Texas Rigged Smallmouth Jig, Take 2

[eric1978]

Eric and others, I like what your tying and all. I even tie my crayfish in the same colors as you guys. But, in the streams that I fish, this is what every crayfish looks like. (Golden crayfish). The black (dark) stripes really stand out, and catch your eye. I'm going to try to match it in color and markings as closely as I can. I might borrow your jig design. .... I'm a novice at tying. ...Sooooo... If someone out there is looking for something to tie..... Try to tie me one.

I'll try tying a black and brown one later on. I know I won't be able to replicate the horizontal stripes on that crayfish....unless.....

[Wayne SW/MO]

"I'll try tying a black and brown one later on. I know I won't be able to replicate the horizontal stripes on that crayfish....unless.....", whats it called, oh yea a Magic Marker. :lol:

[eric1978]

Eric and others, I like what your tying and all. I even tie my crayfish in the same colors as you guys. But, in the streams that I fish, this is what every crayfish looks like. (Golden crayfish). The black (dark) stripes really stand out, and catch your eye. I'm going to try to match it in color and markings as closely as I can. I might borrow your jig design. .... I'm a novice at tying. ...Sooooo... If someone out there is looking for something to tie..... Try to tie me one.

wader...this is the best I could do with my caveman tying skills. It's too dark and orangish to match the 'dad in your picture, but it's also got brown and black. The only silicone I have right now is that orange/black color. I imagine a stupid fish wouldn't know the difference. Anyway, it might be a decent color for stained water. I don't know how you could replicate that striped pattern on your crayfish. Again, I don't think it really matters. If it looks like food and a fish can see it and he feels like eating, he'll eat it.

[creek wader]

wader...this is the best I could do with my caveman tying skills. It's too dark and orangish to match the 'dad in your picture, but it's also got brown and black. The only silicone I have right now is that orange/black color. I imagine a stupid fish wouldn't know the difference. Anyway, it might be a decent color for stained water. I don't know how you could replicate that striped pattern on your crayfish. Again, I don't think it really matters. If it looks like food and a fish can see it and he feels like eating, he'll eat it.

Eric, The brown color that you used, is what I usually tie with, also. The retailers kind of push that brown color on us. I've never seen a crawdad that color. I think I'll try olive and use the magic marker. I guess it'll work? ... I once had some twister tails that were the close to the color of the craw in the pic. (worked well). Haven't been able to find any since. I always thought about putting horizontal lines on it with a magic marker or paint. .. The dark lines always catch my eye. Thought maybe it'd help trigger a finicky fish.. or not.

[eric1978]

Eric, The brown color that you used, is what I usually tie with, also. The retailers kind of push that brown color on us. I've never seen a crawdad that color. I think I'll try olive and use the magic marker. I guess it'll work? ... I once had some twister tails that were the close to the color of the craw in the pic. (worked well). Haven't been able to find any since. I always thought about putting horizontal lines on it with a magic marker or paint. .. The dark lines always catch my eye. Thought maybe it'd help trigger a finicky fish.. or not.

The magic marker will work, but will wear off eventually if you don't lose the jig first. I don't think it's that necessary to have a jig that's the identical color to your home water's crayfish. I mean look at the wacky colored jigs a lot of guys catch fish on. When have you seen blue on a crayfish? Besides, like Wayne said, they're not really out during the winter anyway, so if a fish knew the difference he'd probably be on to you already.

I bought a natural bucktail the other day for the white hair, but it also has some (duh) natural brown on it as well. If you got a stacker you could mix some of the brown, natural and olive hairs and maybe get closer to the color of your 'dad. At the very least you'd confuse the hell out of a fish and he might eat it out of pure curiosity.

If you really wanted to go nuts matching colors you could try to dye your own bucktail. I wouldn't, but it's an option. You might also play around with the silicone and flash stuff. I think if you tied a plain ol' brown and black bucktail it would work fine, but I know what it's like to obsess over a stupid jig.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I'm a great believer in the fact that fish concentrate on distinguishing marks or colors. The stripes I think would be much more important, as long as the body isn't too far off. That's also why I like to have a hint of the highlight colors found on a lot of craws.

[joeD]

Wow. Three "pages" on a lure that hasn't caught a fish. I guess it has potential, like Ryan Leaf had potential. Put it in the water already.

[eric1978]

Wow. Three "pages" on a lure that hasn't caught a fish. I guess it has potential, like Ryan Leaf had potential. Put it in the water already.

Ouch. Unfortunately, some of us have to work and live more than five minutes from the river. Don't worry, Joe. I'm planning a trip for next week...think I'll pay a little visit to your favorite stretch...maybe I'll bring my stringer this time...

[joeD]

Very funny. You better put a gob of nightcrawlers on your jig to make it more attractive. I hear Gravois Creek is red-hot right now, you might want to try that...

[Wayne SW/MO]

Wow. Three "pages" on a lure that hasn't caught a fish. I guess it has potential, like Ryan Leaf had potential. Put it in the water already.

Well that puts it in good company, with about a million other lures. It also appears you read all three.