Attempted my first jig tonight!!

Glad to see you putting all that stuff to work. It will come soon, but some things just take time to learn the little subtleties that make something easier. Experiance is a big thing.

On your stuff spinning around the hook, make sure to put down a good tight thread base before you even tie anything in.

Spread the wide part of you bobbins until you get it firm, but easy coming off. You don't want the bobbin falling down just hanging there or anything.

Practice make perfect? well in tying I am not sure perfect is a goal that can be reached. I don't even want to think about trying some of the Realistic flies they tie.

Anyway glad to see it's going and know it will come.

Skip

hackle can be used for some tails but its used mostly in dry flys and if yuo look around this site you will see some of us to put the lil hairy necks on some jigs

Just put a "hairy" neck on the last one I made...I don't know if I did it right...thats a tuff thing to do!! you need a third hand! lol. I wraped one wrap on one end....then wraped the chenille three wraps up to the head...then made a few wraps up to the front and hitched it twice. Seems to look okay...I figured you wrapped is as looking at just laying one length of it doesn't seem like you would be acheiving the effect all the way around the jig. Does add alot to it though. I'm sticking with chartruse/white with black neck thread...I don't know if that is a true color but it looks pretty neat...lol...and I like chartruse and white stuff.

Thanks you gabulldog...good advice...even though its from a DOG!! I'm a hog fan but its ALL SEC!! Florida better put the hurt to OU!!

Skip, I tightened my last one up and put some more wraps on it before I added anything and it seemed to help alot! I really got to get some videos of some simple jigs to tie and work on them. Right now I'm just kinda making stuff up and getting used to the tools.

YouTube - Simple Crappie Jig

Here is a good place too start.

making things up is never bad really if it is something the fish have never seen before. remember your not catching fisherman your catching fish.

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Originally Posted by Scrapper

Skip, I tightened my last one up and put some more wraps on it before I added anything and it seemed to help alot! I really got to get some videos of some simple jigs to tie and work on them. Right now I'm just kinda making stuff up and getting used to the tools.

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Skip

Made my first two woolly boogers tonight...now those are fun to do...you actually know your making something...lol. SOOO...you wrap the hackle...not try to make the tail out of hackle...looks alot more like I thought it should...still no pics...camera didn't work out..maybe tommrrow night or so...lol. I made a black/chartruese and a white/blue tonight...MAN I can't wait till this weekend so I can test them out. I still dont' have any cement...gotta get that tommorrow...making flies with no cement...go figure...lol...Thanks again guys!!

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Originally Posted by Scrapper

Made my first two woolly boogers tonight...now those are fun to do...you actually know your making something...lol. SOOO...you wrap the hackle...not try to make the tail out of hackle...looks alot more like I thought it should...still no pics...camera didn't work out..maybe tommrrow night or so...lol. I made a black/chartruese and a white/blue tonight...MAN I can't wait till this weekend so I can test them out. I still dont' have any cement...gotta get that tommorrow...making flies with no cement...go figure...lol...Thanks again guys!!

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I can see it all now.....

So when you getting your fly rod and reel? If you get into that go get some fly hooks, have fun! Now fly tying is a whole new world and some really nice things.

Skip

skip... well...this is all for the crappie and whatever else might be in the lake at any given time with an appetite for flies...lol. Its really making since more tonight...and my hand actually is getting used to the bobbin. I'm taking baby steps...but they look SOO much better tonight than they did last night. Watched a video on the woolly booger tonight on youtube...LOTS of info there..lol. who would've thought?? lol.

What about hackle pliers? A guy used them on a video and seemed to work pretty good when wrapping the hackle around the fly. I used my hand and it worked but what do you think about the pliers??

I'm amazed at what the hackle does when you spin it around your fly...I thought it was used just for tail till I saw the video...man that is the coolest part of the whole fly...when you wrap it around and it makes that hairy body!! I'm using nonpainted heads right now...please don't stone me...but baby steps...lol. I'll get that once I can tie decent. :D

I usually touch the brush from a sally hansens clear nail polish to the hook where I'll start the thread wrap. most jigs and flys start the tying process at the back of the hook or somewhere in that vicinity. I may wrap the thread 50 times before I'm ready to start tying. each thread thickness ( denier ) and manfg. has different braeaking strengths. 6/0 is pretty weak, 3/0 is stronger and thicker, and flat waxed nylon is really strong. If yer lookin at the denier rating 70 is weaker, 140 is stronger and 210 is the brute. 3/0 or 140 denier is about right for my taste, unless I'm tying hair jigs then may use the heavy nylon. the reason I'm making such a big deal out of the thread is, it will hold the materials to the hook the tightest when wrapped tight enough to stretch the thread slightly but shy of breaking it. and the tension needed to accomplish this will vary with the strength of the particular thread you are using. when using chenille, strip about 1/8 inch of fuzz off the end and use that bare end to tie it to the hook at the rear of the hook, then let it hang loose and wrap your thread toward the head of the jig where you want the chenille body to end, let it hang, now wrap your chenille up the entire hook tightly and crowd each wrap with the next wrap but don't wrap a double thickness. this gives a denser more even color for me. once ya get the chenille up to the head, wrap over it where ya want it to end while keeping everything tight. trim the excess, as close as possible with sharp , small pointy sissors. as for tying the finishing knot, I whip finish by hand, about 5-6 wraps over the thread and pull it tight. let me attempt to explain. when your ready to tie a finishing knot, pull about 14 inches of thread off the bobbin and cut it. I now take the index and middle fingers of the right hand and hold the thread in a loop with those fingers while I double the thread back to the hook exactly where it originally left the hook. so what I have is my fingers of one hand are pulling on the thread which has been doubled back to the hook. you need to adjust this loop size to about 3 1/2 inches. now you are holding the tag end on top of the hook with the left hand, and you use those two fingers that where holding the loop in the thread, to wrap over the tag end about 5 times. then you hold a finger in the loop and keep tension while pulling the tag end of the thread, the loop will get smaller and smaller till it gets tight. so when you are wrapping over the tag end, all the wraps are pretty much in the same place, and when you make those 5 or so wraps you are only wrapping over the tag end with one side of your loop, so you right hand will be in out in front of the jig and your left hand will hold the hook a little to keep it from bending, and those two fingers will do the 5 wraps while guiding the thread to wrap in the right spot. If you use a hitch knot, you are doing the same thing I think, but you are only wrapping over the tag end one time. 5 times is better, and won't require glue although I use it. as to what is best, alot of this is my opinion based on 42 years of off and on tying. so you will get different ways of doing things from other people....kip