This jig may look funny or weird but it has been a killer on river smallmouth. I thought long and hard about whether or not I should even put this out there but I think it deserves to be tried by others. I call it a "Hairy Back Sculpin" , it is tied on a 1/8oz weedless ball jig with a 1/0 Aberdeen style hook, the head is brown and I use natural buck tail for the main jig body and for the heair back portion I use natural deer hair (belly). The first versions of this jig I would cut the deer hair short on the top part of the jig so the entire collar would be flared for a muddler type collar but I then changed it as it was easier to tie and it didn't make a difference with the fish. I made this by accident trying to make a different type of jig and I saw some potential in the test tank so I tweaked it and this is what came out. The deer hair really slows the fall but changes the way it falls, more of a glide I would say, and the hair compresses slightly when the jig is on the bottom so it sits up surprisingly well, this is one jig I have confidence in without a trailer but I kept it too myself until now, anyway, tell me how ugly you think this is.
