What do I order to hand-tie marabou and (is it chenille?) on larger horse-head jigs?

With all the bass I've been catching on the small Road Runners, I thought I'd put my horse-head jig mold to some use and hopefully continue catching bass with them during tournaments. Also want to make my own horse-head jigs for crappie as well... but I have to buy a new mold for those first, as the smallest size I have is 1/4 oz in my current Do-It mold.

But when I went to Lure Parts Online, thinking I would just search for marabou... wow. And I was thinking (am I right on this - body is wrapped with chenille???) - that was just as bad - lots to choose from.

In marabou, there is just plain marabou, barred marabou, mini marabou, strung marabou, faux marabou...
34 products for chenille.

I also noticed that there was a"Pearsall's Marabou Silk Floss" that is noted as a "must for classic soft hackles". So now I'm wondering whether my regular old Gudebrod Kevlar thread I've been using for decades won't do the trick on this. It's been a while since I've tied anything other than feathers on treble hooks for topwater lures. I noticed a few years back that Gudebrod went out of business about 2010... so I'm glad I had a good supply of the stuff I liked. But I guess it's time to move into the 2020's... so I have to figure out what tying thread to use for this too.

Just trying to do white, and maybe white / chartreuse for now. Might do some silver / gold bodied stuff for Crappie later on.

All the best,
Glenn

Well... I guess nobody knows, so I took a guess. Ha! Bought some Blood Quill marabou and some small variegated chenille. Have no idea how to attach the chenille, although I have found YouTube videos showing how to attach the marabou. Looks like a lot of people waste a lot of material though. This stuff ain't exactly cheap. Little 1/4 oz package was about $6, and it doesn't look like there is much in there. Hopefully, I'll get at least a few done with not much waste.

Planning on tying up some "Pro 2.0" Road Runner heads I found at BPS yesterday. I'm hoping to put a little olive on the top, white on the bottom, and if possible, I touch of chartreuse in the middle. Not sure if that's possible, but I'll try. Not sure how the chenille will look in the body, but going to try that as well. Also found some "Hard Head" cement that was shown on YouTube. Might just do a thread body and coat it in Hard Head if the chenille doesn't work out.

All the best,
Glenn


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Personally, I hate using feathers because it’s so messy and price is high,,,so I buy pure white foxtails, ( small sizes between 10”-13). Then I buy some acid type dye which is used for natural materials like feathers and fur and dye it myself,,,cost of a foxtail is around $10.00. Dye maybe $8.00 ech color,,,all that’s needed to dye it is a teaspoon or two of white vinegar, some salt and warm water,,,,,comes out beautiful,,,and 1 tail can tie thousands of jigs if used right,,,,buy the furtails.com either pre dyed or pure white and do it yourself…here’s a few examples

That's some beautiful work! Anyplace you know of instructions to tie the chenille? (that is what's on the body, right?)
All the best,
Glenn

Here is a good video by SK Crappie Catching Adventures showing how to tie a jig. Yes the chenille is the body.

https://youtu.be/gYQdXfoQdL4

Dang. Now I need one of those Whip Finisher tools. Ha! Thanks!!!
All the best,
Glenn

Cajun,,,if you can tie a half hitch, you don’t need a whip tool….

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Originally Posted by Takeum

Cajun,,,if you can tie a half hitch, you don’t need a whip tool….

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Admittedly... I can. But after watching that... I kinda don't want to anymore. rotfl

I'm going to tie these with just doing the half hitches, but I want that tool after seeing it.
All the best,
Glenn

JHMiller01 on here and youtube has some good tutorials also.

As far as Thread goes. I use the Danville's 210 Denier flat waxed nylon. Everything from Bluegill 1/32 oz. to 9 oz bucktails. Works great and very strong

Well... I tried tying one up today. Can't really call it a success. Lessons learned:

1) I need new thread. I'm going to try that 210. I've seen a few videos mention that. One I just watched recently showed the guy using "Ultra Thread 140", and he stops and says, "I'd prefer 210, but this is all I have in this color"...

2) Practice removing the marabou material. Right now... I look like I murdered a nuclear chicken at my desk. Chartreuse and White fluffy feathers everywhere! :Rofl

3) The jigs I'm tying have a little "hook" on the head for holding on soft plastics. That needs to be removed. It sticks through the thread.

4) Tying a horse head jig with the blade attached is (almost) impossible. I stopped and removed it from the swivel. These were pre-made Road Runner heads. I'm removing all of them before trying again.

Thanks for all the help everyone! I'm going to get this done. I just need to buy some more materials, make some modifications to the jigheads, and practice a lot. I might not re-engage this RR deal right now. Maybe practice on some ball head jigs first until I get it down.

All the best,
Glenn

I think you have a great plan, practice on the round ball jigs. Good luck. Remember to post pics of your progress.

These are 1/32 Oz Roadrunners! PM me!

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Originally Posted by skiptomylu

These are 1/32 Oz Roadrunners! PM me!

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Those are beauties! I'll PM you in a second. Here was my first attempt. I was already into it when I realized that little spike to hold the plastic in place should have been cut off... but I just kept going because I wanted to see how it would look. Not really a successful tie... but I bet it still catches fish! :biggrin

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That will work and catch fish. If you had some thicker chenille it would hide the plastic keeper without cutting it off. I’ve also just smashed them flat before but that will damage paint if already painted.

We’ve been doing her own coloring of feathers for many years. We’ve done it for a commercial guy in Portland Oregon. We used to do Ginny feathers in multiple colors are used to get the coloring from. I believe Keystone a little bit of some other stuff goes a long ways, but we used to do a lot of it, I do buy the feathers by the pound last time I bought 5 pounds of white short and have done something black and blue and purple ..

Well.. I fished it on Sunday. Quite disappointed to see it in the water. I was in some really clear water, so I was able to see it for quite a distance. My marabou all folded down when wet and it looked like a single little thread coming off the back of a blank jighead. It looked so fluffy and full when dry. I guess I need to add a LOT more marabou to make it fluff out when paused / popped / etc... Because it looks like it has no action at all. Oh well... back to the fly tying vice. rotfl
All the best,
Glenn

Sometimes less is more.

I’m wondering if there is a “standard” amount to put in something like this. 3 pieces? 5 pieces? More?
All the best,
Glenn

Maybe try 4 small sections. 1 each top, bottom, sides. Will distribute your marabou more evenly around the jig.