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New to jig tying and also to this forum. My question is as follows. I am loving kiptail as a tail material, my dilemma is the amount of waist. I am tying 1/8 oz jigs with #2 hooks. Once im a third of the way down on my kiptail the hair is too short, Is there a alternative i can try so i'm not wasting so much material?
I have never tied any kip tail on jigs that large and especially that large of a hook. Almost all the ones I tied were using g a 1/16 Oz head and a #6 Sickle hook. Here is a pic of the first two I ever tied and on samples of the heads I used. Had a guy make the mold for the head and make the heads for these jigs. I got this head made from some copying heads some guys from Louisiana sent me to see if I could make some for them. Their guy had quit tying so got these heads made and then tied them a lot of jigs.
I never have some #2 Sickles on 1.8 Oz heads, but would tie some other material on a hook that large. Maybe try some fox or Squirrel tail?
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Attachment 385989
The longer hair on the tail is for larger jigs, the shorter down the tail for 1/32 or smaller.
That said, if you are only tying larger jigs, perhaps you can trade your short-haired kip tails with someone that only tyes small jigs, or sell them off to recoup some funds.
I always put a lot of hair on my jig's tails, but was surprised to see how small an amount of hair is used on commercially tyed jigs. I don't know if it's economics or the correct way. This company is 40+ years in business and has always sold the kiptail jigs. They use about the amount of hair that I drop.
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Most jigs and flies are tried with using less, think going by the old saying less is more? Sometimes the less hair or feathers will allow for more action than if filled up with as much material as you can.
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I have toned it down a lot since looking at the commercial stuff. Previously, my jigs may have attained neutral buoyancy from all the material.
Here is a photo of some of the commercial kiptail, albeit in 1/16, along with a 1/8 that I tyed in the new slimmed down version on the right.
Attachment 385996
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As already said, I also use a minimalistic approach to kip after tying them for a few years. I was given some at the ramp once that had no more than 15 hairs on them, and they worked as he said they did. I was very surprised. I think that too much kip actually cuts down on the action as the hair doesn’t have room to move, and it doesn’t move much in the first place, compared to other hair. I would tie a smaller jig to use the shorter hair, or find a shorter shank hook to use the same weight maybe. The fish will tell you.
Well let me tell you a true story It was 2010 early March, I had no faith in kiptail jigs, but someone wanted them, I would tie them. After getting the guy to make a mold from the head sent to me by they guys he sent me these two heads as samples. So I tied them like you see above and went down to my bank not knowing if crappie were in yet or not, just thought I would see if anything would hit these. As I stepped to the bank which had a lot of wood and other junk lining the bank from high water I saw a spot and put it in right there. Had the jig maybe 12” above the jig and the spot was maybe 2 feet off the bank. After just a few seconds I saw what I thought a better looking spot just a short distance from where it was so I lifted it out to move, but as soon as it reached the top of the water I saw a gold color flash under it so I put it right back in. Just a few minutes later I had 3 crappie with the shortest one at 14”. Well that was the end of my skepticism, lol!
Anyway I tell you this so you can see this small 1/16 oz head with short kiptail and small hook will absolutely catch big crappie!
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Try some craft fur for longer fibers.
I'd use Arctic Fox for larger jigs but don't use as much, craft fur will also work. Squirrel would be a crap shoot as it would depend on the tail. Coyote might work also.
Coon tail might work too.