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Made a few jigs outta some bucktail today, and they look really good, but the hairs kinda stiff compared to maribou.
Whats the pro's and con's of bucktail when used in this type of jig?
http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...igs/th_002.jpg
sorry bout the small pic, click on it to enlarge it. Thanks
My complaint is just what you stated, lack of movement. Hair works well at times, but I prefer the flow of maribou. I like to leave the natural tips on the buck and it takes a bit of doing. Hold the hair in your hand and keep pulling the longer ones and stacking them with the ends together til you get enough. The tips have more movement than the cut offs. Kip tail works well also and has a bit more movement. Hair breaks off and thins as you catch fish. Have heard of jigs with 4 strands left still catching fish. What you tied look good, keep it up.
I just started tying with some bucktail myself. The store bought Northern tails are a lot stiffer than the Southern tails I have collected from my hunting buddies. The Southern tails are softer and tie up like kip.
Just my opinion but right now with the colder weather and water temps crappies don't like allot of motion. They get a little sluggish and are most likely to take slow moving bait than one with lots of action. Not so when the water warms they want action so I always fish Kiptail jigs in the winter and use material that has a slower action. I found this out from some of the guys from south Louisiana. It works like a charm for me.
Forgot to add those are nice. you did a good job on them.
Redman
I have always heard use the hair in the winter as a lot of movement is not required and sometimes unwanted.
Ditto what everyone else said! Actually I don't use buck tail at all, but plan on trying some before the water heats up much more. I use kip tail a lot more, but still mostly when the water temp is cooler.
Cant leave hackle out nonono
a good way to get the natural tips is use a hair stacker sold at fly tying suppliers......or just make one of your own out of an empty tube of chapstick. Just cut the bottom off of the tube and clean it own real good. Then insert your kiptail or bucktail tip down into the tube (with lid on).....tap a few times on your bench and you will have all the tips stacked together in the lid, giving you a nice dense tail with all the ends intact.Quote:
Originally Posted by skeetbum
I've used bucktail for about 50 years. The Southern tails work a lot better than the Northern tails, like Sticksteer says. The hair on most the northern tails is larger in diameter and hollow, causing the hair to be stiff and brittle. Southern tail hair is not hollow, but resembles calf hair a lot in appearance and movement in water. Some of it is actually "kinky". They can be dyed with Rit dye, cool aid, or jello. I use the stuff year round and find that it works a lot better than the plastics in a lot of cases.
I used to use the white belly hair off of PA deer. We would use them for Bass after ice out around brush. We would try both tail and the belly hair and always did better with the belly hair. Actually a lot better. I just started tying crappie jigs and did save any hair from our deer this year. Maybe next year.
Decades ago a local farmer we fished with got his white hair from the mane on his farm collie. Softer than bucktail more like kip, but tending to be longer. A Scotch collie has a real nice mane for that. That worked real well as long as we were trolling spinners and streamers tipped with minnows, although most of the streamers we used were bucktail that we bought. The guy who made them told us that he used a thinner amount of bucktail for his own use, but a thicker amount sold better, so that is what he put on what he offered in his shop. IIRC the whole spinner. streamer set up was a buck and a half which was a pretty good bite back then in the 50's and 60's.
When we switched to jigs they were mostly bucktail or marabou. Back then none of us had a fly vise. You put a vise grip in the shop vice to hold the hook. :)
Looks like you trimmed some of the bucktail to length after tying it on the hook. If so, IMO that gives a bit too much of a flat end and loses the tip softness. I like a little softer and more variable end so that it waves easier. Like other posters here I prefer the tips to be intact.
One comment you will see is that the jig was all tore up and seemed the worse it got the more I got. The was a sign! Don't overload your jigs with to much hair. Keep it light and let it be more translucient.
I too like Southern buck tails if I tie a buck tail jig. I got a lot of natural ones sometime ago and they are so much easier to tie and even make me want to try them so I just bought a lot of them in good colors to use!
A lot of times that goes for plastic tails, too. I have seen it often enough when there is an active bite that a tube continues to catch as it gets more and more roughed up and continues to be hot as long as there are any legs, but when you switch out to a shiny new tube of the same color and pattern, the bite slacks off. I have also seen it where to get any bite you have to remove some of the legs from the tubes. I have also seen it the reverse, but generally less is more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tracker12
As the rest have said bucktail in the cold weather works, but I'd still tie both!!!
Great info guys I am new to tying as well and was going to ask the same question.
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