Marabou Jigs...

[Colorado Bassmaster]

Growing up in Mo, one of my favorite ways to fish streams for both smallies and trout was a marabou jig. I have not fished that way for over 20 years. I will be back in June and need a bit of a refresher course on jig fishing in rivers. I will be fishing the Eleven Point and North Fork. Questions.... What colors are some of your favorites and what size do you throw. Also, do you havs a favorite jig company? When I was a kid, I kept it simple; black jigs and white jigs in 1/32 was all I threw but that was then. Opinions? Thanks.

[Addicted to Creeks]

white, black and yellow, and green in that order anywhere from 1/32 up to 1/8 is my personal opinion. i have also had some success with pink and red but the top three are by far my favorite

[Gavin]

1/32 is a bit light for the 11pt or NFoW..I'd be looking in the 1/16-1/4oz range...unless you want to drift em under a bobber. Our host Phil Lilley is and expert jig fisherman by all accounts...and he sells em..... Have fun.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I agree with Gavin on the sizes and I would definately add olive or sculpin colored jigs to the mix.

[Addicted to Creeks]

seems I skimmed over the rivers you would be fishing. Sorry. definently add olive

[ollie]

Olive, black, white, grey, orange, and ginger.

[Mitch f]

With marabou, I was taught to always strip the individual fibers from the main spine, I know this is just the opposite for the end of a wolly bugger. I think it gives a marabou jig a little more action. Also I stole an idea from Paul Jensen of Jensen jigs called a bou tube... you tear the tenticles off a gitzit tube and replace them by tying marabou strands on the hook before you insert the head in the tube. This is kind of halfway between a tube and a marabou jig. Both marabou jigs and Rons curly tail grubs probably catch more fish in streams than any other lures. The ultimate finesse baits!

Now back to work for the week, Did you see Bubba Watsons shot in the sudden death play off at the Masters? He deserved to win after that one!

[Phil Lilley]

Sculpin is a color that's done very well for me on smallmouth and trout alike. It's a drab olive color, army green. We mix sculpin with other colors too - orange, olive, ginger and peach. The sculpin/orange is a great crawdad color.

The size depends on the water you're fishing. Faster current and/or deeper pockets and holes use 1/8th oz. Slower current and shallow water use 3/32 or 1/16th. Under a float--experiment with what they'll hit. I know Brian Sloss loves to use a jig under a float in faster water.

We do sell marabou jigs. You can find them here - http://lilleystacklestore.com

[Mitch f]

Sculpin is a color that's done very well for me on smallmouth and trout alike. It's a drab olive color, army green. We mix sculpin with other colors too - orange, olive, ginger and peach. The sculpin/orange is a great crawdad color.

The size depends on the water you're fishing. Faster current and/or deeper pockets and holes use 1/8th oz. Slower current and shallow water use 3/32 or 1/16th. Under a float--experiment with what they'll hit. I know Brian Sloss loves to use a jig under a float in faster water.

We do sell marabou jigs. You can find them here - http://lilleystacklestore.com

My buddy lost a huge brown at the boat a few weeks ago by your place. Was fishing huge streamers at first and got tired of stripping. Put on a Lucky Craft jerkbait and hooked a huge brown in the 20-25 lb range. He said it just came unhooked, no other explanation. He blames his rod being too limber.

[Phil Lilley]

Cool... not that he lost it but that he had one on. That would have been a great catch!