Ther Perfect Size Jig For Rivers

[zipstick]

zipstick, I will give the devil his due, I never fished an 1/8th or 1/16th oz jig until I fished with you. I did realize early on that the Eakins boys were on to something!

I started fishing their jig 5 years ago and never looked back

The Eakins jig is pretty good, but for those who don't fish with us, it's about twice the size of my little jigs. Tinier is better in cold and clear water. By the way I like the way you showed me the Yamamoto craw that complements the Eakins so well!

[flytyer57]

The more I fish the rivers, the smaller my jigs have become. The last few times I've caught nice jig fish in Missouri they threw up crayfish that were 2" or less in size. I know the Eakins team made their jigs smaller after recognizing the fact that they catch more and bigger fish by using a smaller finesse jig. The 5/16th oz Eakins jig is the biggest jig I will ever throw anymore. I've heard of situations like night time fishing where you may need a larger profile jig so the fish can find it quicker. I know the crayfish change size during the year and was wondering if anyone has had sustained success with a large jig?

The other variable is the hook, I think I'm going to try to pour my own jigs using a bronze hook instead of a black nickel hook. I think the bronze will rust after 2 weeks if you break off on a fish, allowing the fish to survive. I'm not talking flipping jigs now but I think the light wire hook with an O'Shaunessy bend seems to be a good combination for a finesse jig.

I was wondering if you guys were going to design the perfect jig, what style jig head would use for the rivers? I've always been a big fan of football heads but it's hard to find a small weedless football head with a smaller hook. any suggestions would help.

I've always had a problemm finding the right sized jig head with the right size hook. I've looked for lighter jig heads with larger hooks, or larger jig heads with smaller (thinner diameter wire) hooks. I've thought about making my own, but I've ran into problems where the molds won't take the size hooks I'm looking for. There's a company out there now, I think it's Lindy's Little Joe, that makes jigs with interchangable heads. I'm going to have to check them out the next time I get up to Bass Pro.

As for a favorite type of head style, it depends on what I'm using. If I use a grub, I like an aspirin or round head. If I'm fishing a crawdad on the bottom, then a football head. Of course if I use a tube, I use a tube style jig. I'm not much into the Arkie style jigs as I don't really fish lakes as much as streams and rivers, although they might have a place in some situations.

Another jig I like that I've had a tough time finding is a Slider head jig. They work great when the current is slow enough.