How you got into this?

May be a little off topic but... always love to know background info.

I came about tying lures a little backwards. Picked up a tying kit at a garage sale, for $5, almost 20 years ago, now I'm 30 or so. I didn't have a fly rod then...... or even knew what a crappie was! Spent years makin bugs and spun deer hair flies to fish behind a bobber on my spinning gear for bass and gills. My Dad bought me a fly rod around age 14 and have tied flies and some jigs for bass off and on ever since. My biggest lrg. mouth to date was caught on a fly rod with one of my own spun deer hair mouse/hackle tail.

I got into the jigs about a year ago and have trouble thinking anything else. Switched over from a bassman to crappieman pretty much. Had done well with store bought marabou jigs before, but have many bags of crappie and gills in the deep freeze already this year and most have come from my own jigs. Just love doing this and would like to know any info on how ya all got into tying jigs. - AtticaFish

Personal Goal: Gona make a jig that will catch perch on Erie like the live emerald shiners get em!!!! Wanna see my Dad's jaw drop. :cool: :rolleyes:

Good thread. I got into fly tying when I was around 14 or 15 shortly after my parents got divorced. I have loved fishing since even before I went fishing the first time; Dad's fishing rods and lures and the stories behind them captured my imagination. But Dad never really was into crappie fishing, never flyfished, and he dang sure didn't tie/make his own lures. So I got interested in flyfishing when I saw some shows about it on ESPN on Saturday mornings (I graduated from Saturday morning cartoons to Saturday morning fishing), which led to a visit to Lawton, Oklahoma's only flyshop, Cache Creek Fly Shop. I had tried tying wet flies without a vise, by just holding the hook in my left hand and using my left index finger and right hand to wrap. Then I tried vise grips and needle nose, then finally bought a vise (thanks Mom!) from the fly shop. Tying flies just did something for me to either make sense of the confusion of my parents and their sh**, or just allowed me not to think about it. Then, I discovered vertical jigging for crappie about 5 years ago on the brush-bottomed docks that are common on lakes in Oklahoma. I started off using tube jigs, then tied my first marabou jigs. I found out shortly that the jigs I tied, if fished right, would seem to get more bites than plastics would, and we all know about the gratification felt by catching slab crappie on a jig you created. I too think about little else. If I put half the amount of thought into school and studying the LSAT that I do into jigs and crappie, I would probably have all of my school paid for.

BTW, I think I have my mind set on the jig I will enter in the next swap.

A friend of mine is a guide on Lake Wiess and he was working with several other guides when one of them decided to quit the business. He wanted to sell everything that he had for crappie fishing down to and including his boat and rods and reels. I had just got into long line trolling and to start with it was long line jig losing. I was breaking off 20 to 30 jigs a trip. My friend told me that this particular ex guide had "a bunch of jig making stuff for sale". He told me to come by and see if I wanted to buy any of the stuff. Well I bought all he had so I could pour my on jig heads and stay out of the poor house from replacing jigs. There was a ton of marabou and chenille and hooks and lead and tying thread and a cheap vise in the pile but at the time I was only interested in pouring jig heads. I used to fly fish a great deal when my grandfather was alive. He carried me on enough trips to stoke the fly tying fire but when he died my love for fly fishing died with him. I just couldn't go without him being there. I had all this tying material and this vise sitting there so one day I decided to try to tie up a jig...mostly out of boredom. Well the tying bug bit again and I started looking on the internet for information on jig tying and I found the best bunch of people in the world. I have come to enjoy crappie fishing almost as much as I did fly fishing with my grandfather. I just wish both he and my grandmother were here to do it with me. Thanks Crappie.com people for all you have given back to me. I have to add a special thank you to Skip...he answered a thousand newbie questions for me. Fowlmood77 for getting me into the jig swaps and AWmiller for giving me the confidence to do it. Flatfish46 and Cadman for helping me to really enjoy tying again. Flatfish has treated me more like one of his family than just some nutjob on the internet and I will never forget it as long as I live.
......Well you asked and there it is.............brim...PS No Doc Crappie I didn't forget you...thanks for helping me with all my 1/100 oz jig questions and thanks to illigiller and jigging joe for telling me how to tie that pain in the butt kiptail.

Been fishing all my life and was disabled after big time back surgery in 1989. About 1991 I started trading stock and did very well for a long time, but after my Heart surgery (in 2000) I knew what to do but just wouldn't so after losing for two year I said the heck with this and that was 2005 near the end of the year. Actually for about 1 1/2 years (after 2000 Heart Surgery) I didn't feel like doing anything even fishing, but I forced myself to get back to what I do. In the first of 2006 I got frustrated by just being able to fish just so much because of my back mostly and TV all day was not doing it for me. I had a cheap vise that had never been used and a few materials from some sorry kit and I just started tying a few and thought good God these look horrible.

So I started doing research about fly tying and some things that would relate to jigs. After a short time I bought my first true rotary which was a Danvise and started tying with what I had taught myself and posted a few pics on a few boards and some started asking if I sold them. At first I said no just doing this for something to do, but soon changed my mind and made my own web site and kept learning and started selling jigs about April or May of 2006. So I am self taught and proud of what I have been able to learn and do. Now sometime I get too much to do and now last spring I didn't get to fish as much as I wanted so need to do something to change that next spring, LOL!

And that is that.

Skip

Great thread. It's good to know more about you guys.

I have fished my whole life. My dad used to take me out and sit me down when I was a baby even before I could hold a pole. So fishing is as much as part of my identity as my blue eyes and last name. Jig tying became an interest because it seemed like a next step or graduation for me. I have fished about every store bought jig and tube out there, but I thought I would find more satisfaction if I could convince a fish to bite a jig I designed. It's in the same satisfaction family as getting ducks to respond to calling. Anyway, last year at about this time I was in "love" with a girl. She and I fished all the time together and she had heard me talk about wanting to get into jig tying. Summer came around and she gave me some news that she would be moving away to North Carolina in a month and she asked me to come with her. I told her I'd think about it and I decided to help her move to NC to give myself a chance to look at the lakes and to see the general area in which I would potentially be living. Long story short, she gave me a parting gift the night before I had to leave to come back home. It was my first vice. I came home and tied my first jigs with it and I loved it.

Time passed and we eventually parted ways. I'll be honest and say that when I sit down at that vice I still think about her sometimes. Not in a sad way though. In a good way like you remember childhood. I still got my jigs though and I still got my fishing. And I'm about as happy and blessed as a fella can be.

Great thread. I started flyfishing 15 years ago,The price of flies were so high that I bought a cheap vise and materials and went to work tying my own. I'd ask my wife how the looked even though she doesn't fish. One day she told me they would look better if they had eyes. I had some painted jigs so I tied them and liked the way they looked.I started buying jigs in bulk,discovered powder paint,started painting and tying,started selling them to guys at work.The more you tie the better you get.In 2004 I put some on ebay and they sold so I put more up and they sold.Honest,my record amount for a dozen of my flashducks sold for $61.00 this past February.I've learned even more thanks to cc,which is my fun site.Thanks everyone...

Great Idea ATT!
I grew up in a modest family My dad grew up all through the depression learned how to life off the land and respect the things that the Good Lord had provided for Him, He passed this on to Me when I was 7 I set in My 1st deerstand by myself with a model 37a 410 and 3 slugs thats the same age I started tying jig's My Dad trout fished and crappie fished most of his life and was a Master ty'er He had quite impressive bug collection to study for fly or jig patterens He taught Me a penny saved is a penny earned even seen him make custom hook's he taught Me alot of thing's forgot more than I remember wish He was here now for a refresher course,but I learned you can always make something better than you can buy that's massed produced also you can target the forage your speices is feeding on one time on the White River we through everything but the sink at them then a wise Old Man said Son you gotta give'im what they want not always what you got ? well we went that night and rounded up a bucket full of brown june bug's from the 7-11 parking lot's under the street light's next day caught the largest Rainbow of My life 7.1lbs Yhat Old Man was right ! so was My Dad that's why I do what I do today and people say how do you catch so many fish I think of them Old Men and tell'im I just give'im what they want !

1968, I was 8 or so and dad would take me to the russian river in alaska, 3hrs. from the air base, to fish for salmon. standard procedure was to use a brightly colored bucktail streamer, with about 1/2 oz. weight up the line from it. I marveled at the bucktails, and that christmas dad caught me in the basement making unusable streamers on his bench vise, using those hooks you use to hang ornaments with, and tying on that christmas tree tinsel. we moved to colorado and trout country. by the age of 11 I was pretty good, and mom and dad enrolled me in a tying class taught by a pro. he told dad that I already had all the basics down, and dad bought me a kit that today would cost hundreds of dollars. caught trout on the flies in colo. then germany. at the age of 13 I would sit in my room and tie literally hundreds of trout flies. I used that vise up until about 4 years ago. now when I hold it in my hand, it means more to me than the dynaking I use now.

HOW I GOT STARTED

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 was 29, back in 1974, I started making lures to sell. I started with a "Pinmin" which is short for pin minnow. That is what caught a lot of BlueGills in Akron Ohio. Fishermen at the Portage Lakes, Mogadore, West Branch and Wingfoot all used them. A sports writer for the Akron Beacon Journal, Carl (Big Daddy) Bachtel would always catch a ton of fish using pinmins, so that is what I started making too.

The bait shops sold them, 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. Man, I was hooked on making my own lures then.

After I fooled around with the pinmins 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 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.

Never fished freshwater until I moved stateside from the Azores, was into spearfishing and diving. Started freshwater fishing and wrapping rods in the early 80s and when my favorite UL jig (Turner’s micros) went from .75 to $1 – decided I could do that and started making my own.
Back in those days there wasn’t the internet so a lot of the stuff I do is self taught. Did a lot of reading about flyfishing and practiced more tying. Couldn’t find the lead heads that I wanted so had to make them also. Now I have a mold collection that is over 700 molds…. Make a lot of saltwater jigs and pour swimbaits as well. There wasn’t much info on painting jigs either – didn’t find powder paint until early 2000.
About five years ago started flyfishing and really enjoy it – still won’t replace ultra lite fishing with jigs. Went to La Arenas, Baja Sur last October and caught 10 different species of saltwater fish on the fly (check out tailhunter-international.com). The year before that was in the Sierras catching Browns, Rainbows, and Sacramento Perch. Also river fish in Costa Rica (check out PezRey.com) – a real close friend has a ranch in Quepos. For now – have a pontoon on Lake Perris for the big Bluegill. Really enjoy fishing all these places, especially up and down Baja, and catching fish on gear and lures that I have custom made.

I like this thread,good idea!!!

I was a C.c bash in Jan.of this year.(VA forum crappie bashes):D
I had allready decided that using plastics did not compare to using a minner.
And one of the guys hand another one a bag of hand tyed jigs."How much I owe ya?" "nothing" was the reply...I said may I see them,"Yes sir" was the reply..My thought was these are good.I think I can do this.Got home started the searching process on the internet.Already was on C.c board so I looked on the jig forum.Ordered a cheap vice and material from Hooks and Hackle.
Brought a few jig from Wally world.looked at Utube.and the threads on the jig forum....and it was ON.:D.
Sold a few to guys at work,give a bunch away,sold some more,bought more and better supplies,sold a few more,bought some more supplies,sold a few more,,got a great vice from Laserdoc(Dave),bought some more stuff,sold a few more,brought some more stuff....oh well ya git the picture:D
I only wish my Dad was here to fish wit some of my jigs,,he was a crappie fisherman from way back.

Now I find a link about realistic flies and bugs people are tying just for show mostly,,but,,man o man, they are nice.
Ya'll visit me when my wife pits me in the insane home....P.S bring a vice and stuff wit ya..:D:D
mikeb

Growing up in Michigan on the shores of Lake Huron fishing was just natural. I fished for everything that would bite in the lake. Perch, pike,walleye,catfish, smallmouth bass, trout,and salmon. But never crappie. Lake Huron is not a big crappie lake. Then I moved to South Carolina and started fishing for largemouth. I fished tournaments for years and just got burned out. Then I started crappie fishing.

I started learning how to fish for them and it seemed minnows were the best. But that got rather expensive. I then learned to jig fish and it was less expensive than minnows and for me more effective. I then learned how to make the jig bodies and the rest is history.

Making my own means that if I get low I just make more. I also don't have to worry if I can find the color I want. I just make that color.I also enjoy making them and as long as i don't count my time to make them it saves money.

Hey Led I've ran around in the same mountians You have was born in Sacramento way back when Cal. was stable got out fore I lost My sanity!

Cool Idea!! I just wish I had a cool story to share. Basically I started tying 1 1/2 years ago and what got me started was a group of guys that where using a calftail jig and out fishing others around them so I thought I would try some. well they worked so I bought 5 at 2 bucks a piece then after I looked at them close I said heck I can make these so i bought a vice and some supplies. luckly I found this site right around that time also and everyone here helped me learn quick. So thats my story nothing big I was just to cheap to pay 2 bucks for something I found out I could make for 20 cents:)

JJ

I started tying about 14 years or so. I saw a fly that my buddies were using and catching a lot of fish on so I wanted to tie my own. Got a starter kit, bought some chenille, squirrel tails and bucktail and went to town. 3000 flies later I decided to start tying everything I ever used. I rarely if ever use a store bought jig/fly or other tie able anything anymore.

Started crappie fishing 3-4 years ago, mostly using tubes and grubs. I found this site and stumbled upon an add for Thump It Jigs. I had never seen such good looking jigs before so I ordered a batch from Skip. Me and my fish'n partner caught more fish than we ever had on them. Well, Skip offered to sell a tying kit to anyone interested so I got one. Thats when the addiction began!!! I tried to mimic Skips jigs and caught fish on them all. I gave some away and had people calling begging for more. So, I would say Skip was responsible for this addiction!! Thanks Skip.

I started out making jigs and sinkers as a kid and got into tying bucktail jigs for smallies.

Moved to Vermont and took up the fly rod bug and learned to tie flies and that's the only equipment I'd use for a few years.

One day on a whim I was cleaning the closet and out came the molds and hooks and made a big batch of jigs got the spinning rods out and been back full bore!!!! Got some new molds and added to my lead supply through a couple of independent garages and I'm back into it full time again. Haven't picked up the fly rod for about a year and a half although I have tied a bunch of flies (I'll definately be ready when I go again)

Fatman

Wanted to bump this just cause there are so many new guys and gals popping in to the board. Hope to hear some more stories. :)

I had a great last year on bass and wanted to get back into crappie fishing and I happened upon c.c. I just happened to notice the jig tying forum and read a few posts. I have never had a desire to tie jigs untill I read some of the post. Then I couldn't get it off my mind. Day and night. I know how I am and I couldn't shake it off so , just like my woodwork, my photography, my handmade knife making, my radio control airplane, my piano playing hobby, archery etc etc etc. I jumped in with both feet and here I am.

mine is simple 4 years i was looking for some black and some brown jigs to trout fish with. couldnt find any so i made mine.

This looks like a long read session,will get back to ya all in a bit,lol.Boy,do I have a story to tell.

Grandpa and Dad had me fishing when I was all of 3 with a special cane pole fashioned by Grandpa Hays. Other side of family Grandpa Price was a champion trout fisheerman.
Paternal side of Family the Hays was all about meat fishing. You went fishing to put something on the table. Maternal the Price side of family was from Pennsylvania and fishing was more of a sport.

Was fly fishing by the time I was 12 years old and started to make my own lures then. Of course my crude attempts were ugly. In spite of that I actually caught a few fish on them. Always poured my own sinkers and that lead to jigheads. For years all I did with jigheads was tip them with bait. I really can't remember when I started to actually tie something on the jigs. But tying flies is where I got my actual tying start.

Once I retired in 2007 I went hog wild tying jigs . Thanks to a lot of guys on here that showed what you could accomplish. From a very modest begining I have to grown to what looks like a commercial operation. Yet I have never sold a jig to anyone.

Just recently got into the jig swap thing and I heartily recommend them to someone who hasn't tried a swap yet.

Tied my first fly at age 5. Fly fished a few western trout streams and Missouri Trout Parks before my teens. Tied flies to fly fish for Indiana bluegill while in high school.

Got the itch to tie again about six years ago. Went to a jig tying class/demo sponsored by the Indiana Smallmouth web site and, well, here I am.

My mother is a very good artist. Dad and friends are very good anglers.

I don't catch many fish or paint very well, so I tie jigs to make up for those inadequacies. :)

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Originally Posted by AtticaFish

Wanted to bump this just cause there are so many new guys and gals popping in to the board. Hope to hear some more stories. :)

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Glad you bumped it Attica. There are some great stories being told. Everyone should tie a jig at least once in their life. Then when they catch a fish on it they can dance a jig.:D

Fishing since age 4, I've carried this fishing bug for almost 50 years now. I've paid too many retirement checks to the tackle industry. My internal motor runs pretty quick, and I can't just sit and watch the tube. Thru the winter months I go nuts with nothing to do. In '08 I played with target rifles and reloading my own for accuracy. Did well with that with the help of an extremely educated teacher who answered all my questions and walked me thru the learning process. Came to shoot 5 bullet groups at 100yds that were the size of your pinky fingernail. Cloverleafs, a few were 3 holes. One day I looked at all the stuff, while sitting in the shed, in the cold cuz explosives don't belong in the house, and said to myself"for what?" There's only so much you can do with that stuff, and it just wasn't gittin it. I'm also a guy who likes to stay in touch with his buds, and my phone hasn't rang once from those other guys in over a year. Guess they got to know me. The idea bounced around in my head for a few months, I was already on C.C and started watching this site. I've always worked with my hands so it wasn't a far reach to make the plunge to begin. I made a thread stating that I was going to sell my reloading gear and buy a vise. 1Perchjerker ( Thank You Forever, Tommy) sent me a couple of vises to try, and you all know the rest. I have found a pastime that preoccupies me, in mind and body, as much as fishing itself. I have found friends that are always helpful, positive, and generally great guys. The satisfaction of taking fish with baits you've created, and those taken by friends with your jigs, is the best. Teaching is another plus that just comes with the territory. But this has also created a problem. I've got boxes of plastics and store bought jigs that I mostly just carry around. I'm so busy testing and using my own that they get no play. I got enough "stuff" so I guess I'm going to have a clearance sale and get rid of some of it. Maybe fish it in the trees, won't last long there. I'll do this for many years to come and owe everyone that has given me a leg up a giant vote of thanks. The wife likes havin me around a bit more instead of going to play at the range all the time. Got a Fly rod a few months back so I'll get to re-visit something I'd put down years ago. And the lessons go on......

this has been great reading
my dad had me out fishing since i was 2 he allways poured his own jigs and sinkers and made a jig i would neaver post on here was so bad looking but it worked my dad wasnt a rich man so he would buy thread for 5 cent a spool and take 30 or so peices about 11/2 inches long and make a jig out of it the funny part is they worked very well when i was about 10 he would pay me to make them for him like a buck for 50 or so
when i was 15 i went to take hunter saftly and the place it was at sold fly tying stuff and he was like ill get you one buck tail and lets see what you can make well after that he didnt fish with thread jigs anymore
funny part about it i didnt buy a vise till 3 years ago for all tho's years i use a table vice that was only like 3 inches long was my dads when he was young and i have it today along with the old molds from the 50's he had if he could only see the jigs i make today just dam this site jumped my skill so much over the years i owe all of you a big thanks