers for tying flies has nothing to do with what we would want. Dry flies for instance are designed to float upon the surface of the water. Easy to go down the wrong road here.



One is a Coc de Leon cape feather run down either side. This is a long slender grizzly type of thing. When added to the sides of a fly it helps them remain buoyant. Obviously this is not what I am interested in them for. When down each side though they create a lateral line effect. My eyes see a minnow body.

There are several companes that specialize in feathers, and grow chickens for their feathers, and some for their meat. There are basically two locations on a chicken where you find the best feathers. The neck and the rump. Neck hackles are loose feather plucked from the Cape of the rooster, which are feathers grown around his neck. These tend to be slender and whispy. Then there are Saddle Hackles which are plucked from the Saddle of the chicken which is the rump. If you placed a saddle on a chicken as if you wanted to ride him, this is the area where these feathers come from.



Here is a chicken bred for his feathers. You can see the two areas, the Cape and the Saddle. These are taken from the bird after death and they are then manipulated. The skin is tanned and the feathers are cleaned. Then they get rated and sorted and sold accoding to the quality. The quality is judged by how many useful feathers the cape contains. Ideally a cape with loads of feathers that are not damaged gets a higher rating. The higest rating is withheld for just a few birds each year. Further down the line, as the cape loses quality the ratings reflect that. So buying a cape that is rated higher might be the best choice, as it will last longer than the cheaper capes. Yield more feathers.

The trick is to grow chickens that have capes and saddles in colors we fly tying types want. It is at that point that most growers will dye their feathers, but one company refused to do so. They wanted their feathers to be natural. That company was bought by the biggest company but kept the tradition of not dying those feathers. So most high quality feathers are not dyed.

There are also hens that have this grizzly effect. Their feathers are different and are useful still. Only the rooster grows the long stringy feathers.

Looking at that chicken, I am interested in that color, and that length and width of feather for my jigs. They will produce this sort of effect.



Of course I would be using much shorter lengths of feather, so may not need the really long whispy types. Except that I could get multiples from those long whispy types. The black/grey combination looks best to my eyes for this. I could start with some Mare-A-Boo feather, and then some flash, and then a pair of folded in tight wings. This would be sort of like a feather wing streamer sort of affair. Only for a jig.

I have avoided buying quality materials since the beginning, but now am more open to the idea as my interest has grown and my skill set needs some help. Good quality materials make it easier to tie stuff. Better quality means less hassle. Someone has already figured all this stuff out for me, just need to read some more to see what else they did.

So I started working on the heads of the jigs and think I have that pretty much solid. Now I am working on the tails and bodies. Some might insist that the tail is what gets the bite, but I see it as more of a team work thing. All three working together. For certain, one does not have to do any of this stuff to make a jig that will catch a fish. At this point I think they all will catch fish. I also do not plan to sell jigs, as my time is worth more than the few bucks some customer would offer, along with his timeline. I know I would make twenty jigs just to get a dozen I would actually be willing to send him.

I want to dial in my local fish and present a trolled jig that is attractive. Simple enough.

I do not really like the iconic crappie jig look. Big hunk of Mare-A-Boo back there, a long length of chenille wrapped up to a painted on eye jig head. This jig has caught more crappie than any other design, but the times is a changing. I want thinner tails that are sleek, and bodies with just a few quick wraps of chenille, and a head with a giant sized eye in brilliant colors. I want a small minnow profile.

So I need some minnow imitation colored Mare-A-Boo, and some minnow imitation chenille, to go with my oversized eyeballs which I already have figured out. The Grizzly cape feather down the side would finish it off nicely.

Quality is where you find it, but I don’t need to buy some fancy cape just yet. I plan to buy some cheap stuff just to see if it will work and what I will end up with. Then if I like it get a high quality grizzly cape and get started. Anyways that there is the plan.

BTW- one of the names for these feathers is cog de leon. Which is french for the Cock of de Leon. A bird that lived hundreds of years ago and was bred because it produced these sort of feathers.

BTW2- Chickens came from China where they captured wild pheasants and began breeding them. This produced the chicken which is wildly popular with us now. Not just for eating, but for looking through. They even have chicken contests where they have show judges gauging the quality oif the chicken’s featherings. Big stuff.

[DockShootinJack]

I was thinking those feathers looked a lot like pheasant.

[Micanopy]

First taste with the Mylar tubing.









Not sure what I am supposed to do with it. It is indeed a hassle, but it ain’t like I suffer from perfectionism. LOL

No sir close enough is good enough. I’ll play some more, but ideas from you guys would be nice. Seems strips of shiny materials would show better. Glad I bought this…… but really…….

[DockShootinJack]

Looks awesome. The mylar gives it an effect that looks like scales

[Micanopy]

Fiddled some more.



Used UV resin to try to secure the Mylar.



Thread neck looking thing.



A little better I guess.



The Mylar tubing just dissolves into fibers. I use a lighter to create tiny melted balls on each end and that seems to keep it together. It seems the more you stuff inside the better the effect. Not sure what the material was originally designed to do. I suppose wrapping wires, but unclear why one would want to wrap wires with this stuff.