Create something out of nothing
I can remember, back in 1970 at the age of 25, taking a bb split shot, flattening it on a jig hook and making "Aspirin head jigs". Yes I painted them with a shot of spray paint, not fingernail polish. I made a "Poor man's fishing bucket" with a detachable rod holder for fishing from the bank. I made "The Quiver carrier" out of PVC to carry rods through the woods and keep them safe from the trunk in your car. I have made bank rod holders out of PVC cut in half and welded to the iron posts that realtors use. I have invented a "Circular worm incubator" to keep your redworms from dying on your boat or on the bank while you are fishing. and many other things. I think in a previous life I might have been George Washington Carver or some inventor.
When I first started making lures, I started with a "Pinmin" which is short for pin minnow. That is what caught a lot of BlueGills in Akron Ohio. The bait shops sold them for $1.85 each but I was friends with Jack Manda of Manda's bait shop. He told me to order the blank shell, flux, solder, hooks and some powder paint and he'd show me how to solder them up and make them for about ten cents apiece. Man, I was hooked on making my own lures then.
After I fooled around with the "Aspirin heads" I started to try and tie a jig. A guy named "Dave" showed me how to tie one holding the jig in my hand right behind the bend in the hook. I wrapped a few strands of tying thread on the hook, put a half hitch in it, grabbed some cut off marabou, tied it on, made some neat wraps, put some half hitches in it and cut it off. I used clear fingernail polish and soaked the threads real good and said...there is a jig. That was all I needed, a jig and some waxies and I was in heaven. That was how I fished from 1974-2000. I was a school principal and taught chess and hooked on fishing to the students in my after school group called Positive Young People. I wanted them to be able to use their brain and to have an activity they could use to stay off the streets
In, 2000 I retired and moved down south. I bought my first rotary vice for about $20.00, tying fur and feathers and started to research about tying. Over the years I have saved a ton of money by making my own Bluegill and Crappie Lures and that's all I make because that is all I fish for. My pastor did ask me to make a few bucktails for bass fishing but it is the same techniques, only with a larger jig and different materials. I guess I'm telling everyone that tying is a ball, and making things that work for you is fun. Pass your knowledge on and keep our sport alive.
The Crappie Sheriff.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...hoy41lures.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...bucketjigs.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...HolderIdea.jpg
This is just a simple drawing of a basic set up.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...LOATandFly.jpg
Meet Al Linder, a role model for me.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...1/AlLinder.jpg
Meet Steve McCadams, a mentor for me
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...veMcCadams.jpg
One day, I actually wanted my own T.V. Show. It never happened though.
Old Ship's secrets revealed!
Many of you will glance over Ship's post and quickly dismiss it as merely a biography of someone who is great at making fishing lures; you'd better read it again... and again!;)
All quotes originally posted by shipahoy41
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Me, I'd rather just try and invent it, of go to flea markets and thrift stores and look for fur and feathers.
It simply doesn't take expensive strung hackle to make an effective jig! There's an abundance of materials available in your house already - or as Ship said - at the flea markets, etc.
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...taking a bb split shot, flattening it on a jig hook and making "Aspirin head jigs". Yes I painted them with a shot of spray paint...
Just do it, and see for yourself that it works. Then go catch a fish on this basic jig.
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Challenge to Ship:
Go back in time a few years and re-create the BB split-shot jig, using flea market hair/feathers and spray paint. Do a pictorial and describe the process. You love writing How-To's and photography already, so....when do we get it? I'm sure it would be a hit with eveyone, and I recommend it go in the Archives as mandatory reading for beginners!!
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.....and started to research about tying...
Research. Research. Research.
Dig through the posts on Forums here, on Tackle Underground, and the links listed in the Archives.
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.... but the basics I will freely share with the next generation.
Be a mentor to someone else; you will always know more than someone just starting out. "Dave" and "Jack" showed Ship....now Ship is showing us. Kinda like 'casting bread upon the waters'.
Of course, all of us don't have that natural born creativeness, talent, and desire to learn like Ship. I like the refence to GWC; there's a lot that can be done with a peanut...and there's a lot that can be done with the most basic of materials for learning jig tying. Anybody that can do something with [almost] nothing is an extraordinary individual.
Nowadays it seems that so many people want the experts to 'inject' them with everything they know in one brief lesson, i.e.
"just tell me what I need to know; I don't want to have to go through all that research and practice and stuff..."
Ship - I'm taking notes in your class!! Thanks for a great post.
-BleuGhill-
