Painting Jigheads

[cricket george]

Is it really necessary to paint the heads pink, chartreuse. black, orange etc. or is that just for rippin fisherman's wallets i.e. marketing of the baits? What does everyone think.

[Ranger09]

You know my answer. Before I had sponsors I never fished with a painted head. Still don't a lot of the time cause I'm fishing my heads. It's just a preference and it's eye catching to the fisherman in my honest opinion........Ranger

[Cray]

I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination but I think some times it does make a difference. My opinion is that contrast makes all the difference at times, IE pink head chartruse body. Sometimes when they are active don't think it makes any difference. In lure fishing of any kind confidence is the biggest factor.

[cricket george]

I agree with both of you. What really brought this on was I poured a bunch of weedless heads and tried heating the lead head and just as I was going to dip it in the powder the fiber guard opened like a flower. LOL, thank heavens I used one head that I had already buggered up. So I thought, is it really necessary to paint the heads.

[Ranger09]

George all my Timmy Tom Heads are unpainted. I could of had them painted various colors but opted not to. As you know I have no trouble filling my wells. It's a preference to all and I don't waste my time painting while I could be fishing.....Ranger

[DrNip]

I don't believe painted jigs or jigs with eyes make that much of a difference if any.

If you plan on powder painting a fiber weedless jig you need to use this:

Heat resistant Tubing

or this:

Base Hole Pins

If you use the base pin hole you'll have to glue the guard in.

[cricket george]

Nip - The funny thing was that I did use the heat resistant tubing but I got the lead too hot and the guard opened on me. I said screw it and quit.

[rdjj71m]

I'm not an expert either, but for a long time I did not think the head color was important, but after I started slow trolling four rods with jigs out front I notice that some days even with all baits at the same depth and same body color one rod would keep getting 95% of the bites no matter which position I had it in (#1,#2,#3,#4) I would notice that rod was the only one with a Chartreuse or maybe Orange jig head. I now think it can make a big difference. For just those few days,,,,, is it really worth it to spend the extra cash and you still have to figure out on that day. That's up to each person. It's hard to argue with Ranger's success. I do think an unpainted jig head would be a good natural color for Tenkiller but he is also very successful at Big E. Just My $0.02

[Bigskyfisherman]

George,

As we discussed this afternoon, I use a heat gun. They are very inexpensive, and they don't overheat the lead. I have repainted my chipped-up hand-tied jigs without even singeing the chenille or yarn. I have experimented by using one unpainted head on top and one colored head on the bottom, with the same jig pattern. A second rod will have the same jigs, but with the colored one on top. Then I'll changed colors on the jig head. Sometimes, it makes no difference. Other times, that colored head makes a BIG difference. No matter which way, I am always experimenting, trying to learn as much as I can. The only thing I have found out for sure is that you can't catch a fish if you don't your line in the water (noodlers excepted).

[Okie Bob]

Painted jig heads are to catch fishermen, NOT fish!
The example use is bigcappie.com, a guide service on Cedar Creek Lake in E Tx. The owner, Chuck Rawlins runs four boats on CCL pretty much everyday of the year, half day or full day trips. We are talking HUGE numbers of fish caught. None of his guides or customers use painted heads. Period.
Enough said?