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I'm about to start getting into the world of tying my own jigs.....both hair/fur jigs for crappie as well as bigger 3/8 & 1/4 oz jigs for bass.
My question is, are there fur types that you just can't use? I see a lot of talk about rabbit & bucktail but I'm curious what features one would look for in "hair".
Can I take a snippet off my beige cocker spaniel LMAO!
lol, I was researching around the net on hair types & it looks like someone beat me to it.
http://fishthat.com/?p=70
Over the years I have tied/tried just about every kind of hair there is around my neck of the woods. There is nothing like keeping a pair of sharp sheers and some ziplocs behind the truck seat for a road kill robbery...lol. Just stay away from OWLS and HAWKS. The feathers may look VERY TEMPTING but the CONSEQUENCE IS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT...THOSE FEDERAL GUYS FROWN HIGHLY ON THAT SORTA THING.....:eek:
I have a friend that makes some nice looking ones from tree rats. Squirrels. Fox squirrels make the best looking ones.
You might be a redneck if " You tie crappie jigs out of the hair off your wife's coat".
I'm quilty.
No really ,Keep your eyes open at Yard sales for those fur wraps. Some of the best crappie jigs I have came from hair that I got off of a white fur wrap . Bought it at a yard sale for $2.00
Keep your eyes open at flea markets and discount stores around Halloween. You can get some brilliantly chartreuse craft hair and flourescent orange craft hair then especially 75% off after the holidays. I did find me a Davey Crocket hat at one flea market and cut off the racoon tail. Made some nice and effective jigs out of that too. A few years ago I found a redfox neck wrap at Goodwill. That was some good material too.
Other than that I pretty much stick to kip, squirrel, marabou and sometimes polar as my choices.
Some dog hair will work too. I make one with hair off of our polmeranian and caught fish on it. Looked like it was alive underwater. I made some from kiptail and bucktail. I tried the rabbit fur, but to me it was hard to work with. Squirrell makes a nice jig as does racoon hair.
Ran out of ideas a while back, well we have a siamese cat that hangs out around here and has a really (had)bushy tail makes a real nice jig plus its a renewable source of material. The cat didnt care just slipped him a little tuna.
Obviously any hair will work. When you get a haircut at BPS St. Louis they will take your hair and tie a fly from it.
Let me ask you, if you catch a fish on that is that the fish biting you? :eek:
Haha that's pretty interesting....
And yes, I'm gonna try my cocker spaniel's hair LOL....she has long tufts of hair. I don't think my labrador retriever's hair is suited though...
:)
Can picture your dog if you get into selling these. Holy Chihuahua batman.
WarrenMN
Po folks has po ways. I think the road kill gets the nod. somethin about chasing the family fido with a pair of scissors just might get you eating alpo for awhile!
I've been trapping for the last 5 or so years, and will be trapping this year in a few days, but fox tails makes very nice hair jigs. They're more like marabou in the water than kiptail/bucktail, just there's a ton of underfur you have to comb out. Squirrel tail also makes nice jigs, but on road kill, make sure you know your laws about possessing hides and the number of hides you can have, and please don't pick up anything protected like GrouseFly said. It doesn't matter if you killed it or not, possessing it illegal enough.
The wife said I Could NOT use hair from her cat!!!
Later
BamaMan
;)
...that crappie fishermen have been using them for eons on the eastern Tennessee lakes (Douglas, Cherokee, Norris). I can't imagine how many tons of crappy have been caught on dyed chicken hackle 1/32 ounce jigs (unpainted heads) in those and other lakes. Several ol' men and women in that area have been tying and selling them for probably for 30 or 40 years (or more). It's also a go-to white bass lure in the spring on the French Broad river.
What's really, really amazing to me is that there are endless posts on jig-tying material - and I haven't seen a single reference on crappie.com where anyone uses chicken feathers (but I'll bet that Grousefly uses them).
On 15° days (excruciating cold) on Norris Lake, my brothers and I have used these fine little jigs under a bobber around brush and brought home plenty of crappie (we call 'em croppie). Well...they're even more deadly when it's 16° and above haha.
BleuGhill
Quote:
Originally Posted by BleuGhill
I have used them and they work quite well. I bought a bag for 92 cents at Walmart. Then I slipped them into a pair of the wife's stockings to dye them Chartreuse and some white. Stockings kept them from floating all over the pan until I was ready to spread them out to dry. Hint: Dry them in the garage or shed and not outdoors. Those chicken feathers will fly the coop outdoors.:D :D :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by BleuGhill
Ghill,
THAT HURTS ME TO KNOW THAT YOU THINK I WOULD DO A THING LIKE THAT...LOL. Now have you ever seen a CHARTRUESE CHICKEN? Or a Tenn. Blue one for that matter...lol. I would say they have been enough jigs tied from them to stock the COLONOL in chickens...lol. I would also bet that they have been enough of them lost in the French and the Clinch to make a feather bed big enough for all of us to take a nap in...lol. And they are big on that NEEKED HEAD over there in certain areas too.
Some things are better left unsaid....lol. I have tied crappie jigs out of everything coming and going that I could catch/shoot/find after it had met it's end. Feathers are hard to beat if you can find a chartruese chicken to get them off of...lol.
And they do work in cold water. That is the original float n fly. The smallie guys thought they had come up with something new. We was doing that when I was a wee lad back in the day...it worked then and it works now...for both big smallmouth and crappie...but like I said, somethings are better left un-said....lol.
...hmmm...; Grousefly, I dug some chicken and dumplings out of the fridge that was left over from Christmas dinner that had turned kinda greenish, but I swear I didn't seem 'im when he was alive (and before he got associated against his will with them dumplings) ...but I'm just assuming that it was a big fat chartreuse rooster. :D
Brother, you and your big mouth, LOL! Whaddya mean "better left un-said" ha ha. If I was gonna be the turncoat to "tell all" ...instead of leaving it all "un-said", then .....I woulda said it just like you did....if I had sense enuf to say it like that :D .Quote:
I would say they have been enough jigs tied from them to stock the COLONOL in chickens...lol. I would also bet that they have been enough of them lost in the French and the Clinch to make a feather bed big enough for all of us to take a nap in...lol.
- BleuGhill -
I dont know about those green dumplings...I guess you could always keep them until Easter and they would be a good match for that fake grass in the baskets...lol. By Easter, you could get the REAL meaning of a SLICK THROATER Dumpling....lol.
popeyes are great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!
I like the "orginial" popeye. Some feller from eastern ky made them, cant remember his name. Also have some made from grouse feathers that where made by "Grousefly" many years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiecrazy
I agree they are GREAT!!!!!!!
The original popeye came from the Clinch River Area many years ago. A old guy use to sell them from the trunk of his car along the Clinch during the stripe run. It took me years to get a mold to make that style head. It was poured with a 45 degree hook. I still make some from grouse feathers every year for some die hard customers of mine. I have been known to throw them myself from time to time....lol. Makes yea wonder where the name GrouseFly came from...:D
Quote:
Originally Posted by GrouseFly
Now we all know. :D :D That is one of the great names on this board.
There is a lot of misinformation out there about popeyes. The guy that invented them was named Byron Leonard. His nickname was popeye. He was from Rogersville,Tn. He was the guy selling them from the trunk of his car along the clinch river. The guy from Stanton, Ky. was named Jack Ewing. He learned to make popeyes from Byron Leonard. The hook a "real" popeye is tied on is a fly hook, thats why the eye is at a 45'. I have never seen a "real" popeye mold for sale, you have to get them custom made. A popeye is made of stacked chicken hackle. You cut the feathers into small pieces, then stack them until you think that they look good, then cut off the front of the stack and tie them on. The tails look like hair and some people think they are hair, but the're not. People tie reasonable facimilies using all kinds of stuff but the original popeye was made of bleached and dyed chicken hackle. I'm not trying to sell anything here, just trying to set the record straight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by popeyemaker
That's the same guy I was referring too. He would travel up and down the river back in the day and sell them to the guys fishing there from the trunk of his car. I had heard of Mr. Ewing from Stanton but never meet him. I have parted with alot of flys in and around Stanton and they all like that style of head. I agree, I have never seen one of those molds for sell either, that is why mine was custom made. In certain areas they wont have anything but a 45* head. It all falls back to the fisherman, I think and what he has confidence in. You would think after a while all the chickens in Tenn. would be naked...lol. But they still keep dunkin' a new batch in the river every year. If they are (TIED) right they will pass for hair to the untrained eye. There are alot of guys & gals out there that turn 1000's of them out every year. Some of them will stay together and you can fish them all day and some will fly apart after the first fish. It's all about who's doing the tying and if they know what it takes to make a good popeye. Workmanship you can pretty much tell from looking but fish appeal and a good lasting fly has to be earned in the water. I guess that's what seperates the men and the boys,lol, how long they can hold up to whatever the water throws at them. No sales pitch, just plain old facts..... :eek:
You said it right GrousFly. Inexpensive jigs that fall apart after a few fish are the most expensive jigs you can buy. I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Ewing in person at the Willisburg lake bluegill tourney years ago and talked to Byron Leonard many times on the phone before he passed away. Some try to make the most jigs. Some try to make the best jigs. In the 18 years I've been flying ties I have tried to be in the later group.:)
I hear yea...had a few experiences with those loose tiers over the years..lol. That, coupled with not being able to find what I was looking for, turned me to seeking the knowledge of a old and dear friend that has since passed and his fly tying skills. Almost 25 years later, I am still as fond of it as I was when I first started. Every one says that I am CRAZY (:D ) but they keep comin' back...lol. I too, like the later group. No need to put something out there that you cant be proud of and would not use yourself...GFQuote:
Originally Posted by popeyemaker
OK back on topic.. I tye a jig with coyote fur and it does pretty well on crappie and sand bass.
I saw one of Frogger's coyote jigs.I must say I was impressed !!!Quote:
Originally Posted by FroggerZ
I don't know about the rest of guys but I've tied with just about every animal born, not excluding my stepdad's Chow, my own hair, and some road kill. Have my way, cat will be next. Hows that for some redneckn'?
i was scrolling through here and decided to join just so i could comment on the popeyes.i have bought several different style's of these jigs and to date none has performed as well as the spittin image brand.i prefer them with a wax worm under a small float,although tipped with a crappie nibble they are extremely deadly.sorry to hijack your thread just wanted popeyemaker to know he has a great product going.
cat
Hey catdaddy75,
Welcome from Alabama.
By the way folks, this is what "Cabin Creek" markets as a "popeye"
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d.../popeyejig.gif
My yellow lab contributes to some nice jigs and flies:D
hey ship tried them cabin creek's on reelfoot.being from indiana and going down south fishing,whooooeeeee boy's.that is as close to heaven as i've been.
cat
What makes these considered a popeye? is it the chicken feathers or the large eyes?
Many years ago a man named Byron Leonard started making a chicken hackle jig on a lead head fly hook. Byrons' nickname was popeye. He called his jig a "popeye special". Now many different creations are called popeyes, but a "real" popeye is made of stacked chicken hackle tied on a lead head fly hook. That's the facts.
thanks popeyemaker. they are some good looking jigs
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Originally Posted by shipahoy41
THIS is more like what a Cabin Creek Pop-Eye Jig looks like:
http://static.nitrosell.com/2/413/pr...%20Cht-Blk.jpg
I know you got that image from a "Cabin Creek" linked site, but I don't want people to think that Cabin Creek Pop Eye Jigs have single feathers tied on (as that image may project).
Cabin Creek Bait Company is a Winchester, KY business ... and makes some great baits. I use many of their products.
Mr Popeyemaker .. you're absolutely correct. There are many different creations known as "popeye jigs" ... but, they're also seperated/differentiated by the way the name is spelled. Pop-eye, Pop Eye, and popeye special ;) At least, the one's I'm familiar with are, anyway.
.... cp :cool:
I am wondering how polar bear hair is.I got an old rug that a man left in our shop along time ago back when it was legal to kill them.I dont know how to tie jigs but would love to find someone close to me that does a good job and can make me some out it and maybe some for themselves.But thought about learning how to tie jigs myself but wouldnt want to waste that on something learning.
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Originally Posted by crappietime
Go to the archives on this forum and search tying a craft hair jig or just review these three to get some basic ideas. Then go to Wal-mart, a bait shop that sells kip tails, www.jannsnetcraft.com or a craft store and get some materials and start tying. Good luck to you.
**Simple Crappie Jig (10 minutes)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YxvPgFZrCrU
Jig Tying Tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjbyVxA8Qn4
How to tie a Calf Tail
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sfp2xQTo8kg