JUNGLE JIM 1

Went crappie fishing again today, very windy but the sun was shining. I had the whole lake to myself again. Started slow because I couldn't get the feel of the 1/16 blade bait I was throwing. Tied on a 1/8 oz. propeller bait and started fishing deeper water letting it hit bottom before starting my retrieve. Couple of turns of the handle and thump,fish on. First fish was a slab crappie, 15 1/4 inches. Took a picture or three and after a quick measurement let her go. From there the action was non stop until about 10. Tried another spot, one fish in an hour. Tied on my last 1/8 since I lost the other three. Caught 7 more with 8 casts. Total for the morning was 40-50 crappie, at least a dozen were over 14 inches with three topping the 15. Only three crappie were under 10 inches, caught some nice bass and a few white bass as well. My best day size wise ever at this lake.Not a single male, all girls and all caught in deeper water. Everything was released. Going back tomorrow for round 3, taking my son this time with more of the same baits since I tied more when I got home this afternoon.

With the re-opening of many of the county parks including my favorite crappie lake I went out yesterday morning to give it a try despite the rainy, windy conditions. Lake is way up but still managed to find a few fish. First one was the biggest. Thought I had my first 15 incher but she was only 14.75 inches so I'm going back today and try again. I release all crappie over 13 inches hoping to catch a giant here one day. They aren't spawning yet so might find some even bigger in the next week or two.

I love hybrids, they fight so hard. Did you weigh any of the bigger ones?

Only have the wife at home with me. Only complaint from her is how much she wants a fountain soda, just won't stop talking about it. Have a couple granddaughters who would fit right in with the music gig.

I got out yesterday and had a 5 acre county park lake to myself. Fishing was slow, water was murky from the rain but did catch four bass on a suspending jerk bait and a couple gills on jigs. About 11 am a guy with a dog shows up walks up and informs me that he talked to a cop and there is no fishing allowed, only dog walking. I told him he's breaking the rules of social distancing and he's full of s**t since the golf course down the street is open and allowing foursomes. Four people can golf in a group but I'm not allowed to fish by myself. He walked back to his car and left. Didn't see another person the whole time I was there.

Amazing how those little jig heads will stick and hold bigger fish.

The crappie must be hungry to take a bigger bait like that. I noticed you use a chartreuse body jig quite a bit. Looks like Trilobal antron chenille, my favorite color as well and have tied thousands of jigs with it. Got tired of buying a couple packs at a time and purchased a 300 yard spool of the stuff twice. Finished one and started the second, still have about 250 yards of it left. When you need more I have some you can have free.

I was out a Denny Dennis a couple of weeks ago and had a chance to talk to a couple members about hair jigs. Mitch asked if I add rattles to some of my baits and I told him not very often since Glass rattles break if you hit a rock or bridge piling on the cast. While looking for something else I found some rattles that won't break and tied them in at the hook bend to keep them out of the way. Mostly used possum zonkers and crosscut rabbit for these. Like these so it looks like I will be ordering more rattles soon.

We finally got some warmer temps so I decided to give the crappie itch a scratch. Despite the windy conditions the last two days I managed to find some slabs that were fat and hungry for my float n fly's. Most were in the 12-14 inch range but caught some smaller crappie and gills as well.

Great article and instructions are easy to follow. I've been making them since the early 90's using either the craft hair version that you showed with the phat fly or using mallard or gadwall flank feathers and it's my favorite bait. I make them in sizes from 1/64-1/8 and they are deadly on everything. My biggest largemouth, crappie and bluegill were caught using them, but slab crappie can't resist them. I've caught 10's of thousands of fish since I started using them and fish them all 12 months of the year fishing rivers, lakes and ponds around Saint Louis where I live. Most of the places I fish are shallow, seldom over 8 foot deep so I just use a weighted fixed float with the f&f. If I could only use one bait this would be it.

Always like trying different things. Would like to see a picture of one of yours if possible, Doug.

A couple with Awesome possum zonker strips for the tail with silicone rubber strands. These have 6/0 VMC jig hooks. Length from head to tail are 5" +. Come on spring time.

When the weather isn't cooperating and I can't fish I tie to keep from going crazy. I made these yesterday. I hope these colors get their attention. These are 3/8 and 1/2 oz.

I have the Patriarch and would put it at the bottom of my list. It sits on a shelf. Plenty of other really nice reels in the $200 and less range out there. Find one that balances well with your new custom rod.

Big improvement on the jigs in a short time. Tying jigs when the weather conditions are too bad to be fishing keeps me from going crazy. I lay down a thread base first and after the first couple of loose wraps to position the material I crank down on the thread to lock it in place. Here is a few from yesterday. Stand up jigs are possum, badger hackle with a bit of flash and the underspins are possum tails, flash with a bunny body.

I don't tie many flies but have tied many, many jigs in the 25 years since I started. I tie jigs with and without collars, just depends on what I'm tying at the moment. I pour all my own jigs and prefer them painted even though paint will start to chip eventually which is why I no longer cure jigs. I like mixing my own powder paints and add UV blast powder to most colors and it really brightens up the color on them. I think you can cure jigs all day and they would still chip. Most of my bass jigs have collars and if they have a ball and barbed collar I will cut the barbed section off and flatten the ball portion. Most of my trout, pan fish jigs are tied without collars.

DO-IT recently came out with a collarless pillhead jig called a freestyle jig. I got one because it has the in between sizes I like. 1/16, 3/32, 1/8, 5/32 and 3/16. The tear drop jigs have a lot of thump to them as well. Here are a few freestyle heads I tied using bear, possum and a bit of flash. 3/32 with a 2/0 hook. I like bear more than bucktail, softer with more action. If interested I can make a custom order for anyone. Checked ebay this morning and I'm the only one tying bear jigs.

The thread collar keeps the bead from moving too much. I like some bead movement, if tied too close to the prop then the prop won't spin properly or not at all. I was using a smaller 1/16 oz. version yesterday at a very clear lake stocked with trout and on the drop the blade spins like crazy,bait has a slow drop speed.. Caught a dozen rainbows in an hour testing the bait. Was able to see a couple trout follow the bait and take it off the bottom when it stopped spinning.

Just started tying these in 2019 and really like them. Hair is softer than bucktail with more action but not the action and movement of rabbit zonkers. Using some Possum hair in orange and chartreuse for contrast. Nice little baits this time of year and have been tying them in 1/16-1/4 oz. Shad color baits are possum, really like the dark guard hairs.

I fished the Lower Meramec yesterday where water is discharged into the river and if I was a predatory fish in the river it's where I would want to be. I'm not even exaggerating when I say there were tens of thousands of threadfin shad around there. If I were using a jerkbait I probably could have filled up a couple treble hooks with them on every cast. I was getting doubles just casting a jig but didn't stay long because the odds of something finding my jig with all that food there would almost be impossible. Great day to be out though.

My main goal is to get my wife interested in fishing and the outdoors now that she is retired. We've been married 41 years and I can think of no better fishing buddy. Going to buy her a license next year so she won't have any excuse not to. Double digit hybrid striper and 3lb. crappie are my main goals for 2020.

I fished Unger yesterday with a friend and did okay using small 1/64-1/32 jigs fished under a small weighted float. Only caught one 12" crappie, lot's of small crappie, bass and gills. Southwest wind is key at this lake and it was blowing in that direction yesterday. Tried two spots on the river, 0 bites.

I haven't been out since the snow but warmer weather with some open water had me out to give crappie a try close to home the last couple of days. I used 1/64-1/32 gadwall feather jigs dyed pink and managed 7 crappie both days along with a few bass and hybrid bluegill fishing a couple hours each day. Had to barely move the jigs to get bit. I had the whole lake to myself both days and plan on going again today.

I live in saint louis and there are several lakes that have good crappie fishing within 20 minutes of my home. I don't catch them every time I go but they are out there, including some big crappie over 2 lbs. but those are rare. Got one last year from a city lake that suffered two fish kills and wiped out all the game fish this year so have to look elsewhere now.

The biggest crappie I ever caught, 17.5" came from Busch out of a catfish lake there. Average size in those lakes are 9+ so I would definitely try those if you are looking for some eater size crappie.