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I am going to try and venture into some small jigheads (size #8) , what would y'all suggest for tail material? I am really new to tying so I need a little help. If you could tell me a brand/model of product it would really help, I am still learning the nomenclature LOL.
thanks as always!
flymoron
:popcorn I am curious as well
Marabou or rabbit
My border colley's fur did well first time I cast a jig using it. The length and soft texture was just right.
Marabou and bucktail (not body hair) are other materials that have great action.
A small strip of Accent glitter-hair adds a bit of sparkle.
I say hackle but I'm sort of partial to that material for everything.
Magnum Zonker strip rabbit fur . Durable and moves like it’s alive .
I buy the strips and cut the fur off the skin to use
Squirrel tail or squirrel/rabbit zonkers. Great action, durable. The hackle hair from Hareline looks promising but I have not actually used any yet.
I use lots of different hair and feather too. I like kip tail and squirrel tail in gray and red, which is really orange. The brown or black off of those tails work good too. I use #8, 1/43 heads on two pound line and get the cast I need. Most folks don’t venture below 4 lb line and 1/32, but to each his own. Painted or bare lead heads and red or olive thread collars with no chenille. Fox tail, rabbit, mink and many other furs work very well also. One thing I want to express is that the hair doesn’t have to have lots of volume to work well. In this case, less can be more. Shorter than I used to tie also. There’s a method of tying a one feather jig that you need to research. The whole feather is tied on part way up from the tip, then it’s wrapped for the body and a small Palmer sized collar. Google Turtles jigs and look at those, a good example. None of it is wrong. You have to experiment and see which ones work for where and how you fish. Have fun and keep us posted on what you find cuz you’ll be the teacher at that point.
PS I use earth tones and just a little flash, one or two strips. Gray too, looks like a minnow or fry/hatchling.
I do not like marabou for bluegills, they tend to rip it apart quickly.
I always used hackle tips. For this you will buy " saltwater neck hackle" and pull the quills off the side of the feathers to use as a tail. A #8 1/32-1/64 with the hackle tail and a chenille body is killer. Youll get bonus crappies on them too.
Sent from my SM-A516U using Crappie.com mobile app
I like rabbit fur from a zonker strip. Lots of movement, and the right length. Fox tail is also on the list for this year.
Gadwall and mallard flank feathers are #1 material for me tying jigs on hooks from a #2 to #12. #2 is rabbit, #3 is marabou. I've caught tens of thousands of panfish, bass and trout using duck feather jigs with a little flash and rabbit hair that I tie in at the throat. They are easy to tie and are a fantastic baitfish imitation. I'm surprised more tiers don't use them more.
my go to gill bait is a 1/64 mop fly tail and body is a nub of the washing mitts. tail extends the width of the hook gap. i do go longer when targeting crappie
The mop fly or jig is something I've been tying this year and think it will be a panfish killer, one more tool in my box. It's early in the year but trout love them and have caught some crappie and gills on them.
I use hackle tips when tying 1/64 jigs for gills. I really like marabou but like stated the gills rip them up pretty fast.
I use saddle hackle
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These are some of the hair jigs I use for the gills and crackers and about everything that swims down here. They keep me pretty busy. The yellow chenille I sometimes use comes from a Bobby Garland color called ice tea with lemon. I had zero confidence when I bought it but it has changed my mind. An olive or earth tone body and a white tail has also spoken for quite a few. Jim’s mallard jigs are the bomb and I use those too but I’m too lazy to dig em out and most of this stuff was lying on the bench or close by when I got the urge to tie em up. I started out looking for a color that my fish liked then moved to durable materials, and don’t turn your back on silly legs or spinnerbait skirts. Those last forever til a tree takes em.
The arctic fox is very good and Fatman has dyed lots of different colors. Give him a holler if you want to go down that rabbit hole. Wish I could tie with rabbit but allergies to it keep me away. Love the action though.
those look great!
I just tied some 1/32 oz jigs using olive mop yarn and added some hair off a coon tail that had a bad day. The black and brown over the olive mop material should do well.
Looking back, The red squirrel tails in the bottom pic are a bit long. Good part is the color choices worked well.