Getting Close to Hair Jig Time........

[Mitch f]

1 hour ago, Dutch said:

Unlike some of you I use them all year long.  I almost always swim them.  Seldom do they ever touch the bottom.

Yep, l never let my minnow patterns touch the bottom (at least if I can help it!?)

[mjk86]

Can someone explain why hair jigs are used in the winter vs a regular jig all other times of year?  What's the difference?  I think they sure look cool. I'd use em all year!

[Mitch f]

1 hour ago, mjk86 said:

Can someone explain why hair jigs are used in the winter vs a regular jig all other times of year?  What's the difference?  I think they sure look cool. I'd use em all year!

 I understand where you're coming from. Hair jigs can be used all year round no problem. In the winter time they have better action than silicone and rubber.  So, I guess some people have assumed they can only be used in winter. 

[Mitch f]

14 hours ago, Dutch said:

Unlike some of you I use them all year long.  I almost always swim them.  Seldom do they ever touch the bottom.

 Those are some great looking jigs, Dutch!

[Old plug]

since were on the subject of tying jigs. I found a couple thing last year I like. And will share them with you for whatever they are worth. 

While. In Jo Ann's sewing shop with my wife I started looking for nylon thread. What I found however was a special poly thread that is designed specifically for exterior use. It is super strong. It is The same diameter as regular thread. It is very strong. Also  one spool equals several of the smaller one you buy in fly shops ones. I just wrap it from the larger spoon onto the smaller ones as needed. 

Also while at Hobby Lobby I discovered a glue called FUSION. It is a clear urethane adhesive. That can be use full strength or thinned with water. Thinned or full strength it dries water proof not water resistant. It drys fairly fast. I use it both ways. I like to saturate the partly finished windings with the thinned adhesive. It will soak in and then as you finish winding it come up and coates them as you wind. Then after that's dry I paint on  a couple coats of full strength as a topping. nEver had a winging fail yet with this stuff.

[Al Agnew]

2 hours ago, mjk86 said:

Can someone explain why hair jigs are used in the winter vs a regular jig all other times of year?  What's the difference?  I think they sure look cool. I'd use em all year!

Yep, they should work all year long.  However, one summer I tried using the ones I tie with the squirrel strip tails fairly extensively (for me, anyway...everybody knows I don't often use slow stuff in the summer) and was not impressed with how well I did with them.  It kinda made me lose confidence in them for warm water use.  

[Seth]

Is dark olive rabbit the equivalent to green pumpkin?

[Old plug]

Seth i just started tying buck tail jigs again this year.  It looks  to me like  colors are pretty well controlled  between the materials. So I suspect dark olive would be a fine match for green pumkin in most baits like brush hog. I really like that color combined with   a full sized green pumkin brush hog  trailer down here on LOZ.  It seems like something natural and real. 

 

[Seth]

I ordered black and olive materials last year. The olive was a bit lighter than I was hoping and didn't seem to produce quite as well as some of the dark olive hairs that smalliebigs gave me. Black pretty well for me as well.

[Al Agnew]

The light olive in rabbit is pretty close to the light yellowish olive on a golden crayfish, the most common crayfish species in Ozark streams, and the dark brown is very close to the darker stripes across the back of that crayfish.  I use those two colors on a lot of my jigs.  It also isn't far from the colors of a sculpin, though the golden olive variant is better for sculpin imitations.  I like to add a bit of that very reddish brown on the butt end of the jig, partly just because I like the way it looks, but partly because there are little reddish highlights on the pinchers of those crayfish.  I have no idea whether it makes any difference or not.  I use a lot less dark olive than light olive, but will use it mixed in with the light olive from time to time, or as a slightly contrasting color to black.  Toughest color to find in rabbit is a nice, chocolate brown.