Curious about thread necks...

The lake that I fish has several guys that are regulars to the creek that I bank fish from... They all seem to use a basic kip tail jig that honestly has very little hair on it at all. They do the best with 1/32 oz with white kip tail black thread and a unpainted head. It seems crazy to me that something so basic seems to be the ticket. I have tried a few of my jigs (there is a little current and I only currently have tied up 1/80 oz and 1/64 oz) which I haven't had any luck on. However, I have some hooks that just came in the mail today so I'll be pouring some 1/32 oz this weekend. I have still caught my limit 2 out of the last 3 trips but it has been on my trusty minnows. LOL Have any of you all had experiences where the crappie prefered very little hair on the jig? Just curious... Also, everyone seems to think black thread is a winner but I always had thought red thread? Who knows

-Michael

Sometimes fish like a little bit of tail material. A lot of commercial jigs have too much tail because people prefer jigs with more tail. Not sure why that is, but that's the way it is. Catching fishermen and all that.

Red and black are pretty much the same when it comes to underwater. Red is one of the first colors to fade from the light spectrum. Beyond the depth of a few feet, it appears black.

When it comes to hair on a jig, I have found that Less is better. As far as color, I'll let the fish tell me what they like!! LOL

Dont tell everybody that.... yall are letting my secrets out. There used to be some jigs that somebody tied around here, or somewhere relatively close labeled as "Popeye Jigs"....basic solid colored head with what appeared to be a "sharpie marker" dotted eye, red thread, and a little bit of kip tail for the tail. Basic as pie and ohhhhhhh so effective. I tied a bunch up just like that and guess what, works just as good, if not better than my chenille jobs.


Ive ALWAYS found less is more with tail material. Just enough for color, and a little movement and thats it. Most jigs I see, on here included, have generally double of what Id use. Will more tail material catch fish, yes....but it's an old habit from when I first started tieing that I learned from guys that'd bring back 80-100 in a half day trip and not a minnow in the boat.

I have tied jigs for guys that wanted less hair and that is what I do, what ever they ask! So if they want less hair I tie less hair. Have done this with both kip and buck tail. If you know it's working for them, it would be silly if you didn't try it! Not sure I think the unprinted head is important though. However I find. Collar without a barb is best when tying kip tails jigs! I use some heads that the collar is thin and has a tiny flair on the end, just enough to control the thread width.

I've tied thread necks with a long thread section and a short one, just to see if it made a difference. The longer bodies (about 1/4") worked better on the days I tried em. The amount of hair is something I haven't fooled with yet, so this is good info. Like most folks I probably use more than needed. I also have some red angel hair that is going into my next ones. Just a hint of flash and color. I looked at the store bought ones the other day and the eye is very big, almost the whole head. I also noticed that they don't come big, 1/16 is as big as they get, but they go real small. Most of these had black heads and white/black eyes. These were definitely tied on ball head jigs.

I don't think I mentioned the guy uses a gold hook... Do any of you guys prefer the gold hooks? on his jig when its tied you can see the hook on the top basically there is just hair on the bottom of the jig and not much of it...

-Michael

Some guys really believe in the gold hooks, not many it seems, but the ones that do insist on them.

I guess anyone who's jig fished a lot has a story about an old, worn out, ragged jig that was the ticket for the day. Hardly any tail left, it's what the fish wanted. Good observations, watching what's working, then replicating it!

Well, I took a fish off the hook for him that a guy down from us wanted... lol So thats how I got to see the jig :D SNEAKY! Anyways what are some of yalls favorite threadneck jigs (jighead color, thread color, kip tail color).

Thanks,

-Michael

I love kip tail jigs tied sparse iI tie them with a red collar and prefer an unpainted head. Tip it wiwth a wax worm and fill the bucket.