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Alright I haven't tied a jig since back in March and I'm readying up for the winter. Which material do you prefer for tying jigs for winter use? Pro's and con's? Jig comparison pictures? Anything will be helpful I've only tied using Bucktail for winter and hackle and marabou for spring.
I like kip tail. It's a little easier to tie, lasts a lot longer, and a little more action.
you need both, I tie white crappie bucktails in 3/32 with red thread plain head with tapered collar, just leave the barb, and I tie a lot if threadneck kiptail jigs in smaller sizes for use under a small float and tipped with a crappie nibble. the biggest mistakeI made for years is using too much hair, yeah it looks great but won't catch as many fish as the sparse kiptail tie, go kinda sparse on the bucktail too. google fishdoc's bucktails and see what keith wray uses, he is a master with the bucktail for crappie. the tail off a small doe is better than a large northern buck also, the hair is finer.
Kip tail is much shorter so maybe just depends on if you want a short jig/tail or a longer one. Kip is easier to tie for the most part, but if you can find some Southern Bucktail then it's easier to tie than the large Northern ones for sure! Maybe as reader said the doe tails are better, but I also know the Southern Bucktails are a finer hair also and east to make look nice. So when you call a supplier just ask him if he has large Northern ones or Southern ones. That cold North makes them grow the large tails and even their bodies are larger as you go North. Also maybe you can make a friend that hunts in the South and get some tails from that person too. I have done that in a trade thing before and was quite happy with the bucktails I got from him.
Skip
I've got 4 deer tails from last year all off younger deer that a few of us had shot. I'll be tying a lot of 1/16th jigs with chenille bodies and several popeye style jigs would you use the kiptail on the popeye's?
Can not say for anyone else, but I use Neck Hackle on my Popeye jigs with no body chenille and just red thread neck style. Now let me say up front when tying hair I like a collar without a barb and maybe just a ball or flair on the end of the collar to help control the width of the thread. I know some tie hair on a jig head with no collar and I have as well, but most of my hair jigs have no chenille body. I have never tied a Popeye jig with hair, but see no reason that it wouldn't work? Below is a picture of my Popeye jig. I for sure do not want a collar if tying chenille body!Quote:
Originally Posted by MattRagle
Skip
1/32 Oz.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...s/DSC01441.jpg
Where do you get your kip tail?
I buy Hareline Kip tails and seem to have better luck with theirs as some tails have really short hair. I think they can be found at JS Flyfishing and Bob Marriott's, probably other places too. I get mine from Hareline!
I use a lot of small 1/64 to 1/16 thread neck kiptail jigs under a small float, been tying these for a long time. they used to be called pinky jigs back in the day. this is my opinion based on what works in my Virginia waters, when using kiptail I don't use any chenille, just all kiptail and thread just behind the head, tie the hair kinda sparse. I tried the chenille body with kiptail tail and it didn't catch nearly as many fish for me, but in Mississippi where the waters are murky the chenille and kip works wonders I think partly because it helps the fish see it. I use plenty of chenille and it catches a lot of fish but for me but the tail needs to be saltwater hackle vee cuts with long wispy fibers or marabou.
just wanted to say a little bit about the chenille again, do yourself a favor and try some of the size 10 or 12 mylar type chenilles like what skip uses, I finally did and the junebug with a chart tail made from salt hackle vees unpainted head really produced under a float tipped with a nibble.
Totally agree! Been using that stuff for a long time now, but once I started using it for myself I stopped using others near as much. I still tie a lot of Nylon/Rayon/Speckled chenille and still works great, but there is something special about the Mylar type chenille! Actually I should say there are some things that make it special!Quote:
Originally Posted by redear
Skip
Been using more fox tail than kip but still have it
Kip tail all the way! I use very little on a small jighead under a float... And it's worked great for me... I can't catch much on chenille body and tail... I have no clue why... But the crappie I'm after like it really simple... Lol
Vacrappieman talked me into tying the kiptail sparsely on tiny jigheads and it really increased my catch the few times I have been lately, and there is a big difference in size 2 or 3 nylon/rayon chenille which has it's place and the size 10 or 12 mylar stuff, I think flash is the big thing with the large mylar because crappie like metallic flash and reflection from what Iv'e seen, and it adds bulk without adding weight, the bulk allows a much slower fall, I have only used the junebug so far out fishing and it produced quality fish that took the jig hard, this happened when we couldn't get much action with anything else. It helps to have a wide assortment of jigs.
Let me confess about me an kip tails. I had never used any before 2010, just didn't believe in it much even though I knew a lot of guys used it. Well some guys over in Louisiana ask me if I could make them some jigs like some they had, but couldn't get any longer. So I told them to send me some so I could look at them in my hand. He sent me like 10 of them in different colors. Well first off I did't have a head like they had so I ask someone about making a mold for these. I mailed him a jig head to use as a base and soon he sent me 2 samples. Well I tied the 2 up and decided to tie one on and go see what I could see. It was March 10th I believe and I went down to my bank (not knowing if the crappie had come in yet or not) and I put a float on maybe a foot or so above the jig and plopped it down just a few feet from where I was standing. There was a lot of trash (small limbs and other floating wood and debris floating) at the bank because the water was a bit high. After a short sit, very short of course since I didn't believe at all really, lol! So I picked it up to move it a little and just as I raised it out of the water I saw a flash under it. So I plopped it right back in and very soon the cork when under. Now get this part, I am using my lightest rod, a 5' long (maybe less?) ultra lite and all this wood floating between me and my not hung fish so I literally had to pull the fish over the last foot or two to drag him on the back, lol! After about 15 minutes (this long only because I had to go find something to put fish in, lol! Well after that 15 minutes I had 3 crappie out of that tiny hole and the smallest one was 14 1/2" long! I was duly impressed and in that short time had become a believer in a big way, lol!
So that is my true kip tail story and how I learned about them. I do have a picture of the first 2 I ever tied and will post below.
Skip
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b4...s/DSC04360.jpg
Glad you shared that story with us. I'm gonna order several different color and start tying shortly. Where I'm at and my method of fishing doesn't allow me to get out until late December or early January most years. Being a bank fisherman that has to wait for Barren River Lake to get to winter pool and the lake bottom to freeze or I'll end up in waist deep mud. Plan is to have about 500-600 tied up before then that way I have plenty of stock that way when I get on a hot bite I can sell some jigs on the bank to the guys that keep creeping up to see what color I'm using and how deep my bait is.
I think it's an excellent cooler water type material as is Squirrel tails. Feathers move a lot so lots of action, but I believe when the water is cooler the fish are not into chasing and like something sitting kind of still. For sure they work though! When I had these heads made I was ale to have some input and what I got was perfect, a thin collar with a flair on the end. I only had the 1/16 size with #6 Sickle hooks and think that is the only size he ever made. I am not sure if he still pours them, but I also will tell you the first ones he did were the best looking ones because after that he went to a spin casting and that I use, but they end up a tiny bit less weight, but also kind of a rough finish. I do understand why he did that though as the original ones were a single shot mold and with spin casting it's easier to pour a lot more a lot faster.
Skip
I use kip tail for all my hair jigs but you are gambling when you order them you might get one that has plenty of hair all the way down the tail and another tail you couldn't even tie a 1/64th oz jig out of and at 2.75 to 3.00 a piece it's a gamble buck tail is good and will catch them just don't use a lot of it here in ms
I agree with Donald about the gambling part, I have been dissapointed many times with what I recieved for kiptails, a really good tail is few and far between.