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I know yall are all nice guys but......Couple pics.... be mean and criticize. Its how I learn to get better? Call the color combos stupid, too much chennel, not enough marabou, or whatever?
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Ok I will critique your work but constructively. The tail in the first one is about what you want. All the tails are a little too long. Make them like the first one but keep them shorter. My rule of thumb the length from the end of the bend to where the lead starts on the shank. I like red collars but keep them to a minimum may be like 1/16 inch. I use them most of the time and think you need them to mimic the red gill flash of a bait fish. The color combos are okay check in the stickys Jig Pictures. It will give you lots of ideas and you can see others work. If you use them and they catch fish you know that it is a good pattern. Some work better than others on a every day basis.My guess the that the first, fourth, and last jigs will be you best ones.
Now go out and start to tie tie a lot and try to make them look like some of the one you will see in the stickys. They are well tied and you will only get better the more you tie and practice the techniques of tying. To get good at any thing you must practice. I been doing this for 50 years and some day I will get to be good.
Keep up the good work and practice.
Redman
Hey man,
That was a nice post you did on "Knots and rig drawings for beginners" stickie on the main forum. Thanks for chiming in. We look forward to more posts from you. The third jig is a good color combination that has been proven in the water. other great combinations are chartreuse/black; chartreuse/pink; chartreuse/aqua ; chartreuse/flo. orange and chartreuse/white.
I usually will tie my marabou about like what you have in the third photo. I want them to get a piece of metal when they strike my jigs. When using chenille I also will use take some fibers off the top end so I can get some neat wraps on the top on the thread. Your chenille should be closer to the jig head. IMHO I think you have a little too much thread showing on the top end for a chenille jig. Use a whip finisher or just tie a few half hitch knots by hand. If it were just a hackle and krystal flash and no chenille that would be just about right.
X2 on the knots and rigs post.
Overall, and in regard to catch ability, they're just fine. We all made textbook mistakes when we started. Length of tail is a personal preference but there is a point where it doesn't work. We use the tips and shorten from the butt side to get the desired length. Tails too long have a tendency to get struck short, so keep that in mind while you develop your technique and style. Colors will also make themselves known as you fish your jigs. Lots of standard combo's are proven winners and as you look at everyone's pics you'll see the popular ones. Jig heads with a collar make the body section different and a bit more difficult to make good looking. I remove them. The minnow head is a winner for me but I always remove the collar before I begin to tie. I use about 3 turns of chenille for the body, and for sure stop before you go under the point of the hook and reduce the gap between point and shank. Using a Materelli finishing tool will let you hide your final ties to hold it together, thus eliminating the wide thread collar that you have now. 3 or 4 good turns of thread will hold things in place and a spot of 50/50 Sally Hanson's and lacquer thinner will soak in and harden holding everything just fine. Always start a tie with a tiny spot of Sally to keep everything from moving once complete. The jigs you tied will catch fish, and you'll make an improvement here and there until you are satisfied with them and they're loading the live well. Keep after it and welcome to the addiction, there's no turning back.
Rule #1--clean those eyelets!
I think you are off to a good start. It has been said already, a little adjusting of the amount of marabou, chenille and thread and you will have some nice jigs. Don't worry a lot with colors right now, use what you have but spend as much time at the vice as you can.
Welcome to tying. Everyone here will help with any questions you have.Thumbs Up
The chenille on the top few could be a a little more even and close together wraps will help that. I assume you want the red thread to show and is why it not hidden . I have tied a few like your in that respect by request, but normally I don't want the thread so show at all. As someone already mentioned, never leave the paint filling the eye. If mine need cleaning I do it just before I tie them.
They will catch fish as they are though so go get some with these.
Skip
Clean the eyes and then let the fish critque them. Find what works. the variety of body thickness and shape, the tail variations, the collar size differences all allow for a lot of testing and honing in on what the fish want in your area.
I was going for gill flash like REDMAN and Skip thought but I will try to limit it a lil bit. Otherwise Clean the eyes. Tighter chenille. 10-4 thanks.
I have not been tying very long, but I have been powder painting jigs for awhile.
Word of advice on eye cleaning... If you use powder paint the eyes are easy to clean before they're baked, but sometimes you'll get the eyes closing up when you cure them. The easiest way to clean them after they're baked is to heat a thin piece of metal like a bodkin or the point of a big hook and run it through the eye. The paint will re-melt, allowing you to remove it easier.
It's easy to run the chenille right up to the ball, even on a jig with a collar. I still have a bunch of jigs with collars that I use for plastic and sometimes tying. When you are getting ready to tie in your chenille and the thread is at the head of the jig, strip the fibers off about 1/4" of the end of the chenille rope. Lay the stripped string in the middle on the collar and wrap the thread up to the end of the collar. Stop when you reach the end of the lead and start wrapping your chenille around the hook shank. When it gets to the part of the shank just under the point, wrap the thread up to the end of the chenille, then wrap the chenille over itself and all the way back to the ball. Wrap your thread over the top layer of the chenille and tie off at the head. Makes for a nice even body with no funny bumps.
What the others said, only thing from me is get some different colored threads it evens things up a little unless you're using it to mimic the side of a fish's gills
what kinda paint for the head is that???