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I asked this on another forum but I wanted to ask it here amongst the experts on purty jigs. Do you ever tip the jigs zfou tie with chenille and hackle tails with minnows? Wouldn't that mess up the jigs and would the tails interfere with the minnow? Also do you tip marabou jigs with minnows. I wonder if the tied and plastic jigs aren't too long to be effective with minnows.
First I have caught plenty of crappie on chenille jigs with long marabou tales and they have a big mouth so I wouldn't worry about the over bait being too big most go the time. There are times when the crappie get picky and a tiny jig is best, but not all that often.
I would tip a hackle tail jig with a minnow if I wanted to and don't see the problem, but with marabou unless it's a thin tail I don't think I would tip with a minnow unless I was just after the smell to the crappie because a good marabou tail could cover up a minnow as far as seeing it.
I think there are plenty of people that will tip a hand tied jig with a minnow. I do my best to not need minnows as I don't really like messing with them, but if the crappie are being tough I would if that is what it takes.
Skip
Size of the bait depends on where you are fishing, but I will say most of the time they will prefer a larger minnow. I have a friend that orders 4 inch minnows and tips his jig with them. He catches more fish than probably anyone in the state. Was a pro back in the day. I've tipped with marabou for a while and have had great results. Some chenilles tend to not last as long from the slime the minnow produces. I've found that antron holds up very well though. I would just recommend experimenting until you find what works best for you and run with it.
I tie some jigs up without a tail for minnow tipping. I believe the body color helps draw crappies to the jig. I keep it simple, usually all white or all chartreuse (head and Body) Also in clear water you may want a plain jig with a minnow. A chartruse head and minnow will catch a lot of crappie.
I use an all kiptail jig for tipping with minnows, and I tend to use an aberdeen jig hook when I do because the sickle hooks barb is so small that it won't hold a minnow on the hook very well. the marabou jig, I fish by itself it doesn't seem to need any extra to catch fish. so sickle hooks with the marabou.
All good info so far. If I have a jig on and think a minnow might up the bag a bit, I put one on. Doesn't matter when you're in search mode.Once they start to tell you what they want, then you can fine tune. Different weight jigs, down to 1/64 have made the difference for me on occasion. The rate of fall will trigger a picky fish sometimes. Like Skip, I try not to use live bait, I'd rather fool em than feed em. If I tie a maribou for use with minnows I leave the tail a bit shorter so I don't bury the minnow. Try putting some maribou on an aberdeen hook to use as a second offering up the line. Being weightless it offers a completely different presentation when tied on a loop knot.