Hair Jigs And Black Pork Eels

[Quillback]

Picked up a "Best of Bassmaster" book from the library. Articles from the 70,s and early 80's. Lots of changes since then, the first bassmaster tournament guys were bringing in their fish on a stringer (obviously dead).

But several articles mention as a winter time go to bait, you could not beat a black hair jig with a black pork rind eel. I decided to pick some up, ordered some hair jigs from Northstarbaits and some eels from Uncle Josh. Had to go to the Uncle Josh website to get them, couldn't find the eels at the online retailers. I'm definitely going to try them this winter.

Also when it comes to worms, the purple worm was the go to worm bait then, how many people use purple anymore? I don't have any myself, but seems they should still work.

[Dutch]

That same hair jig and pork is a good post spawn smallie bait. Just a slow swim along points or holding flats.

[exiledguide]

I remember sitting by the radio on thursday nights listening to KMOX Outdoors at your service with George "Beartracks" Carson outdoor writer for the now defunct Globe Democrat newspaper. The winter bait at that time , this was around 1970, was a black hair jig and black Uncle Josh pork rind eel. Fished in the dead of winter in the midwest this bait produced some legendary stringers on Wappapelo and Lake of the Ozarks especialy at night, so I heard because at that time I didn't fish at night in the winter. Come to think of it I still don't. Also Virgil Wards "Tarantula" short arm spinner bait 1/2 oz Black or Purple slow rolled or a slow pumping retrive was was a real effective both night and daytime. A brown bomber slo trolled over deep points or humps while you sat in the boat and tried to stay warm was the third bait you wanted to fish in the winter. A 5'8" Fenwick 1257 Rod with an Ambassadeur 5000 baitcasting reel with about 20 lb Dupont Stren Line was about the top rig for jig fishing. A 6' lighter action Fenwick with 10 or 12 pound line was prefered for crank baits.

As far as the Purple worm that was the color and Tom Manns jelly worm was the prefered brand at first we used large gold aberdeen hooks Texas rigged with a slip sinker. It sure didn't take much money to outfit yorself each year for fishing. I do stil throw a purple worm once in a while but prefer Watermelon, Pumpkin, Red and other colors. I guess Zoom and Berkley are the big plastic worm producers now.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I used to walk down the railroad tracks to Spring River in Jan and Feb. Just deathly cold. Or so it seem to a couple of 5th graders. Dad had told us about bass fishing the rivers in the dead of winter. We just had to do it. So we dug out a couple of black hair jigs with a yellow stripe. We used Uncle Josh split tail eel. Fished real slow. We did catch some fish.

That was in the late 70's. I think it was about 79 or 80 they had come out with the live rubber jigs. Oh man did I like the looks of them! I used a variety of colors. My favorites were brown/orange, black/blue, and black/yellow. All tipped with either the split tail eel or a curly tail. I think the brown/orange produced the most.

[denjac]

The hair jig kept a smaller profile . I used an orange pork rind with it. Sometimes it was sure hard finding that hole in the pork with cold fingers. I cleaned out a 5 gallon bucket full of tangeled crankbaits, buzzbaits ect today. I found some greasy ole hair jigs in the bottom. All the rubber stuff was melted , but the hair held up fine through all those years in the bucket. Salvaged 10-12 Rogers deep Jim crankbaits and some slim Jims, also Rogers. It was his Jerkbait. Several old rebel craw crankbaits , spooks , tiny torpedoes. And last but not least an unopened package of Manns jelly worms ! Lots of memories in that old bucket.

[RSBreth]

I still use bucktail jigs, although I wasn't born until the 70's, I know good lure when I see one.

Here's great article from FLW about Guido Hibdon and Hair Jigs.

For the love of hair...

[Quillback]

I threw a black hair jig and eel around one of the lakes here in Bella Vista, did not get a bite. I was a little disappointed, I dragged it through some brush piles and for sure thought I would get a bite. Switched to a suspending jerk bait and picked a couple of fish up. Only fished about three hours, too darn cold and windy.

[Guest]

I started tying my own hairjigs this year.

Got tired of searching for the perfect color and jighead design.

This prompted me to visit the local fly shop and buy some bucktail.

It wasn't easy at first, kept breaking the thread while cinching down the bucktail.

I'm fortunate to live on a smallmouth creek which doubles as a test tank for most of my experiments.

The bigger smallies loved those bucktails. I mainly used brown/purple and olive/orange.

Bucktail is better when hopped versus dragged. It flairs whenever it hits bottom.

It waves and undulates when sitting on the bottom as the current runs thru the hair.

Most of the smallies bite when it was sitting there for up to 15-20 seconds.

Thought it might be good in the lakes, well its awesome. Big largemouths love em.

I've been fishing Mann's jelly worms since I was a kid in the early 80's.

Black grape was a staple back then, and still is.

I also refurbish old crankbaits and plugs that I get from Dad or buy "vintage" on Ebay.

My love affair with old style or "throwback" baits has become an obsession.

Its like re-inventing the wheel when it comes to catching bass on ancient tackle.

[exiledguide]

I started tying my own hairjigs this year.

Got tired of searching for the perfect color and jighead design.

This prompted me to visit the local fly shop and buy some bucktail.

It wasn't easy at first, kept breaking the thread while cinching down the bucktail.

I'm fortunate to live on a smallmouth creek which doubles as a test tank for most of my experiments.

The bigger smallies loved those bucktails. I mainly used brown/purple and olive/orange.

Bucktail is better when hopped versus dragged. It flairs whenever it hits bottom.

It waves and undulates when sitting on the bottom as the current runs thru the hair.

Most of the smallies bite when it was sitting there for up to 15-20 seconds.

Thought it might be good in the lakes, well its awesome. Big largemouths love em.

I've been fishing Mann's jelly worms since I was a kid in the early 80's.

Black grape was a staple back then, and still is.

I also refurbish old crankbaits and plugs that I get from Dad or buy "vintage" on Ebay.

My love affair with old style or "throwback" baits has become an obsession.

Its like re-inventing the wheel when it comes to catching bass on ancient tackle.

I haven't tied anything in a long time but the last jigs I tried I used 3/0 Kevilar thread and I pretty much eliminated thrad breaking, have you tried it? Tom Manns Black Grape Jelly worm was hard to beat, he made a seven inch size for a while that was my favorite. I also threw more Maribou Jigs in lakes than than bucktail except in cold water. Thanks for all these post I just found my vice and materials and plan to start tying again.

[Guest]

I haven't tied anything in a long time but the last jigs I tried I used 3/0 Kevilar thread and I pretty much eliminated thrad breaking, have you tried it? Tom Manns Black Grape Jelly worm was hard to beat, he made a seven inch size for a while that was my favorite. I also threw more Maribou Jigs in lakes than than bucktail except in cold water. Thanks for all these post I just found my vice and materials and plan to start tying again.

I tried the kevlar and broke it.

GSP 200 is the thread that I've been unable to break.

I feel like these hair jigs give me an edge in cold clear water.