Northwest Fishing Reports

ok, so im posting this here because im not sure what category to put it under. i decided to sit down and use the rest of my jig heads all at once and tie up a bunch of crappie jigs. i have my own patterns that i follow. My question is what color/color combo do you tend to prefer for your crappie jigs, what tends to produce a lot of fish for you? with the way i tie my jigs i can do color combos of 4 different colors, usually i have one of those colors my flash material though.

white and black seem to be the best for me when I am using jigs I have tied. Try a smaller head 1/32 or 1/16 are good in white or black. I use red thread to tie white or black marabou or feather on the hook. I usually tip my jigs with maggot or a small chunk of worm so if you go this route, don't put so much feather on that you cant access the hook easy. These are some jigs I am trying to replicate when I tie:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true

When i tie my jigs, my usual pattern is loosely based on the Mister Twister tiger bugs

Tiger Bugs

this provides for a lot of color and material variation, but also the hook is fairly clear for tipping. also when i tip my jigs for panfish its usually with powerbait maggots, have you noticed different baits to work better than others?

wow that is a good looking jig...I might have to try some of those if they come in the right colors/size. For tipping a jig...i guess its all a crap-shoot really.. some days crappies like a crawler, others they wont touch anything but a pearl colored tube or whatever. I think it all depends on the time of year and how active the fish are. I do tend to use maggots more for tipping though because they are usually a bit concealed, but still give off a good scent.

My best producer has always been a purple and white tube jig. I want to try tying some jigs with purple chenille body and white mirabeau tails to replicate them and hopefully be a little more durable. But, since I've never tied a fly in my life the process seems a little intimidating. I've tried shopping for that color combo but have never been able to find it so some day I'm going to figure it out! As for baiting the hook, I discovered using a small piece cut from a Gulp Alive minnow. The crappies seem to like to hold on to that!:-$

The best colors I've used were combinations of white, red & chartreuse. Black & yellow is also effective in low light and/or murky water.

This one worked VERY well last year: (1/16 oz, rabbit fur + marabou)

hinds2912 wrote:My best producer has always been a purple and white tube jig. I want to try tying some jigs with purple chenille body and white mirabeau tails to replicate them and hopefully be a little more durable. But, since I've never tied a fly in my life the process seems a little intimidating. I've tried shopping for that color combo but have never been able to find it so some day I'm going to figure it out! As for baiting the hook, I discovered using a small piece cut from a Gulp Alive minnow. The crappies seem to like to hold on to that!:-$

jig tying is acctually very easy, especially compared to some types of fly tying. you dont even need many special tools for jig tying because a normal tool vise will work just as well as a fly vise since jigs arent tiny hooks. if you have a vise that will hold the hooks, all you need is a bobbin and some scissors and a whip finisher(unless you just want to tie off by hand). from there you just have to buy the hooks you like and the materials you want in your jig. if you are interested in learning how to tie jigs and flies, this site does a very good job of teaching

fly anglers online- beginning tying

I'm suddenly tempted to go out a buy some supplies and started tying jigs to beat the winter blahs! Thanks for the tip!

Tying basic jigs is really easy. Chenille, marabou, jigs heads, paint for the heads and some thread. Once you tie 30-40 of them it will only take 3-5 minutes to tie them and still have a quality that will out last and hopefully outfish anything you can buy in the stores.

It is when you try to get into the more complex patterns that it gets hard. Crickets, water bugs, leeches and other patterns can be complicated. I tie a crayfish pattern that takes an hour each to tie. Worth it for realism but is a pain to tie them.

fish_4_all wrote:Tying basic jigs is really easy. Chenille, marabou, jigs heads, paint for the heads and some thread. Once you tie 30-40 of them it will only take 3-5 minutes to tie them and still have a quality that will out last and hopefully outfish anything you can buy in the stores.

It is when you try to get into the more complex patterns that it gets hard. Crickets, water bugs, leeches and other patterns can be complicated. I tie a crayfish pattern that takes an hour each to tie. Worth it for realism but is a pain to tie them.

WOW! An hour each?

I enjoy tying but don't have that much patience...

fish_4_all wrote:Tying basic jigs is really easy. Chenille, marabou, jigs heads, paint for the heads and some thread. Once you tie 30-40 of them it will only take 3-5 minutes to tie them and still have a quality that will out last and hopefully outfish anything you can buy in the stores.

It is when you try to get into the more complex patterns that it gets hard. Crickets, water bugs, leeches and other patterns can be complicated. I tie a crayfish pattern that takes an hour each to tie. Worth it for realism but is a pain to tie them.

crickets and leeches are fairly simple ties, not sure exactly what you mean by water bugs but if you are talking about nymphs, most of those are fairly simple.

Water bugs = water beetles, helgramites and such. For some reason it seems that they have to be realistic to work but once you get it down the fish simply love them.

Here are some jigs I have been tying:





They are more difficult than most generic jigs you see tied but they work. They are also very durable and even if they start to fray and come apart they will still catch fish because the they stay together rather well.

fish_4_all wrote:Water bugs = water beetles, helgramites and such. For some reason it seems that they have to be realistic to work but once you get it down the fish simply love them.

Here are some jigs I have been tying:

...

They are more difficult than most generic jigs you see tied but they work. They are also very durable and even if they start to fray and come apart they will still catch fish because the they stay together rather well.

Awesome!

Where do you get those multi colored beads for the jig bodies? Or are they colored tubing wrapped around the hook shank?

Looks like some of those are weaves. Very impressive! :thumleft:

I like them:thumleft:

i attempted to make a crocheted body nymph one time, it didnt come out too well, but i think my problem was i was using a single strand of acrylic yarn so it kept pulling apart. i need to go find some thin poly yarn or something about the size of floss, except acetate floss is just too loose and wouldnt work too well. i know that a lot of bodies are made with jelly rope and larvea lace but for my purposes i need a rough string material.