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Quick question: Is choosing hair jigs/hand tied jigs vs. plastic jigs just a matter of fisherman preference ? Or do you guys that fish with both have a "reason" to fish one over the other ? Like, is there a particular time of year that crappie seem to prefer one over the other ? Or, is it just like choosing color combinations, where one day they want one color, the next day they want another. Curious to hear what you have to say on this one.
Thanks,
AR
I like hand tied jigs but I may be prejudiced.:biggrin
I like hair jigs for cypress trees/stumps and such during the spawn, or vertical jigging while trolling in deep water. But, I prefer plastic in fast water such as below dams and such, when the fish are tightly grouped, hungry, and aggressive due to the lower cost of plastic. I also like a curly or split curly tail plastic for the action it gives for aggressive fish. Keep in mind, I'm probably the worst crappie fisherman on the forum, so my opinion is worth less than .02$
JBJ
I'd say that hair jigs do have a place and are preferred at times just as certain colors , but I like plastics most of the time, just my 2cents!
You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take country out of the boy
Slick, prejudiced for what reason though ? That's what I'm trying to figure out ? Prejudiced because you tie your own ? Because you've fished the two side by side and one outperformed the other ? Because of the lake you fish ? What caused your prejudice-ness towards hand ties ?Quote:
Originally Posted by creekslick
I'm trying to justify increasing the size of my arsenal. I already carry 4 different jig-head colors (red, pink, orange, chart.) for plastics. I also carry each color in 3 different sizes (1/32, 1/16, 1/8). To compliment that, I carry probably 20+ plastic tube jig color combinations. So, with the head size/jig color options I have, I could easily have over 100+ options to offer on any given day. But, just like any other fisherman, I want to be successful, so I'm looking into hair jigs now !! Ha !!
Anytime you increase the size of your arsenal, you have to have some rules of thumb that help eliminate some of the baits to know which baits should be productive on that particular day/body of water/etc. A lot like eliminating dead water. You have the whole lake that you "could" fish... And on some days you may have to cover a big percentage of it to find fish... But, if you have a few good rules of thumb you can usually eliminate the vast majority of water to find the fish.
I'm trying to take the same approach to my tackle... I want to have access to the whole arsenal, but I wanna know how a particular piece (such as hand tied jigs) fits in, and when should be the most opportune time to use it !! Ha !!
Thanks for the reply !!
Now that seems like a good analytical approach to me, rookie!
Quote:
Originally Posted by arrookie
Prejudiced because I tie and sell them. All joke aside, I catch more on tied than I do with plastic but I use tied more than I do plastic. A lot of the time it's what you have confidence in that's make the difference.
Ski Trip, there's nothing like fishing, period. But, more so, there's nothing like fishing with the "wrong bait" when the guy fishing the same area has the "right bait" ..... Or vice versa...!! Ha !!Quote:
Originally Posted by ski trip
Still learning myself!!!!!!What I have learned from these guys(crappie.com.pro's) when your in fish the quality hair jig will catch fish in cold water better and stays together better after a missed strke or fish.The plastic will slide down on jighead blocking hook.The good quality hand tied jig will last longer than plastic.Espically when you hit the honey hole brush pile!!!!With a good quality hook the hair jig will last until it hangs on a stump or a big hybrid striper or flathead catfish wants it more than you!!!!!! You can't have too many!!!!! Plastic you can change colors eaiser and faster!!!! hope this helps!!!!!
Both! :D
Good points by all. I fish plastics a good bit because I can change colors quickly, but I always have some hand ties in the boats too. I'm beginning to believe more and more that lure size, presentation, and location are bigger factors than color though (especially in stained water). Subtle differences in bites can guide you to what works best that day. How many times have you overheard folks talking about similar success rates, but different methods, colors, etc.? Happens alot IMO. Sometimes it just boils down to your confidence in what you're using and being in the right spot at the right time.
Find hair jigs perform better for me in winter time and early spring after water starts to warm in spring fish both until fish tell me to put up tied jigs. Usually 70+ water temp.
I use both but have about every color of plastic. I use plastics the majority of time. The more ate up the plastic the more it catches. I keep a tube of super glue and just put a dab on the barb and slide plastic back up jighead. The plastics are very quick to change when looking for the right color and are cheaper than hand ties. Hand ties will oulast a plastic though.
Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10
i am like creek on this i use hair jigs 99% of the time if i am single pole fishing .i use one of our "minner critters" with a minnow if iam spiderriggin!!! i have 7 or 8 color combinations that i use most all the time , if i can't catch a mess on them i go home cause there not biting !!!!!!!!!!
I pefer plastic tube baits most of the time shallow in any temp. But then I use tubes most of the time inserted with leadheads not stuck on the back. When fishing real deep in cold weather is when hand ties shine because they can sink faster than plastics of same weight. Confidence is a large part of the equasion in what to use most days. I can usually catch fish on either with right weight jig. Cost is relative because plastics are cheap but quaility hand ties like MEATGETTERS can last several times longer where you don't lose them.:twocents
They both work equally well with a MINNER!!!
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I like the hand tied hair jigs mostly because I tie them myself and it is always a thrill to me to catch a fish on a jig or fly that I tied myself.
Can't say as I have a dog in this race guys, I've caught them on both hair and plastic jigs so to me it's a coin flip and more about the right color. To add to what guys have said here though hair will last longer than plastic for the most part. My problem with the hair jigs is usually when the head eventually gets the paint knocked off it and if fish are really biting it would still work but a new one to me is better at that point. I paint a buncha my own heads with finger nail polish and let them dry then go back over them with a clear coat to help keep the paint from chipping as easily. You can get the painted heads but unless your at BPS or somewhere bigger to buy them all's I seem to find are the smaller sizes and I prefer to go with a bit more weighty heads Winter and Summer due to the depth of the fish.
Just get all the jighead weights in all the colors (don't forget Roadrunners) then get all the Bobby Garland's, Midsouth's and Southern Pro's in ALL their colors/shapes/sizes and you will be ready for Anything they want!! All those colors and combinations in hair jigs would cost a small fortune......
I tie my own jigs but use an awful lot of plastic too. As said before, the hair(marabou) wil stay with you for several limits and will not slid down after a jerk. Even if you do jerk and miss with plastic you don't know for sure if it slid down or not and you might be sitting there fishing on the credit. The other day I had fished a couple hours and had 8 or 9 then tied on a marabou jig and limited (plus) in an hour or less. Sometimes its visa versa. Confidence is the main thing.
Ray , if you use big tubes with leadhead pushed inside from the rear you will seldom have one pulled down. No need to paint heads either.:twocents
True, but i like bright colored heads with sexy eyes painted on them.Quote:
Originally Posted by NIMROD
I used plastics for years, rather than pay more for the feather jigs, although I DID get feather jigs occasionally. Then I got my own kit, took free lessons at Bass Pro Shops, and now I have jigs that last MUCH longer and are much cheaper. I also have an unlimited selection of colors and types of materials. Bulk jig heads, Pro-Tec powder paint (get a heat gun), acrylic eyes if desired, my wife's knitting yarn (all colors available, including variegated) or any of seven types of chenille available at Grandpa Bob's, strung marabou, pheasant feathers (free if you know a bird hunter), and kiptails, and you are set. Cost for me is less than ten cents per jig, most of which is the lead head. Some guys I know get their own molds and lead, and the cost is even cheaper. When heads get chipped, I just use the heat gun and redip the heads. Open flame will burn the jig body, but the heat gun does not.
Most of the time, we get more fish with the jigs than the guys with plastic. Last Wednesday, for instance, there were ten of us at the inside dock (9 degees temperature). I got 97 crappie, one guy with a shadpole and Bobby Garland rig got about 50, and the others (all using plastic) got zero to ten crappie.
But the best benefit is catching them on something you have made yourself.
I must not have been opinionated in 2012.
Fish eat them all. Use what you are comfortable with. If they don't eat your jig, tie on a minner and see if the fish are really there. We've got good jig tiers on the board that will fix anyone up with some quality stuff, at a bargain, that will catch fish as good as anything artificial you can buy or create. Make use of these wonderful people and watch your catch increase. I have tied a few jigs myself and in the long run if you count your tying supplies and the time it takes, you are money ahead to send one of these guys a PM and say "send me something that will catch a fish" and you are set.
I use Plastics cause in warm weather they seem to hold on longer and like the action. The big Southern Pro Umbrella Tubes seem to displace more water and kinda float down. In cold deep water I like hand tied because they are easier to keep down and get there faster. I catch fish all year on both.
I'm no expert by any means, but I have always used plastic, in recent years I almost exclusively use crappie magnets. However, recently I was fishing (3 trips ago) and wasn't doing too good using crappie magnets. I ran into a guy who was doing better than me and he gave me a tied jig that was working for him. I didn't get to fish much longer so I didn't really get to make a opinion as to which was best for me on that day. Two weeks later I'm fishing the same lake and I still had the tied jig on one pole so I left it on and put a crappie magnet of similar color on another pole and fished both, a pole in each hand. The tied jig won hands down on that day. Got back to the office called MEATGETTER told him to make me up $50 worth of his tied jigs in the color he likes best half in 1/16oz and half in 1/8oz. Went back to the same lake last weekend, fished the same area using the tied jig and the same color crappie magnet, same presentation and depth. Crappie Magnet was the best producer without a doubt. Now all I can say is "go figure". To eliminate the plastic from coming down I put a drop of super glue on the head and then slide it up over it. It will get worn out before it comes off.
I don't have that problem with Southern Pro Umbrella tubes when I insert jigheads from the rear opening . Draw back is having to cut off the jighead to replace a tube bait.Quote:
Originally Posted by jackie53
It seems it would be easy to solve the problem and get every color imaginable of both tied jigs and plastics....only real problem would be moving the barge around from place to place that it would take to tote them all....hahahaha....
I have to kid those I fish with about tote'n so much gear (baits). They are usually shocked how little I actually carry.Quote:
Originally Posted by eric 3501
A lot of good comments here. Mac Daddy's tip about superglue will make your plastic last a lot longer. Nimrod's tip about using tubes is also good, although the tube will eventually split at the head, and it's more difficult to superglue. I sometimes take Mac Daddy's tip about using two poles a step further, using two jigs on each pole, one with a plastic on top and a hand-tied on the bottom. Vice-versa on the second pole. The hand-tied (either hair or marabou or hackle feather tail) nearly always out-produce the plastic.
A couple of extra tips: Get some of those tiny crappie rattles. You can insert them into the plastic or tie them inside your hair jigs. They can really improve your catch rate. Most of the guys here are using the Bobby Garland jigs with the minnow-shaped head. They are a lot more expensive than painting your own ball head or minnow head jigs, but they produce.
Hope y'all are catching the big-uns.