JUNGLE JIM 1

On a couple of other sites we used to have jig swaps which were fun. I don't tie flies anymore but my experience I got from tying flies has carried over to jigs. I don't know where to post some of the jigs and spinner baits that I make on here. Maybe they could add a small section here for that. Perhaps do a jig swap as well.

I can hook you up with some heads Daryk. I pour them on #8-#12 hooks. Have them in 1/80 as well. Send me your address in a pm and I will send you some. Have some painted if you want some. BilletHead, if you have some Gadwall I'll be happy to take them. Thank you very much.

The head is a 1/48 custom chub from a one of a kind mold I designed and had made 15 years ago. My favorite ultralight jig. I call them float n fly jigs. Gadwall and mallard flank jigs are like magic when it comes to catching fish. Still hurting on my Gadwall supply if anyone has some. Would trade some hand ties for feathers.

Wow, that was really bad. I liked the after surgery pics better. Glad to see you back out there fishing, nice hybrid.

I've been using the 3.25 inch Rage Swimmer rigged with a small coil keeper with belly weighted head that I pour and paint. They seem more durable than the fat Keitech baits which I also use. First bait is 1/4 oz with blade and second is 1/8 rigged with 1.5" crappie tube.

That's traveling light, fun little outing for sure.

Last year I was catching a half dozen almost every trip at one spot but this year in half dozen trips haven't caught one. They are in there but I don't know where. Maybe with the river coming up will get some moving.

That's a big crappie, Congratulations.

Beautiful brown, I like seeing how you handle them with care unlike some fisherman. How long is the rod you are using? Looks at least a 7'. I prefer one that long or longer.

It was nice meeting and talking with you, hope you heal up soon and we can meet up for a trip. Sure gets the heart rate up when a big one attacks the little fish you have hooked. Something about the way they struggle while hooked that trips the trigger on them big fish and they just have to eat it.

After I caught her I looked down her throat and only saw part of the gills tail so she got to keep the gill and the little jig too. Didn't want to hurt her, have plenty of jigs. I did thank the gill for it's sacrifice before I let her go. Happened again yesterday on the other side of the lake but there was too much trees and other things in the water that I knew I'd never land it with 2# test so didn't let her swallow it and pulled it out of her mouth and she attacked it again. Probably about 6#er. Interesting thing was they only attacked the male gills and would leave the girl gills alone. Need to get some male gill swimbaits soon.

Fourth time in the last two weeks that I've had big bass eat my bluegill fishing four different lakes, other times they spit the gill or threw it on the jump. Hard to control using 2# mono but it's stronger than most people think. Before she showed up I had two bass about 5-6lbs. that were about 15-20 feet out, one on my left and the other on my right. Whenever I hooked a gill and it ran left that bass would attack and if it ran to the right that bass would attack. One chased my gill all the way to the bank where gill beached itself. Those two certainly made things entertaining before the big girl showed up. Always fish this lake for gills and redear, never bass. Might have to take a bass rod next trip.

I was fishing a county park lake yesterday for bluegill for fish tacos. Still not spawning at this lake but found some 7.5-9" gills in deeper water and strung up 10 which is plenty for a couple meals for me. Only 9am so kept fishing. I'm using 2# Maxima mono with a 1/48 duck feather jig on #12 sickles to keep things interesting and then I hooked another fat gill and it really got interesting. Bass engulfs my 1/2 lb. bluegill right off the top, quickly I open my bail and give her a chance to swallow it. She does and after I set the hook it was on for five minutes before I lip her. I got a good look at her and started shaking with excitement. Grabbed scale and tape. She weighed 10.23 lbs. Length was 24.5" with an enormous girth of 21". Took a few pics and released her, splashed me as she bolted away. Stopped fishing then, perfect way to end the morning.

couple more pics.

I went out Tuesday since it was going to be in the 60's and fished a county park lake. Lake was very low so I wasn't expecting much or anything really in the cold, murky water. Only caught six crappie total there last year in a dozen trips. Walked to the north end of the lake since wind was out of the south. Fishing a 1/32 duck feather jig 1.5 foot deep around brush and found them in two spots. Ended up with 16 crappie, 11 were 10-15". Off to a good start for 2023.

More crappie pics. Been catching most on a jig with a hand tied rubber tail that's from a toy I found at Dollar Tree..

It's been awhile since my last visit here. Even though it's hot I'm still catching some really nice crappie at a lake close to the house. December 30th, caught a 17 3/4" black crappie that weighed 3.10 which I released. Last week got a 16.5" that weighed 2.67 lb. Most fish I catch at this lake are about 12" but the chance of catching a giant keeps me going back.

The Manic Mullet mold has a 60 degree hook and has kind of a barbed screw like collar. I'm putting 3/0 Vmc hooks in the 3/16. Picture taken under UV light.

I caught three Monday, biggest was over 9 lbs. They were all caught on a bunny spinner bait I made. Took my son Wednesday and he caught a 5 lber on his first cast with a whopper plopper and later caught one a little smaller on one of my spinner baits. I caught four whites in the 1-2 lb. range on spinnerbaits and a drum.

These are the new Do it mold with the Victory hooks. I mix my own paints with the main ingredient clear high gloss powder from Rosie's , Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments and a wrinkle agent additive I found on ebay and UV blast from Protec as well as their crinkle paint.

Getting some good results painting these heads after tweaking some custom blends of paints I've been working on. First two pictures show the top and bottom of the heads. Last picture are heads under a UV light. It's early in the fishing season but I've been getting good results with these heads rigged with power grubs and Keitech's.

A friend had a smaller 1/20th oz. skull mold made and those jigs catch lot's of crappie and gills. Don't think fish care what head you use, if they are hungry and they think it's food they will eat it. Here are some finished ties and a picture of the 1/20 skulls.

I saw these heads on Instagram and just had to have some. They weigh 1/3 oz. with 4/0 Victory hooks. I painted a dozen and here is what a few look like.

The crappie I caught from the lake.

I got out and fished a lake off the Meramec for a couple hours trying out the new Finesse mold that just came out rigging it with a 3" Berkley power grub. Only got bit once but it was a good crappie, first 15"er of 2022. Decided to try the Meramec for a little while since it looked good, not muddy. I caught three drum on first three casts that I had to drag over a tree and up the bank. I decided to move closer to the water without sliding down the bank in case I hooked something bigger because there was no way for me to get anything big in from where I was. I caught a couple white bass and then got smoked, probably a hybrid that broke me off in five seconds. Should have retied after dragging the drum over the tree since line was nicked and frayed. Next cast and it happened again but this time line held and I was able to get this nice hybrid in. Man these fish are strong. I did get a smaller hybrid a few minutes later and a few more small whites before they quit biting. I caught the hybrids on 3"Keitech's that I rigged weedless, this new mold is a keeper.