Looking for opinions on my jigs

Hello I have been checking out this forum for a little while and decided to post a few of my jigs. I haven't seen very many jigs on here that do not have chenille and I have wondered why everyone uses it. If it's just for the looks or if it makes the jig hold up better. I have never even fished with a jig with chenille. I have only been tying for 3-4 years and only tie for myself so I don't get real worried about imperfections as long as the jig looks halfway decent lol. I am also wondering what kind of glue everyone uses to hold their thread together after the knots. I use clear finger nail polish and a small dab of super glue. I use pro-tec powder paint on the heads and am not very happy with it because even after baking the heads the paint still chips off. I don't know if there is anything I'm doing wrong or if it's just the downfall to powder paint. I am just looking for opinions positive or negative on how to improve my tying. Good luck on the water!http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...29863206ba.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...cb43454d03.jpg


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Well first off welcome glad to have you on board. Your jigs look good and chenille is just a preference for most of use . I like to use fly head cement for gluing the not but I use clear finger nail polish for thread. I'm sure so of the more experienced guy will have better advice so take what I say with a grain of salt lol.

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I use loctite super glue and I personally do my kiptail jigs with less hair (nothing wrong with yours but try it sometime to see if you think they like it better). Nice looking jigs! Oh and I used to powder paint mine but this year I've been thing on plain heads and I've caught more fish this year than ever.

Also are you baking your jigs after you paint them? If so you might be baking them to long are not long enough.

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Man, those are fine!! Jigs for fishing not show. Keep up your good work and catch a bunch.

Welcome aboard Nick.

The best judge of any is a fish. If the fish eat them, you've conquered the mountain. If the fish don't....well then you need to be chasing smarter fish. Those jigs look fine and will get it done for you.

If that's powder paint on those jigs and you can clean out those eyes then they are not baked long enough or hot enough. Need to clean the eyes then bake at 325 to 350 for 30 minutes. It will be so hard you will never get it out of the eye's.
Your tie's look really good and 90% of the time I tie mine with a thread neck like yours. If I might ask a question, what is the dark green color paint on last jig in first picture? Welcome to thee board.

Those are really great proportionate jigs! I like em. I'd fish em all day.
If fish like em, even better!

You really should try to get your paint chipping conquered though, if for nothing else then just for you. Confidence in what you fish with is a key, to me.
Thermometer in your baking device is very helpful if you're not using convection


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Cray the dark green paint is baby bass green from pro-tec powder paint. I have baked those heads but forgot to punch the eyes out like I normally do. They are hard and takes some serious digging with something sharp to punch them out.


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Make sure the heads are clean before painting. A little soap and water bath and rinse will clear any oil or wax residue on the lead.
Cure the heads for about 25 minutes at 325 after painting. I do a coat of clear on top of the color before baking and that seems to help and really makes the heads pop. Clear the eyes after each coat. I like to clear them before they cool.
A bit of Sally Hansens Hard as Nails or any lacquer will do for the thread.
I like the thread necks as well. Very nice ties.

Welcome to the site and board, enjoy!

About the only jigs I tie without chenille are hair jigs, like kip tail jigs I do have no chenille. Most hair jigs also tie on a jig head that has a collar and a chenille jig dent need the collar and actually is not what you want if tying chenille. All tying is a matter of taste and I like being able to control colors in all three parts of the jig, head/Body/Tail and with chenille there are a lot of nice color options as well the Mylar chenille that has gained in popularity in a huge way really is maybe the prettiest part of the jig now. So if you like what you do then I say keep doing that, I do both with chenille and without chenille and plan to keep doing both, but when I fish it most likely will not be with hair jig and will have chenille, that is the way I like it!

I just noticed the paint in eye thing, I use a wood tooth pick to get paint out of eye after dipping it and yes the tooth pick is whittled down some. Then if the eye closes it's very easy to get out just before you tie it. I clamp it in the vise and I have a small needle bodkin that I hold a bic lighter under to make hot and stick it in the eye and meals the paint out easy as pie!

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Originally Posted by Nick322

Hello I have been checking out this forum for a little while and decided to post a few of my jigs. I haven't seen very many jigs on here that do not have chenille and I have wondered why everyone uses it. If it's just for the looks or if it makes the jig hold up better. I have never even fished with a jig with chenille. I have only been tying for 3-4 years and only tie for myself so I don't get real worried about imperfections as long as the jig looks halfway decent lol. I am also wondering what kind of glue everyone uses to hold their thread together after the knots. I use clear finger nail polish and a small dab of super glue. I use pro-tec powder paint on the heads and am not very happy with it because even after baking the heads the paint still chips off. I don't know if there is anything I'm doing wrong or if it's just the downfall to powder paint. I am just looking for opinions positive or negative on how to improve my tying. Good luck on the water!http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...29863206ba.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...cb43454d03.jpg


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for many years I have tied jigs without any body material it's a preference to you whether you use body material are not sometimes it helps to work out a color pattern and sometimes it has nothing to do with the fish on what they are going to hit that day and all. where I come from we used to tie up very small jigs 1/80oz 1/64oz 1/32oz in the same method that you have made your jigs very deadly at times I don't quite use as much hair as you do all in all you will definitely on the right track keep up the good work hope to see more of your postings in your progress we use lacquers for head cement .

First welcome aboard!!! The jigs look good! If they're catching fish you've won the battle. You don't have to use chenille on jigs if you don't want. If you use zonker strips, bear hair, craft hair or feather bodies you wouldn't want it anyway. I like that you don't have straight cut ends on your materials.

The powder paint problem could be didn't cure right, or I've seen it before if the heads weren't clean it would crack right off. Clean your hook eyes before curing.

I don't care what you're using to bake them to cure - go to WalMart, Target anywhere you can find an in oven thermometer and set a heat and see what it says!!!! Couple of guys over on TackleUnderground who all had different ovens, toaster ovens all checked and some were off by close to 30 degrees. If the temp you set your oven on isn't there they won't cure right and it's an easy $4 dollar purchase of the thermometer to find out for sure.

Fatman hit it with the thermometer. Never go by what the oven says it is supposed to be.

There is a sticky someplace that talks about the exact temperature and cure time for CSI paints (and different colors). Some colors like different temperatures and different times of curing. For me, I've found the best overall temperature for different colors has been 325 degrees. Most powder paint companies recommend 350 however that is just a general rule. The lower temp the longer you bake. For me, I run them at 325 for 25 minutes.

The best thing I have found for cleaning eyes (prior to baking): after I dip my jig, I utilize a sewing needle that matches the size of the hook eye. I also use a piece of Styrofoam. I put the needle through the eye, run it around once and stick it in the Styrofoam. I pull the jig off the top of the needle with it still stuck in the Styrofoam. Sometimes, I have to cut the thread end off the needles. Works well. I sell tons of jigs every year and never have to go back and clean any eyes after baking when using this method.

As for your jigs: I looked and I looked, even zoomed in on the picture and I could not find an "opinions" located anywhere on your jigs. Nice play on words!! I think they look great. When I am using tied jigs, they are hair jigs most of the time. If your making them for yourself, your trying to catch fish.... If your making them to sell, your trying to catch fisherman! I'm not sure if they catch fish, but they sure do look good! Great work

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Originally Posted by wicklundrh

Fatman hit it with the thermometer. Never go by what the oven says it is supposed to be.

There is a sticky someplace that talks about the exact temperature and cure time for CSI paints (and different colors). Some colors like different temperatures and different times of curing. For me, I've found the best overall temperature for different colors has been 325 degrees. Most powder paint companies recommend 350 however that is just a general rule. The lower temp the longer you bake. For me, I run them at 325 for 25 minutes.

The best thing I have found for cleaning eyes (prior to baking): after I dip my jig, I utilize a sewing needle that matches the size of the hook eye. I also use a piece of Styrofoam. I put the needle through the eye, run it around once and stick it in the Styrofoam. I pull the jig off the top of the needle with it still stuck in the Styrofoam. Sometimes, I have to cut the thread end off the needles. Works well. I sell tons of jigs every year and never have to go back and clean any eyes after baking when using this method.

As for your jigs: I looked and I looked, even zoomed in on the picture and I could not find an "opinions" located anywhere on your jigs. Nice play on words!! I think they look great. When I am using tied jigs, they are hair jigs most of the time. If your making them for yourself, your trying to catch fish.... If your making them to sell, your trying to catch fisherman! I'm not sure if they catch fish, but they sure do look good! Great work

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Guess you have not looked at the sticky post at the top of this board? I have had them posed here for years now and the note at the bottom is most important I feel! Know this the longer the paint is in heat the darker it will get and the first one to look a lot different and for the worse is Flame Red. Take it too long and it looks totally different. Look at the sticky post.

Skip

when I use powder paint for my jig heads after I get through I take a ice pick" and poke the paint out of the eye of the jig head before I put them in the oven to care don't worry it pokes out very easily.

i know nada about jig tying in general but those look like i could ketch some fish with them ....welcome to the forum .....
and the paint job dont matter much anyway it seems to me as it aint guna make it past one trip with me if i tie it on anyway ....LOL

I've forgotten to knock the paint out of the eyes before baking a time or two... The easiest way to do it is to heat a piece of wire over a flame until red hot and push it through the eye.

As for the jigs.. they look good to me. I like less hair on mine for a more natural fall, with a lot of hair they almost have a parachute effect where the head drops down and the tail slows it way down. Looks different but I can never seem to do too well with them unless I tie them with less hair and fish them normally.

Nice jigs,

Never use glue, super glue makes the thread and hair brittle. Nail polish is for cheap old guys, use good quality head cement or spar varnish on your thread.
Chenille is popular in the South mainly with crappie fishermen, your jigs look like what is found in the north used by perch guys. Both are good to use.
Clean the eyes
A bit less hair; Keep the pinch tight while wrapping - which will also help create a smaller collar.
Us a vise that is horizontal to your table and mark on it as a reference so each tail is the same length from jig to jig.
Watch the length of your second bunch of hair to assure both are same length once tied.

Now tie a couple hundred dozen - you'll be awesome!