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I have been reading this forum for a week or so and would like to know why you tie your own jigs. Is it the personal satisfaction of doing it yourself? Is it that you can customize a jig and catch more fish? Is it cheaper? I am considering getting into this hobby but am curious why everyone here ties their own jigs.
Phillip
For me, it's all about $$$. It's MUCH cheaper to tie your own, and it's ridiculously easy to do.
What are you waiting for? :D
Just the satisfaction of catching them on something you tied is pretty much it for me. Plus with some crazy ideas you can come up with something that will never be sold in a store.
Enjoy the fun,
Fatman
I needed something to do other than watch TV when not fishing and started tying. It is or I should say can be done at a reasonable cost, but be very careful as it is very addictive too. I have been selling jigs for a little over 2 years and so far all I have don't is build a material inventory that is pretty nice. I do sell a good many jigs too.
I have seen guys that loved it and a good number that just don't care for doing it and would prefer buying them.
Are the jigs better? That depends on the tier, but if he does a good job then yes they are much better and last longer, but I do a lot of little things that take a lot of time to make a good quality jig.
You may like it a lot, but be warned it can get very high cost if the addiction get away with you. I know I have way too much stuff, but a lot of that is at some point I got interested in fly tying and that is a whole new thing and costly for the most part.
Then there is the tools, I have gone over to the dark side with this stuff. I can't say most don't do the same thing because many do, but a lot don't and stay with less. I have over 30 bobbins with thread of that may colors. I am on my 3rd vise and the last 2 are much higher cost than my first and it was $139 with the tying station that came with the Danvise. Then I sold that and bought $200 Renzetti and now we will not discuss how much, but I have a Nor Vise with the regular jaw that comes with it plus the conversion to the fine point. What a beautiful piece of work this vise it and it is my last one, but I am also probably keeping my Renzetti.
Also I didn't count the real first one which is one of the under $20 non rotary type vises which I only used a few times and still have it.
I can't even tell you how much I have tied up in materials so not talking about that at all, but it's bad, very bad.
Good luck and join the party if inclined. I just wanted to tell the other side of this hobby, LOL!
Skip
Phillip,
I tie jigs for many reasons.
1) It is my belief that my product is far superior to anything I can buy at the store or a bait shop.
2) It helps to put a little gas in the tank when you are living on a fixed income.
3) I love to fool Crappies and Bream into hitting a jig I made
4) It is a stress relief for me.
5) I want to share what limited knowledge I have on jig tying with the youth and senior citizens who just want to tie a basic crappie jig and go fishing.
As Skip has said, Once you get into tying you tend to view all things differently. When you go to Hobby Lobby, Flea Markets, or Wal-mart you are always looking for things to "Experiment with." Barlow's, Janns Netcraft and Cabelas have good items too. There is a thread on what you may want to consider to start tying. Here it is.
http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showthread.php?t=49489
Good luck to you and have fun.
Skip, Congratulations on your Nor-vise. I looked at one with an automatic bobbin...but it was way out of my league.
what they said. that and the fact that my two largest crappies have come off of my own jigs, is enough for me
I tie cause i like too..... Most of the time im on the road living out of Hotels and there is nothing to do after work so it helps me unwind.... Life of a traveling Pipefitter i guess..
Dont listen to crappie kid he sleeps with a bobbin under his pillow. :)
Anyhow i tie to make enough money to pay for my fishing habit. Gas, rods, line, food etc etc this list is long so ill never sell enough.
For most guys they buy a hair jig from a store and they look at it and say i can make this better. Or else why do it.
The greatest satisfaction i get is i can tell a customer that he can tie two pieces of line to the a jig and then tie the ends to two seperate trucks and pull their bumpers off. ;)
For me the best part of tying is that when it is freezing cold in Jan. and Feb and the wind is blowing 30 mph, I can sit in the living room and tie some jigs. I can try any color combo that I want, and can make jigs with hooks that are larger than you can find in the stores. And I suppose if I ever wanted to start selling jig or flys I could. I started by tying flys for trout fishing, but I only trout fish during the hot part of the summer when it is misserable to be on the lake due to the heat and jet ski/ skier traffic. So the rest of the year I tie crappie jigs and bass jigs.
for me like many others it's the feeling you get when you catch that slab on a jig that you powder painted, painted the eyes on and tied yourself. another good thing about it is that you are putting something in front of the fish that they have never seen before and they just gotta eat it, and takes up time when you can't get out on the water but you wanta
Crappie Kid, thought you up and ran off with fly that you tied.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappie Kid
Thanks for all the comments. I have been pricing everything. I am starting to get the bug.
If you have further comments please post them. I will continue to follow this thread.
I do it because I find it fun. I got started because of this site and it has spun to an addiction of more then jigs. It has spread to flies and when you start tying flies you start fly fishing. Which is addicting itself. If your careful it wont get to costly. Its really a fun addiction and lets you be creative and lets you be productive. Welcome to the world of jig tying.
Do you feel you can catch more fish by customizing your jigs for certain lakes or certain times of the year?
I think most of the time it will not matter from lake to lake, but it can, some lakes have colors that work better there than other lakes near by. Usually I find my best colors work on any lake, just charge from cloudy to sun shine type day. Murky water after rain run off or clearing up some.Quote:
Originally Posted by hogpaw
Seems though chart will work in most any lank and water clarity. I do change from Blue/Chart to Blue/White when cloudy turns to sun shine.
I do feel most people that try feather jigs when they are use to soft plastic tend to like the idea of not needing to change every few fish like you do with soft plastics. That does not mean I will not use soft plastic though, just not near as much as feather jigs. As a matter of fact I just got some of the Rocky Top solid body tubes to try out since they seem to have a good following and I will try what ever it takes to catch fish.
Skip
I started out tying walleye jigs in the '70s. Then striper jigs in the late 70'-early
80s. Just recently started with the crappie jigs. I really enjoy making ugly jigs
that catch fish. :)
Mo
You so funny Bob........... LOL......... Look for something in the Mail soon;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob # 1
Hey Kendall i just saw this and thought id respond...... Now i know why im having all them headaches while im sleeping:D:D:D:D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by kendall2007
I have been reading this forum for a week or so and would like to know why you tie your own jigs. Is it the personal satisfaction of doing it yourself? Is it that you can customize a jig and catch more fish? Is it cheaper? I am considering getting into this hobby but am curious why everyone here ties their own jigs
Means more to me to catch a fish from a jig I tied. Not cheaper unless perhaps you sell some. When you tie your own sky is the limit to combinations.
I started tying jigs last year and because of the instructions from people like Ship,Skip and others on this forum it made tying jigs for me fun and rewarding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Len
Thanks.
by the way gone_fishing ...it is not cheaper unless you sell some. You have way too much invested in equipment and supplies :D :D :D It is still fun though.
Like I said in my previous reply I just started tying jigs last year and am trying different body types. Made these last night but just experimenting at the moment.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...43/Jigs002.jpg
Len,
Those are good looking jigs.
Yes they are......... Keep up the good work........Quote:
Originally Posted by shipahoy41