Made these this week. Looking for constructive criticism and pointers.
Thanks,
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Made these this week. Looking for constructive criticism and pointers.
Thanks,
Looks good for your first... the bottom left could have a shorter skirt... keep up the good work! And you should join www.jigcraft.com so you have 2 places to post your work. :D
They'll catch fish like they are. I love the green and blue one. Great colors where I fish.;):)
Tails a little long but awesome first ties... Keep up the good work.
they look good for ur first time tying. i LOVE the one with the blue head
Thanks folks. I still need to get the tail length down in my head. I purchased some jigs from the local tackle store and some of those had tails way longer than the ones I tied. I take it they do it that way so that I can cut it to the length that I want. I plan on taking my lil girl to get some bream this weekend so I just finished these up. Any help still welcomed.
I think I got the bug.
Thanks,
r these flys or jigs? they look pretty good. good luck this weekend
Flys
My jigs didn't look no where near that good when I started, nice work. And a long tail isn't a bad thing. Doesn't matter as much as to what it looks like out of the water as to what it does in the water. Sometimes a longer tail will trigger more bites bc of the more action it offers. I've been pulling 3 inch shad out of my catches lately.
Not bad for your first one and mostly all you need is practice tying. As far as tail length a lot of people have critized my tail length and some I do tie shorter, but most I tie longer and I have a lot of customers that like the longer tails. I feel that sometimes longer tails get bit more because they have more action. On the other hand sometimes crappie don't want a lot of action, like very early spring and a couple years back I started using kip tail jigs then more and they do very well at that time.
I say tie them like you want to fish them and take some long and some shorter and see what does better for you. I know I sure catch my share every spring with longer than most using marabou Roadrunners in 1/32 and no one can tell me they are too long because the fish prove it to me every year, over and over again. I also tie my hackle tails a bit longer than many, but feel it's a personal thing as to what each person likes.
If someone tells me they want a jig that is within a certain length I try by best to tie the jig the length they want.
So just keep tying and use both kins and see what you end up liking, but you have to fish them at different times of the year to know what really works best. I think I know, but that's me and not anyone else. Be true to your self and make your self happy as it's a great hobby so as long as they work who cares how long or short the tail is.
The single most important thing is make them durable so they don't start coming apart after just a few fish.
Skip
I read some place the perfect length for crappie is a total overall length of the jig including hair/marabou is 1-1/2" inch long? They said any longer or any shorter and you will catch less fish. This was only crappie they were talking about. So far for me the 1-1/2" length works great for me on crappie. Note: I fish the far northern states, bigger may be better down south I don't know? But we do catch crappie up here to 15" and the 1-1/2" rule still seems to hold true.
Ii gotta agree they are nice for 1st ties. One thing for bream and blue gills you're going to want to keep them shorter. They are limited on what they can eat due to the size of their mouth. keep it up.
Maybe as a general rule of thumb 1 1/2" is some type of standard to someone. I fall into the same boat (pun intended) as you in that I am fishing northern waters. After ice off, we were using 1/80th kip tail jigs that were no long than 1 1/4". This past weekend my buddy was runing 1/16 oz 2"+ long hackle tail jigs on the same lake.Quote:
Originally Posted by eriksat1
they look good you can send me a few to test out for you lol
For your first time, you did amazing well! Plus you seem to have a nice wide variety of materials.
NightProwler
Lakes do differ from what size they prefer. I know most of mine are probably about 4 inches after I tip it with a shiner. That's a large bait, but it doesn't slow them down. Also I don't troll cranks but a lot of people I know do and catch a lot of fish and huge ones at that. I use a 1/4 oz jig head and am sold that a larger bait will catch just as many if not more, along with more quality. Sometimes you gotta take articles with a grain of salt because a fish isn't going to not hit a lure because it's not just the right size. Most shad are way larger than jigs so they have no choice as to what they eat at times.
Here's a prime example: This came out of a 14 inch white crappie, about the average size for this lake. This shad is 3 inches long x 1 inch from back to belly
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...ordcc/shad.jpg
We don't have shad up here, that is why I think the typical lake shiner minnow up here is about 1" to 1-1/2" that or they are eating small bugs. I guess the main thing would be to match the size of the available forage that the fish are eating. And about the only way is to catch fish then cut the stomach open. I very rarely find anything very big in there stomachs. We are talking crappie. I have noticed before that on this crappie board there is a big difference in how people fish for crappie down south, and how we fish for them up here in the far north. You go small with light line no bigger than 4 Lb test, or get skunked.
Nice for your first ones, and it'll get better with practice. Now post some photo's of the first fish you get with them!!!!!!!
Enjoy!!!!!!!!!
A few from today.
And more.
they look really good I cant wait till my hackle comes in where I can start tying some wooly buggers! But for First time Jigs they look good! Now go out and catch some fish with them! and post some pics!
I need to start tying I lost 2 of my best crappie jigs this week to Northern Pike, dang they have sharp teeth.
About the "too long tails" - better too long than too short - I carry a small pair of scissors to cut braid and I have used them many times to make a tail shorter - not much you can do if you need a longer tail while in the boat.