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Bill Babler
Bill Babler

Turner Jones micro jigs

First question, first.  Yes he made several jigs and prototypes.  He made Bill Beck and I some float and fly jigs also and they were unreal for early season Bass.  Merlin Olsen was a fly fisherman and was fishing the Green River, either early 80's or late 70's.  His guide used the "New fly/jig and of course they ripped them."  Merlin immediately wrote Mr. Jones and asked if he was in need or would like a spokes person for his Micro's.  Merlin said he would be that person free of any obligation other than Mr. Jones giving him all the Micro Jigs he needed to keep catching trout.  Deal was done and a match was made.

Prior to and after Turner's passing his Grand Daughter who lives pretty much off the grid made them for Phil and a few other of their better clients.  She  ran out of materials and there was some problem with stolen molds and other equipment from Turner's estate.  Kind of a tangled web, to say the very least.

At one time Turner took a partner, a young woman who he thought was going to help him.  She immediately stole lots of written information and molds and sold them to Lucky Strike and that's how they started making the product.  Thru much legal battling Mr. Jones got this stopped as he related to me. The jigs Lucky Strike made were similar but trash, there is a bonding process that adheres the  miniscule single strand of Hen Hackle under a colored collar of shrink wrap that holds this together.  There is no tie thread or no marabou as Turner said it makes the jig way to heavy and not realistic.  Both thread and marabou add bulk and this fly is extremely streamline and zero bulk.

After he molded and painted the head and added the eyes he then added the shrink wrap and hackle body and then clear coated the head and the attaching wrap.  Multiple steps that he said had to be exercised correctly to make the fly as life like as possible.  He said it is either a newly hatched sculpin or a small minnow imitation.  He also made Sculpin jigs that the head was an identical match for a very small sculpin.

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We ended up this morning with 62 fish for 3 clients on this jig.  The fish here are extremely fat and healthy with lots of fish in the 13 to 17 inch range.

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I'm one of those who never learned to fish the jig and bobber, so my offering would likely be a spider on a floating line.

11 minutes ago, ness said:

 $109 per oz?

Nah, 109  jigs per oz and at $126 per jig that renders $13,734 per ounce.

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Now we know the rest of the story.  tjm, dude you are  on it like purple on grape.  So the head itself weighs 256 and that is what Mr. Jones based his size on and he called them 1/2 micros. and I am assuming the Full micros as he stated the head weighs 156 oz but like wise the finished product is about double that.

thanks

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9 hours ago, tjm said:

I'm one of those who never learned to fish the jig and bobber, so my offering would likely be a spider on a floating line.

Nah, 109  jigs per oz and at $126 per jig that renders $13,734 per ounce.

That makes sense. So, about 10x the price of gold. I hope Phil has them in a locked case :D

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3 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Now we know the rest of the story.  tjm, dude you are  on it like purple on grape.  So the head itself weighs 256 and that is what Mr. Jones based his size on and he called them 1/2 micros. and I am assuming the Full micros as he stated the head weighs 156 oz but like wise the finished product is about double that.

thanks

That's just an insomniac's take on it. Somewhere in the history of fly fishing I've read that jigs are classed by weight of the head; truefully, I have never weighed a jig and have felt that the nominal weights were approximate, but, Mr. Jones also claimed a 1/500oz jig and at such small weights (.002 oz or 0.875 grain)( it would seem the hook might outweigh the head) I would think accuracy of the guess must be inherently closer.

The idea of such tiny jigs is kinda on the edge of "I don't believe it"  or "Why bother" to me. Some one said they sink fast, how fast? Is there a real world difference between 3' per second and 3.2' per second? A floss body over ten or so turns of lead trolling line core sinks like stone but with a turn of starling hackle will sink a tiny bit slower and catch more fish. How deep do you fish these, anyhow?

I do attribute the durability of them in part to the small weight, no matter how fast you throw one the impact force is almost nothing because of almost no mass. Added to that, what looks like a plastic sleeve collar and body would take a bit  more  abuse than some other body types. Now I really want a couple to mess with.

 

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All you have to do is ask to receive my friend.  Turner called it a 1/500.  Its on a size 18 lite wire hook.  Mini Micro.

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It has a small painted on eye and the head is molded around the hook eye.  I have about a dozen of these in copper head black body as Turner insisted this was the best color, but to tell you the truth I have had very limited success on it.  On the other end of the spectrum, my clients have caught thousands on the copper head ginger 1/2 micro that is pictured with the mini micro.

You pretty much have to fish it on 7X as 6X looks like well rope going thru that eye.

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Granted they are my own hand tied versions and not Turners, but I've not done very well on the gold head/ginger patterns. That gold head/olive with a red collar has been the most productive color by far. Chrome/pink and orange/brown have produce quite a few for me as well. Not sure what it is about that orange head, but those Taneycomo trout seem to love it. I've not had the same success with them in trout parks.

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I’ll give this poor attempt at a recreation a try tomorrow morning. Hope it can catch a fish.

I found that the heat shrink and bonding process can be combined and sped up by putting in microwave. Gets a little sparky at first but just stick with it till a little smoke starts coming out.  Have no idea what it weighs, but it’s pretty light.

Well, off to Walmart to get a new microwave.

84A0979E-0D58-4F11-A178-FFF186B319EC.jpeg

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