Tied up some crappie jigs tonight!

First time in a long while that I have left tying flies be for one night and focused on a few jigs! I've picked up a few tying tips from this board that made them look VERY nice and clean. Thanks guys!
Tied up a few red head/black body, chartreuse marabou tail, tied up a few fluor. yellow head, yellow and pink with blue flash body (Crazy Angler chenille), and blue rabbit tail... Also tried a few other combos with the new chenille I got from C.A.

The biggest idea I've picked up is making the body a double layer of chenille. That idea never crossed my mind, but it makes the jig have a much chunkier look that I like! It gives it some muscle.

I'll try and take some pictures soon and post 'em. I haven't tied near as many jigs as most of you, but I think the fish will eat 'em! They're just simple fish catchers. I'm thinking about trying hackle tails on my bigger jigs next... We'll see!

Zac

Hey Zac. Congratulations on your zig tying. Looking forward to seeing the photos.

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Originally Posted by shipahoy41

Hey Zac. Congratulations on your zig tying. Looking forward to seeing the photos.

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+1

Glad the site has helped and yes show us your jigs when you can.

Skip

Skip, in another thread you mentioned leaving the hair on the hide for rabbit tails. Are you just making a zonker strip tail then, or what? The hair just isn't quite long enough for a decent 1/16 oz jig tail.

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Originally Posted by quivira kid

Skip, in another thread you mentioned leaving the hair on the hide for rabbit tails. Are you just making a zonker strip tail then, or what? The hair just isn't quite long enough for a decent 1/16 oz jig tail.

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Yes in the case of using a Zonker strip there are really only a few ways to use it. First is as you ask as the tail it self and depending on what I am doing with the body will determine where I tie it in. If I am using rabbit crosscut for the body then I tie it in near the hook point on the shank and not closer to the head. The another ting I do is a chenille body and then I may actually tie it in a little closer to the head than that. A Zonker can also be wrapped around the hook for a body and just makes it a different look than a crosscut does. Using the zonker as the tail will let you put it on most any size jig you want and on larger jigs you could option for the magnum strips.

The crosscut is pretty versatile too as you can tie it in and wrap it to the head for a nice jig that has no real tail, but the hair sticks out enough. I have both kinds on my web site, well all 3 styles. Here are some pics...

Skip

I can't find the picture I was looking for, but here are some using chenille as a body...
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...s/DSC01568.jpg

Then here are some that are just crosscut...
http://thumpitjigs.com/images/DSC02752.JPG

Then both...
http://thumpitjigs.com/images/DSC02748.JPG

They are neat looking.

I really like that orange rabbit. I might have to find some of that. I still have to learn to tie with rabbit though but I think salmon and steelhead would love ot too.

sure like those yellow bunnies skip.

The 3 color stuff with bars is called Tiger Barred Strips and the color I think you guys are talking about is Orange Black Barred over Yellow and of course Tiger is the color name. They also have just barred strips too and I have a lot of all this stuff.

I just really like the rabbit materials and have a lot of 2 color strips and when they started selling the entire hide already cut, I started buy that instead of packs, but have a lot of both. I am a sucker for stuff like this and have one entire drawer full of nothing but rabbit strips. That drawer is 11 1/2" tall and 14" wide and 20" front to back. It's packed in too. Started buying it in 2008.

Glad you're tying some crappie jigs quivira kid. If you have any questions, the nice guys on here who know what they're doing will be glad to help. Show us some pics when you can.

Skip, I love the zonker jigs you tie. I'm continuing to practice on using the cross and center cuts on the same jigs.

Skip, thanks for the explainations. I understand the difference in zonker cuts already... I tied up some killer walleye leeches early this spring. Black 1/8 oz jig, long standard zonker for a tail, red flashabou, and black cross-cut zonker for the body.

I also tied up some Clouser minnows with a strip of rabbit on "top" instead of bucktail. For instance, white bucktail with chartreuse rabbit.

The motion rabbit gets in the water is fantastic! I always have a few silver-head 1/80 oz jigs with black rabbit tail and black mohair body around. Bluegills eat that thing like it's going out of style. Small and lots of motion!

Anyhow, I will try and get some pics up soon.
Zac