Turner Jones micro jigs

             Ok I shot off with my mouth and said you all could critique and beat me up my micro jig attempt,

  Our Forum member Jungle Jim had picked up on what I said and sent me a PM asking if I wanted a few small heads to play with. So in the post today I got an envelope from him. I opened it up in anticipation. All kinds of colors of itty bitty jig heads painted in all kinds of colors. Other than the larger ones with the sickle hooks (Which I like very much, more on this later) I really think these may be original Turner- Jones heads. Why I think this is because there was a small bit of heat shrink on one head. Let me know if you think they may be. I sent another PM to Jim asking but I could not wait to post. At the bottom of the attached photo are two jigs. My tie without heat shrink and one of the larger Turner-Jones jigs Mrs. BilletHead found at Bennett many moons ago. I know it was her because if I had found it I would of tossed it back not knowing what the heck it was. So I think it was one of the as Bill mentioned a 156 oz. and the Small heads Jim sent me are the 256 oz. I really don't know so I am asking again you all and Jim.  The finest marabou I had is some grizzly chickabou so that is what I used. I am not sure my fat fingered clumsy old hands could wrestle marabou and heat shrink at the same time so my rendition used besides the marabou i used veevus 14/0 olive thread for the main tie and then some 6/0 red uni thread for the collar. (note to self get some veevus 14/0 in red) I than coated the tie area in with Solarez thin and gave it a zap with the UV light to finish.  So beat me up and pick it apart and lets all get some tied up.  i tied this up pretty tight and soaked the UV resin in real well working it in with a needle and kept it out of the feathers. I think it will hold up well.

   Final thoughts. I like larger hooks even on small body flys and jig tie ups. On my Harvester midges I tie on larger hooks but my midge itself is maybe a size 20. Fish go after the midge and pay less attention to the hook thus larger hook boosts hook up rate. (Thanks Kent C. ),

   BilletHead

      

Wasn't sure what size they were but know they have a #14 jig hook which I've never been able to find. That little jig will catch fish. Grizzly bou is the way to go on these little jigs with me, catch almost anything with them. I'd like to see you tie a midge on a couple. I'm happy if I can get my little jigs under 3/4".

Nice.  I know there a lot of jig heads out there that Luck Strike poured that should be really similar to TJ.  The paint was poor and they immediately came apart after a fish or two as the shrink wrap came apart, but they may be a good outlet if you can find them for jig heads.  Phil may have some as I think he purchased a few of the Lucky Strike to try.

Both Buster Loving and Tim Saniato sold some of them, but mostly bought them to use themselves as they were about 1/2 the price.  They were also on the shelf at BP, until the law suit.

Both guys gave up on them pretty fast as a lot of times the shrink wrap and the tail would just be loose and unattached lying in the bottom of the tube, even before the jig was used.

They just could not get the shrink wrap to work and the paint was also poor.

You guys are fantastic and true artist

I haven't read all 10 pages of this, but if y'all are fussin' over a jig head, you do know that lead is like modeling clay right?

With a pair of flat nosed pliers and a nail clipper you can do just about anything with a jig head.

After a bit closer examination of those heads you posted, I'm going to say Lucky Strike.  I don't think there are any that fits Tuners color palate.  I also don't believe that Turner used that type of sickle hook as he never showed or offered it to me.  Another good reason they are bare is they probably came apart prior to even being used as I mentioned in my previous post. Lucky Strike came out with some wild color heads.

I think there may be one TJ head there and it is the bottom green one that has just a speck of feather remaining but that would be the only one.  If you look close it has a different eye also that would be close to his.

51 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

After a bit closer examination of those heads you posted, I'm going to say Lucky Strike.  I don't think there are any that fits Tuners color palate.  I also don't believe that Turner used that type of sickle hook as he never showed or offered it to me.  Another good reason they are bare is they probably came apart prior to even being used as I mentioned in my previous post. Lucky Strike came out with some wild color heads.

I think there may be one TJ head there and it is the bottom green one that has just a speck of feather remaining but that would be the only one.  If you look close it has a different eye also that would be close to his.

            Yes I did know the bottom one was a turner. The larger size. Did lucky strike also use the shrink wrap?

  BilletHead

On 6/11/2018 at 11:46 AM, JestersHK said:

Text is such a poor form of communication... Hard to show sarcasm and snarkiness, and others may not know the personal relationships behind some of the ribbing that we give each other around here.  I know for sure that if all of us were on the water or around a fire there's likely not too many here who we wouldn't call good company.  

I for one have met some awesome folks here, and glad I've got the chance to meet them and fish with them.  @ColdWaterFshr that includes you good sir.  Despite our differences of opinion on certain topics I'd be down to fish with ya anytime.  And my apologies to you for any feathers I may have ruffled in the past... 

We've met?  Hells bells.  small circles we all run in.  Cheers brother.  Lets go fish sometime.  I know you're a gun lubber, but in the grand scheme of this sandbox we live in, I don't hold it too much against you.  

Yes they used the wrap but never mastered it.

1 hour ago, Bill Babler said:

Yes they used the wrap but never mastered it.

Thanks Bill.

if a guy was gonna pour some small jig heads what size hook should be used?  smallest jig hook I can find is a size 12...or is there a good place to buy premade heads with a small size 12 hook that is a decent quality hook?  For instance there is a collarless jig head mold that goes down to 1/80th ounce.  If I put a small size 12 hook in that, could I make some decent small jig heads to use with my fly rod with them?   Or would it be easier to just buy some plain PJ's jig heads in the 1/125th ounce with the size 10 jig hook?