Hair Jigs vs. Soft Plastics?

Greetings all. It's a cold, nasty day outside, so I thought I'd ask a question that seems to be debated.

Which do you like, hair/feather jigs or soft plastics?


After joining Crappie.com in 2015, I got all excited and made my first crappie jig and shared it here: https://www.crappie.com/crappie/main...g-short-tails/
https://www.crappie.com/crappie/atta...0118-00689-jpg

As crazy as it sounds, for many years I have never caught a single fish on those jigs. Not sure why, they looked just fine to me. So after trying my jigs for awhile, I would go back to using my Panfish Assassin soft plastics and caught fish. Same thing every time. My jigs just never caught.

Fast forward 7 years. Still have never caught a single fish on my jigs, but the other day, when trying out my livescope for the first time, I came across one of those original jigs and on a whim, I tied it on and put a squirt of slab sauce on it, and sent it down...

Attachment 445109 Attachment 445110

Shockingly, I not only caught one fish, I caught a number of them. If fact, they badly outfished the soft plastics that my nephews were using.

I suspect the slab sauce holding in the hair is why, but it could be that I've learned to slow down and move them right.


Well, that's my story, and I've still caught more on plastic, but which do you like more? Hair/feathers or plastic?

Most likely your presentation had a lot to do with it. The Sauce certainly can’t hurt!:ThumbsUp
Bob

Years ago, I was told on this forum to not move my jigs too much. Very good advice. I also bought a 3-pack of slab sauce here. It doesn't stick well to the plastic lures, but the hair sucks it right up.
Either way, a lot of credit for my catching comes from this forum.

I pour my own plastics and I hand tie my own jigs. I really don't have a favorite because I let the fish tell me what they want. I caught a limit on my last trip and used 2 plastic jigs the whole time. Sometimes they prefer one over the other but you never know which is going to produce until you try them. I do typically use plastics when shooting docks or fishing brush piles because I hate losing my hand ties.

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Originally Posted by thill

Years ago, I was told on this forum to not move my jigs too much. Very good advice.

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I would agree except if livescope has taught me anything at all it's to raise or reel the jig slowly away. Nearly all strikes come from below and they do not like it moving up up and away!

:hesaid At one time I was a one-lure person, a black and chartreuse tube jig in various sizes. Then a friend gave me some of his hand-tied jigs and asked me to try them. they were blue bodies, with chartreuse tails with silver or gold thread through the tails. I had great luck with them and started to use them all the time. Then another friend who also hand-tied his jigs convinced me to try various hand-tied jig shapes and colors by constantly outfishing me with the jigs he hand-tied. (To be honest, it wasn't the difference in jigs that allowed him to outfish me, he is just a better fisherman than me. But I used the different jigs as an excuse to explain his success. :Rofl)

To make a long story short, I now try different types of colors and types of jigs until I find one the crappie bite. I then use it until they stop hitting it, then I repeat the cycle over again. But I still start out with a black/chartreuse tube jig, followed by a blue/chartreuse hand-tied jig as my first two choices. :biggrin

Plastics for me as I mostly shoot docks. When not hitting the docks I do like a good hand tie. Reminds me I need to get some tied up for pulling planer boards this spring

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Originally Posted by keeferfish

I would agree except if livescope has taught me anything at all it's to raise or reel the jig slowly away. Nearly all strikes come from below and they do not like it moving up and away!

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Another nice nugget of information!

I fished hair jigs for many years and when plastics came out I started using them also. Today , single pole fishing with LS l keep both tied on and ready to let the crappie decide which one they want. I just hate losing those proven slab catching hair jigs in brush piles and standing timber on the Santee Cooper lakes.


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In my limited amount of experience I have done better with plastics. My preferred method is shooting docks it’s hard to beat a Bobby garland with a little slab sauce IMO.


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I use slab sauce on my plastics, but it doesn't seem to stay on for more than one cast. I thought about using a syringe and injecting. Am I thinking too much?

I guarantee if you sauce the jigs good it stays on more than one cast! I’ve cast and jigged and then still see the oil slick in the water when bringing it to surface….lol

I prefer soft plastics about 1.5" so the fish gets some metal in their mouth when they attack it. Anything that is a minnow imitation works for me. I am always using "G" sauce on all my presentations. After the Crappies are moved to Lake Crisco I introduce the fillet to hot sauce.

Mike

I've poured and tyed my own jigs and caught fish with them. Still do that for BG but not for crappie. I would be afraid to fish with the hand ties I've seen you guys tye. So it's plastics for me because of the narley stuff I like to fish

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"feather" jigs are the best jig in the winter almost always :highfive
plastics work better in the warmer seasons :highfive
I tend to kinda think the feather jigs have a much better subtle action in cold water
they tend to be more realistic looking in the water when its cold
I of course don't adhere to all the rules and other theories , but sorta stay in those guidelines sometimes ....yes I said sorta / kinda :Rofl

depends on the conditions..there is a time when both will outfish the other

if longline trolling, rig half the rods with plastics of different colors and the other half with hair jigs of different colors..see what happens

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

"feather" jigs are the best jig in the winter almost always :highfive
plastics work better in the warmer seasons :highfive
I tend to kinda think the feather jigs have a much better subtle action in cold water
they tend to be more realistic looking in the water when it's cold
I of course don't adhere to all the rules and other theories, but sorta stay in those guidelines sometimes ....yes I said sorta / kinda :Rofl

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Now that is interesting information that I will be keeping in mind. Another nugget! :ThumbsUp:ThumbsUp:ThumbsUp


I guess since I've been tying flies since I was a kid, I don't see the big deal about losing hand-ties. They are cheap and simple compared to most flies, so they go really fast. For the ones in my pic above, I just pinch the tail material, wrap it on, wrap the chenille body around and wrap around the collar with a drop of superglue. Done. I want to say it ties in maybe a minute.

But wait a minute... mine is a super-simple design, and they haven't caught much. I have no idea of what others are tying.

In lure/fly tying, getting the original tying concept down is what takes so much time. You have to figure the right materials, the right amounts, and then get them to lay right and spray right and so on. Initial design can take a very long time to get right. And then you have to repeat it.

And for some reason, certain ties will always out-catch others, even if they look pretty much the same. I really hate losing a "special" fly. You mourn that loss every time!

So after thinking about it, I take my initial statement back. YES, I can understand why some hand-ties are precious!

Now, I need to do a search and see what other people are tying. Maybe I will start catching hand-ties more than plastics. That would be an interesting twist. Plus, tying some jigs will help pass the time pass while the weather is as horrible as it is today.

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

I guarantee if you sauce the jigs good it stays on more than one cast! I’ve cast and jigged and then still see the oil slick in the water when bringing it to surface….lol

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That is interesting. I mostly use Bass Assassin Panfish Assassins, and they are already covered in some kind of oily film, "hog lard", if I recall. That might be why the sauce doesn't seem to stick. Maybe I'll try drying them off first, and then roll them in the sauce for a little longer and see if things change.

I have thot lots about a plastic bait (BG BS) with a hollowed out “tube” in them. Inject a couple drops slab sauce or sardine juice in them and fish away

To me and the experience I have I use both hair jigs and plastic and minnows, according to conditions, if it’s cold I almost always use minnows or hot I always use minnows, dock shooting I use hair or plastic, whichever one produces better, but when I jigging over structure I like hair.

I like my jigs like I like my woman,,,plump and hairy…lol

Got to figure out what the fish want. Sometimes they are like a lady with shoes, they went to see every style and color you have before they decide. I have 3 rods ready, one for plastics, one for hair/feather jigs, and one with spoons. I use two different color baits on each till I figure out the color of the day.


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A while back, whist long line trolling, I set out 1/2 plastics and half hand ties. The result was half the fish wanted plastic, the other half hand ties.

That was a while back though and my hand ties have improved quite a bit. :)

Thanks CDC

Use them all but my favorite is glow in the dark icefishing jigs with drop shot method.

All I ever do is troll so I like the curly tail plastics although I know the hair and feathers catch fish trolling too.

Not experienced enough yet to make a observation. Tomorrow I plan on using some hair jigs (thanks Ketchn). I will report on how it goes.

I fish plastics & maribou jigs both about every time i go.

Many many years ago all we fished with were doll flies (chenille and feathers) and jelly body with hair or feather tails. Caught tons of crappie and white bass. Pass few years I’ve been fishing with plastics mostly but have started back using my chenille and feather jigs and catch plenty off them. Sometimes the fish prefer one over the other. Let the fish tell me what to use.

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Originally Posted by RJR

Many many years ago all we fished with were doll flies (chenille and feathers) and jelly body with hair or feather tails. Caught tons of crappie and white bass. Pass few years I’ve been fishing with plastics mostly but have started back using my chenille and feather jigs and catch plenty off them. Sometimes the fish prefer one over the other. Let the fish tell me what to use.

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The "Doll Fly" I fished with was made with Polar Bear hair (the original Doll Fly) It was the first "jig" I ever used.

Those Doll Flies I fished with were made by Bett’s. I still see them occasionally in some stores.

Yesterday they bit maribou when it was cloudy & when the sun would come out for a few minutes it was plastics in my version of bobby garlands licorice with chartreuse belly. They wouldn't hit the maribou in the sun so i think the flash of the red & sliver glitter was the key in bright sun light.

I troll and use hand tied hair jigs and tear them up. My buddy uses plastics and I usally do better...but maybe I'm just good. :biggrin

Ford vs Chevy. Opinions are formed by our own experiences and experiences shared with us believed to be fact, but not necessarily proven to be fact.

Finesse-action lures vary a bit depending on the materials used to make them, overall profile and tail action.
Hair or feather jigs have the same finesse action as soft plastic spike-tail and flat-tail lures as seen when you suspend the lures under a float when there is a surface ripple. The difference: the hair and feather lure's body/tail pulsate as one whereas the spike tail or thin tail depend on tail action. All do equally well in my experience vertical jigging, using a slow horizontal retrieve or under a float.

Thin flat tail:
https://i.imgur.com/OGnJodZ.jpg

Spike tail (wacky rigged jig causes the tails to quiver)
https://i.imgur.com/dKvK1TH.jpg

Other soft plastic tail designs do just as well such as round blunt tails which wadddles back and forth with little imparted action.
https://i.imgur.com/HEXNsvW.jpg https://i.imgur.com/9fH17wh.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/kzcW0el.jpg?1

Sassy Shad and curl tail grubs require the lure move at a greater speed to cause the tails to move.
https://i.imgur.com/tIdywXy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/3ahy9ju.jpg


If fish are in a chase-&-destroy mood, action tails like the above do fine. If fish need more time to watch a lure before attacking it, hair, feather and thin-tail lures do better - epecially ice fishing. Much of the time all of the lure actions mentioned above provoke fish to attack in the same water fished/ on the same outing.

So, do plastics or other materials work better? In the hands of a skilled angler, both catch fis, the key being a slow presentation.

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Originally Posted by RM Fishin

Use them all but my favorite is glow in the dark icefishing jigs with drop shot method.

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Never thought of that, thanks

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In the cold water of winter I like 1/32 hair jigs. In the spring and warmer water times I like larger plastics.