Custom Baits - Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: ctom on 02/13/24 09:18 UTC
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Make and use tinsel tail jigs?
A couple years ago I found a bush hanging over a good crappie tangle while fishing from shore and it had a mess of tinsel tail jigs hung up in it. I believe they were a VMC made jig and most had glow tinsel or crystal flash in the tails. I found nine that I could pluck without taking a dip and brought them home. They were all like new so someone left a bit of change in the bush.
Fast forward a year. I had the occasion to tie one of these jigs on a give it a go and as expected, it caught fish very nicely. So now the creative bug got tuned up and I plan to make up a few using my goodies. Just curious if any of you make these and what colors or patterns do you make that get fish.
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I will tie some. I think the extra flash is not too much sometimes, and not more than fishing a spinner or spoon, so has a place.
Krystal Flash type is my least used, and I really like Polar Flash. However, I use all the flash types. At one time I was using a lot of the holographic finish materials, but have cut that back.
I think the water clarity should have a lot to do with what & how much should be applied to any jig.
There are some in this photo that are only tied with a flash material in the tail.
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Some in this photo too, and most of the others, using hair/fur or marabou also have some flash in them.
I had tied these jigs with American Shad in mind, but have also used jigs like this for panfishing, so they do double duty. I learned that a lot of years ago, that my shad flies & jigs also made great panfish flies & jigs.
Shad Dart jigs were always a popular jig type in MD where I grew up.
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A few more.
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Nice stuff Jim!
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Thank you!
Another thing I did years ago, before some of the longer fiber chenille type materials came on the scene, was make a collar behind the jig head using the flash materials, and that was using with a curltail grub.
I found that sometimes got more bites, even when combining with the beetle spin style spinners.
I used pearl the most, but also did that with gold & silver flash.
I don't have any photos of those, and now something like Hackle flash can be used to do the same thing.
This jig is tied sorta like that, but I had dressed the rest of the shank, where I left the hook shank bare with the other type.
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I like to add Blue Tinsel to my flipping jigs. ;)
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I haven't to this point, but by coincidence I came across a smalljaw video on YouTube the other day and thought i need some of those. Looks easy to tie and I'm sure works.
Here is the video for those interested.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5dy5AZTg8tE&pp=ygUQQ3JhcHBpZSBzaGFkIGppZw%3D%3D
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basscatlildave, I too like the electric blue flashabou in many bass jigs.
I've found that a lot of my plastics that I use seem to be better with blue glitter here, than without. The water here can be clear, but still has a tannic stain and I think the electric blue does great in this type of water.
Some of the brackish tidal rivers that I used to fish in MD had water like this, and electric blue was always good there in flies & jigs.
I also use a good bit of pearl, gold, copper, and bronze, and will blend them, even in hair jigs.