Recent ties

Little bit of a hodge-podge of jig sizes and intended species here.  Some that were meant to be ice fished (never happened because of very limited ice here this year), some for walleye and some targeting bass.  

These are the ice jigs.... but all made with brass cyclops beads on jig hooks and sproat hooks instead of poured heads.  Inspiration was the VMC Fly Jig.  Also a dropper jig of sorts.  Also added a pic of my new Arctic Armor float suit.  The AA suit is made be somewhat buoyant in case you break through the ice it will help to keep you higher in th water helping you get back on the ice.  Hope to never test its buoyancy. 

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These are my bass jig-n-pig style.  Gave up on the normal style and really only fish my own jig-n-pig styles now instead of using skirt jigs with plastic or pork.  The zonkers kick just as good as any others in my opinion.  Still need to make some lighter headed jigs in this style for some finesse styles to use in the river.  Really want to get back into my river fishing this year.

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Last bunch are a variety of long tail walleye jigs using a base layer of wool roving to give a full profile along with long strips of silicone skirt and rabbit zonkers for action.  Used cross cut rabbit strips as a collar on these to cover up all the work and achieve a nice streamlined body once they get wet.  We will see how they do over the next few months.  Need to restock my walleye in the freezer!!!

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Like em all! I bet them walleye jigs would really work well on our Upper Red Lake here,especially that brighter one.
Good Luck with em.
midnight

The Dogfish is a nice touch

Love the first bass jig

The suit - yeah, don't test it out!

Those walleye jigs looks great! Open water here in Colorado and have already started hunting the walleyes but have yet to find any yet.

We have open water here too. I actually got out for an hour and a half last night after dark hoping i might be able to find a walleye. No fish and not a bite. Another month and they should start chasing the baitfish up along shore again.

Looking good Russ! I like your variant of the jig-n-pig. How light are you thinking of going on them? I have some in 1/4 and 3/8 football head that I haven't had a chance to try yet. That cross cut zonker on the collar is just the thing I was going to try on some stand up's too. Hope they turn out as good as yours. Lot's of ice still here, last I heard the upper Spokane river was froze all the way across and there was still 15" on Moses Lake. Been quite a while since that's happened on the river.  2X on not testing the buoyancy on that suit too, Looks warm though.

Boy, Those jig-n-pigs look great! Would love to see a tutorial on how you tie those.

Nice ties as always Russ!!

As always Russ, Nice ties. My walleye fishing this year (and november and December)last year was a learning experience and 95% were caught on Vision 110+1 crank baits, Deep water walleye this year was pretty much a waste of time. So much for the Jigggin raps, Blade baits and Jigs, You fished hard and could barely catch a keeper, plenty of shorts but the good fishing was catching suspended fish working in 4 - 6 FOW. My work schedule changed in Mid January so I can only get out a few evenings a week. Fish are still working the shallow water not quite as agressively as they were earlier but shad raps 110+1 and similar suspending type crank baits are still outproducing everything else. Its to the point where most of my jigging equip in on the wall in the basement.

Thanks for all the comments.

hook-up - Do love me some Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA.  Still have not tried the 120.... seems i always miss when the shipment comes in at my local gas station that has a crazy assortment.  They do carry enough options that every time i go in i can come out with something new to try.

duffy - I have gone down pretty light weight with some of the jig-n-pigs in the past.  Have to be careful when you go lighter not to overload it with the silicone skirt or they become an aerodynamic nightmare and almost impossible to cast any distance.  They also have a very slow fall rate in the water.  The ones that are pictured are 1/4 size round heads but poured in tin so a little lighter weight.  They have some super sharp eye forward Gami hooks in them too.  I've gone down as light as 1/16 with oversize hooks and they do work.  It becomes finesse fishing instead the normal in your face style of a traditional jig-n-pig.  I seem to catch lots of cats on the lighter weight options.

Muskygary - I put up a step-by-step a long while back for the basic pattern here: Jig 'n' Zonk.  Really the only thing i have changed over time that is not in the tutorial is that i now add something near the back hook bend between the zonker strips to keep the separated.  Tie it in first and  then tie the zonkers on each side.  A big clump of kip, wool or other fuzzy material (even use the mop pieces you see people going loopy over the mop fly craze) works nicely.  Have found the separation really helps to get the most action out of the zonkers.  Can simply drag these along and they kick like crazy.

Kdog - Think the last walleye i caught was back in mid December when they were still up actively chasing bluegill in rip-rap. I've gone back a few times since and just not seeing any baitfish activity near shore. The main reservoir i fish (Willard) is nothing but deep water so it takes a long time to cool down then also takes a while to warm back up. I do have some shad-raps and deep HJ's i will have to try next time out. There is a very deep area (gets close to 40 FOW) that i can't reach from shore. I know the bluegill and perch stack up in that area during ice fishing season so i am thinking the walleye should be close by that same area.

Holy sh**, $300 threads and $25 cranks! Are those shallow wallys being caught from shore or a float?

With warm water species seasonally inactive here, baitfishy lures are a ticket for Winter trouting in moving water off the beaten path.

I found an alternative to the 110+1 sometimes fish from a boat, other times from the bank. http://www.predatorbassbaits.com/id69.html
Pretty much the same action and there are some customizing suppestions that were very helpful. Yes I had to loosen up the airbrush, but its fun.

Geez, that crank blank looks like a (Chinese) knock off of the Megabass version?

I'm wondering if finicky suspending shallow wallys might be amenable to a finesse jigging approach? Floating plastics on a light jig head might be near bouyancy neutral, and proper head design could enable slow darting retrieves with twitch input, similar to a suspending crank, but perhaps less alarming?

I was planning to get the AA coat and bibs for myself after Christmas, but my parents found out and got them for me. They are pricey! I wanted them for extra insurance since i am located on the edge of the ice belt and we don't always get nice thick ice. I tend to do a lot of fishing solo as well. Only actually wore it twice after Christmas but it does keep me nice and warm. The bibs i will most likely wear for spring and fall fishing, but the coat keeps in so much heat that i would be sweating in anything over 20°.

Nice work AF, love the paint too. But what it is the beverage? Don't recognize the cap....

Thanks Jig Man. They sell a couple different versions of Dogfish Head at the gas station, but pretty sure this was their 60 Minute IPA. Got a nice little kick.