Hair Jigs

[Al Agnew]

Pork frogs are more supple than most plastics, and supposedly the plastics get even more stiff in cold water, so that was the rationale for using pork in the winter. However, I kinda think that you may not want quite so supple an action...the less action, the better, perhaps. Pork should work okay, but I'm not sure it would be any better, and I don't want to have to carry around jars full of pork.

[Seth]

Got the crosscut rabbit and zonker strips ordered. I forgot I bought several packs of Green and Black Spot Removers in 1/8 and 1/4 oz on sale at Walmart a while back. I am going to snip the plastic holder and tie some stand up rabbit jigs as we'll and some regular round ball jigs and give them a whirl.

[Mitch f]

Good Luck Seth!

Also: I agree with Al on the plastics vs pork....

Here's a good article about the subject.

http://www.bassmaster.com/node/101041

[Ham]

The other negative with pork is it blocking the hooking the hook point on the hookset. I've missed several fish due to this.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Pork frogs are more supple than most plastics, and supposedly the plastics get even more stiff in cold water, so that was the rationale for using pork in the winter. However, I kinda think that you may not want quite so supple an action...the less action, the better, perhaps. Pork should work okay, but I'm not sure it would be any better, and I don't want to have to carry around jars full of pork.

The rational for using pork in the winter was the same rational for why we used it in the summer or any other season. It was all we had. Us poor folk anyway.

I skimmed that article. If little Timmy was having trouble with his hook point getting buried in the pork, he wasn't attaching it correctly. I don't know of anyone that used pork frogs that ever had that happen. And I never used more than one frog per day. Those things are absolutely indestructible!

[Buzz]

Yes the bulky/leaky containers are a pain, but the idea that they get hung up on the hook more than a fluttering bug with all of it's claws and tentacles is just silly. Will they turn sideways, even backwards? Yes they will. Do they cause you to miss hook ups? I don't think any more than short strikes on long plastics. Just open that hook gap up to the edge of the weed guard and you can solve that problem. You may lose some jigs, but the hook up problem is solved.The same goes for plastic trailers. Do they slow the fall as much as plastics? No. And as Chief said, they are pretty much indestructible.

We fished for the fish that were on or near the bottom. Usually barely hopping them, thus the light jig and slow fall. Heck we had great luck with pork on black spinnerbaits at night, slow rolling or bouncing them off the bottom. if your not getting bit just change the frog. I remember one night at Cape Fair when we weren't getting bit. I decided to change spinnerbaits to a black one that had some yellow mixed in and added a white/ green spot frog. I immediately starting catching fish. My father-in-law, at the time, also changed and we had a great night. BTW, he is a great fisherman who taught me a lot, if not all I know, about lake fishing.

So, if any one really cares, pork has a different profile, fall, scent, and action. Plastics are cheaper and easier to carry, but pork may just be the subtle difference that makes a good day a great day.

[Al Agnew]

I used to use pork on my homemade twin spin back in the day, and didn't seem to have any problems with hook-ups with a twin tail pork strip. However, I could see where occasionally the pork would wad up in the fish's mouth, with the hook point up against the rind just enough to stick it, and then the pork would be too tough for the point to go through it and into the fish.

[KCfisher]

Gentlemen, I've been lurking on this discussion. I'm intrigued by the hair jig recipes and the discussion of the pros/cons of different jig heads. Mostly, I'm impressed with the all of the experience in this forum! I've been almost exclusively fly fishing the past several years even though I grew up spin and bait cast fishing for bass. I'm curious about the spin rod/reel set ups you all prefer for this type of smallmouth river fishing. Appreciate any responses. Happy New Year.

[Mitch f]

Buzz, there's no doubt pork trailers are fish catchers, I even have some of the new Uncle Josh trailers myself,I think they're called straight meat or something like that. They do catch fish and last all day, (or until you hang up the jig in 10 ft of water). But to me the negatives outweigh the positives. They've finally came out with different shapes, which is good. I've still got 10 old crusty jars of pork in my basement that I'm going to make a suit out of

There are simply more varieties of plastics that are easier to work with. I will admit pork has a little better action in winter, but with the hair on the jig I really don't think it matters. Like Al said sometimes you don't want the extra action. A good example are the guys who are float n fly gurus down at Dale Hollow, East Holten, and all those other highland type lakes in that part of the country. They actually rub "fish dope" on the craft hair to cut down on the action in the winter sometimes. Basically like putting Vaseline on hair...it ain't moving after that.

[Buzz]

That's cool Mitch. Pork isn't always the best and it isn't the easiest. We never used anything but deer hair jigs, not much added action there, so what the pork added was a plus.