I've been hooked on these baits the past few weeks. It started when I found a 1/8oz chatterbait that I bought a few years ago and came across it while looking for something else. I took off the rubber skirt and tied it using a combination of crosscut rabbit, rabbit zonkers and silicone rubber strands. During a slow evening when I couldn't buy a bite I tied it on and caught a nice bass on the second cast. Ended up with five more over the next hour before it got dark. I bought more the very next day and tied them using rabbit, craft hair or both. They have been working so well that I bought an Arky head mold and ordered a ton of blades to play with. Crazy tying addiction now has me at about 100+ of these in assorted colors, sizes and head styles. Was playing around and tied up a hot pink one and that even caught a couple bass last week. Black or white seems to work the best so far catching bass up to 4lbs at the couple of city park lakes close to home. Need to try the rivers soon since they are almost at normal level. Some pics... These are 1/4-1/2 oz. Even the heavier baits fish light for there size and can be fished in shallow water.            

For years, I pretty much used 3 jig sizes 1/32, 1/16. 1/24. This season, with everything being so much different, I find myself trying new and unusual things. Most notably, is the addition of 1/8, 3/16, 1/4 and 5/16 ounce jigs to the mix. Casting them is quite cumbersome as i am used to casting one size, one hook size etc etc. Usually, I dump a box of hooks on a baking sheet, sort out a decent pile and start casting. This year, casting 3 - 6 sizes at the same time my baking sheet technique takes up way too much space.

Ive tried a lot of things and each shows promise but each has distinct  disadvantages.  My current is a wire rack which when set up allows me room for 6 or more different hooks all neatly organized but is still cumbersome so I am reaching out and asking how everyone keeps multiple hook sizes organized during casting. I am toying the the idea of a lazy susan but hope someone has a better solution.

Lets hear it all y'all

glad to be back after a problem logging in.   wanted to give you a heads up on a new yarn. wendy eider chunky yarn is a new eyelash type yarn that is awesome for flies and jigs.168 yards for under 4bucks.  my go to 1/8 jig is a leech with a furled tail of this yarn and a body palmered with it. also works great on a crappie jig with a satin wing.  if i could photo them i would    rich mc

The east european "cheburashka" interchangeable sinker system has  already been introduced here. I have managed to find a supplier for the wire forms. Now I found a mold that makes for a neat head: The poison tail has an appealing apearance and doesn´t roll into boulder cracks like the ball design. I modified it to accept a 3mm wide spacer with a 1,5mm wide hole which accepts a hanger hook for paint curing which again I had laser-cut. I find it worth the trouble as it is a unique design that allows for swift weight changes and simple, economic ties without the troubles of big eyes.

Has anybody bought anything from them?

Ive  noticed a trend on all sites of poor participation in jig swaps so started wondering why. At one time, I was participating in 3- 5 swaps on various sites and  almost always 10 - 15 tyers and a few times even more. The swaps here in recent history have been lucky to get 6 participants and the last one dropped to 3.

Anyone have any ideas? Or has the whole swapping idea gone by the wayside.

In no particular order, here are some things I think may be going on.

Life has gotten in the way.
Burned out.
Have more jigs than I'll ever use.
Take to long
Not long enough
Want to participate just dont want to host.
Dont fish anymore.

Anyone have ideas of how to get the ball rolling again

Been a while since I posted.  Thought I would post up a recent jig success.   I decided to tie up some flarehawks and then some standard jigs for snapper.  Material is sea witch hair and its a do it ultra jig mold.  I also found a reference on the internet to a guy using a clear coat auto paint and just dipping his jigs in it for durability.  WOW  what a difference.

It was a long trip out for our short red snapper season here in Fl.  I had my rod rigged and ready with the 4oz jig.  Never used a jig like this in 160+ foot of water before.  i kid you not.   We stopped the boa.  I dropped the jig in the water and counted to about 60...   BAM first legal snapper of the day on a jig I tied the night before!   It was a pretty cool feeling.

Fishindad

Well even with it raining some folks were at the flea market selling this weekend and I picked up this snootie jig mold


Then I stopped at the fly shop (like I need any more stuff!!LOL) and I picked up 2 nice pieces of black bear hide for a $1 a piece


And this was two peacock eyes I had dyed purple, came out really nice

In recent correspondence with famed bunnystrip tier, Paul Jensen, I was rather excited about an interesting jig method for Spring/early Summer northern pike. Paul is often featured in In-Fisherman stories on using his very long, unique rabbit zonker style lures for muskies,pike, and lunker bass, yet he told of just employing a simple red & white bucktail jig, tied since his youth, that is fished near the surface over & around emerging weed beds. Jensen merely attaches a bobber or water bubble a few feet above his jig and proceeds to work it in with constantly varying rod positions to create a slow motion zig zag action. To keep them buoyant, Paul purposely ties the white only bucktail full and long (starts wrapping bundles at the rear of the hook shank for length,then stacks above and below this initial tie), and ,interestingly, uses just a light 1/16 or 1/8 jighead (painted red).

In water, the fat bucktail flits around, depending on the rod angled pull  on the float, while also pulsating and swimming when slowly sinking ( tho' not far)between the mild jerks. Onlooking pike find the action of this easy prey hard to resist ! To me, the blooming jig reminds of a plump red& white bluegill (nope, never saw a r&w 'gill,either!) surface feeding, tho I'm sure this big bucktail could resemble many tasty chunk-style minnows , or just something highly visible & in distress! Whatever,Mr. Jensen maintains that since boyhood, he has caught far more pike on his basic red&white bucktail than anything!

The float approach is simple - merely secure a half filled standard water bubble about 30 inches upline and gently heave it out. It'll travel a long way, much further than the light headed, air resistant, full bucktail  will go. This bubble is also fairly visible to concentrate on rod motion and changing pulling angles. Another idea was recently supplied by our own super tier from Germany, Bucho , with the use of their streamlined Bombardas ; these cast a full bodied jig out even better, and offer even less resistance on the retreive & jerking motions. However you're rigged, tho, don't forget the wire leader !

I'm having trouble with bluegill and crappies hitting short on my jigs and flies. They act like they really don't want it. Tried several colors, just wondering what you guys do when this happens. Flies were #14 and jigs were 1/16 with size #6 hooks.