1st Try @ Craft Hair

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10-30-2009, 10:37 PM
AtticaFish

1st Try @ Craft Hair

1st off, it's Fri. night and i'm sitting around @ 11 tying jigs... life in the fast lane!! :p Well anyway, I have seen some very nice looking jigs made with craft hair (I blame you Pup) so got me a 4x4 piece in purple, some purple tinsel and made a few up (1/4oz) for walleye hopefully... or 1 big a$$ crappie! :D Never worked with it OR fished with it. Here is my evolution.

http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0384_e.jpg

Top one is the first one i made and bottom was the last of 9 I made. This stuff is a pain to work with, never would have thought it would have under hair to get out the same as real fur, and MESSY! lol My tails seemed to get longer as I got the hang of it. :rolleyes: I'm gonna cut down at least the first 3 I did... Do you think tail is too long on the last one, or am I making them too full? Pup? Anyone?
10-30-2009, 10:43 PM
OKSTATEjiggy

Attica, they look good to me but I don't know anything about craft hair :cool:
10-30-2009, 10:46 PM
flatfish46

Man I like the color Good! right fore sun set round here for big fish'es leave tail alone crappies shorten it Nice work!
10-30-2009, 10:50 PM
AtticaFish

Thanks OKjiggy & FF46... least I'm not the only one tying & surfin' here on Fri night! LOL :)
10-30-2009, 10:55 PM
OKSTATEjiggy

Attica and Flatfish, let's do a themed quick tie... let's tie something up according to a theme and post pics of what we came up with
10-30-2009, 10:58 PM
AtticaFish

Start a new thread and gimme a theme... I'm game!
10-30-2009, 10:59 PM
flatfish46

Do it!
10-30-2009, 11:02 PM
snake River

question

I was wondering where you got your material. They are good looking jigs
10-30-2009, 11:06 PM
Crappiekiller3

There's three of us!

I'm doing the same thing......tieing jigs and wrapping up the jig swap I'm
hosting! But then I used up a lot of Friday nights 30 or 40 years ago and it wasn't tieing jigs:D
I like the look of those jigs and purple is a great color here for walleye!
Tail looks fine to me, but then I tend to make my tails a little long. I looked at the craft hair while wifey was buying flower stuff, but didn't buy any.
I think half the fun of tying is playing around with different materials.
Nice job Attica! My next mission is to tie some coyote, lynx, beaver and
caribou that LRB sent me. I'll post some pics(now, that I know what to do)
when I'm done.
I'm also making a crock pot of Italian Beef for munchies tomorrow while
the kids are trick or treating. Slow cookers and jig tying go hand in hand;)
10-31-2009, 12:54 AM
AtticaFish

Quote:

Originally Posted by snake River

I was wondering where you got your material. They are good looking jigs

Here ya go Snake River - Janns Netcrafters

CK3 - Glad ya like it, 3 of them are yours! ;)
10-31-2009, 08:28 AM
alumacraftjoe

Nice looking jigs. I find craft hair to be a total pain! Tied up a few dozen 1/4 and 3/8 ounce asprin heads for smallmouth fishing a couple of weeks ago. What a mess to work with.
10-31-2009, 08:43 AM
Crappiekiller3

Good deal Attica

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtticaFish

Here ya go Snake River - Janns Netcrafters

CK3 - Glad ya like it, 3 of them are yours! ;)

That's great, I'll see if I can find some walleye with them!!
Maybe after you guys tell me what a pain craft hair is to work with,
I won't have to buy any:eek: Unless of course the walleye demand it!!!!
10-31-2009, 10:18 AM
JSC

Guys try using "FisHair" stuff ... they have all kinds of material and it is easy to work with.

JSC
10-31-2009, 10:31 AM
Crappiekiller3

Fishair

I've worked with fishair and you're right it is easy to work with.
Although it has no "pazazz" it is nice for an accent.
10-31-2009, 10:44 AM
RonDon

Craft hair was the first material that I learned to tie with. Then I got some buck tail and was like OMG why didnt I start out with this! I dont think i've used it since.
10-31-2009, 12:01 PM
Len

Very nice AtticaFish.Sure looks like you have it down from beginning to end!!
10-31-2009, 12:17 PM
Pup

Nice work Atticafish. :cool:

Those look great. Purple is a good hair/fur color for walleye.

I like craft fur. Have used it for quite some time. Works well for smallie and largemouth bass jigs.

Best way to test for "fullness" is to dunk one in water. Generally, they thin out pretty well. I find that fuller ones sometimes produce fewer bites with larger results. Other times, it doesn't seem to matter. Though, I'm thinking in terms of float-n-fly fishing for smallmouth bass.

Again, great work!

BTW, have you tried your "Chart Topper" yet? :)
10-31-2009, 12:51 PM
hays47

I tried craft hair also and did not care for it. I do like squirrel , coon, coyote , and fox tail hair for tying the jigs I do.

For lower cost fur google for animal skins. Last bunch I ordered I got two artic fox tails , two silver fox tails , an australian raccoon tail and a coyote tail for @ 32.00 shipped.
10-31-2009, 01:12 PM
skeetbum

Ties look good and tight, and I really like the color. Smallie trip comin soon for me too. As far as too full or too long, let the fish decide and carry a pair of scissors just in case. Good work.
10-31-2009, 03:44 PM
AtticaFish

Quote:

Originally Posted by hays47

I tried craft hair also and did not care for it. I do like squirrel , coon, coyote , and fox tail hair for tying the jigs I do.

For lower cost fur google for animal skins. Last bunch I ordered I got two artic fox tails , two silver fox tails , an australian raccoon tail and a coyote tail for @ 32.00 shipped.

If you have interest in some fur, check this out. :eek: Taxidermy.net :eek: Don't have a clue what the quality would be like tho......
10-31-2009, 07:41 PM
Fatman

Great looking jigs!!!! Some materials are a pain in the butt to work with so you're always going to run into the problem. Keep tying they're looking good.

Fatman
10-31-2009, 08:58 PM
AtticaFish

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pup

Nice work Atticafish. :cool:

Thanks Pup, wanted to here your thoughts since you are the resident guru on this. Played around with them in my pond to check out how good of swimmers they are. They look good, but I can see I will have to get a little more consistent with how much hair goes in them.... some thick and some thin and hard to tell which is which when they are dry!

1 more question - Do you over lay the hair and cut it with a blade up against the head same as a bucktail jig? I had some trouble getting it to cut... had to saw at it a bit and nicked up some of the heads.

Thanks to everyone else for the comments. :)
10-31-2009, 10:08 PM
Pup
Quote:

Originally Posted by AtticaFish

1 more question - Do you over lay the hair and cut it with a blade up against the head same as a bucktail jig?

I can do one of three different things as I add the craft fur/hair fibers.
1. Push the cut fibers onto the jig just behind the jig head and wrap.
2. Roll the fibers onto the shank or collar just behind the jig head and wrap.
3. Cut and lay pinches of fibers and wrap (bicolor or multicolor hair jigs).
To trim, I never use a blade. A good pair of fine-point, curved cuticle scissors are what I use to trim the fibers behind the head. Be sure to clear the ends as you cut. A small paintbrush works well for this. Finally, I overwrap the trimmed ends with thread. Any stray ends that remain get pulled with a very good pair of slant-tipped tweezers.