reds jig pic

jiggerjohn

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Mar 23, 2010
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My son and I still fish and tie with Red often. Red tends to tie his a bit fuller with satin (he mainly vertical jigs), while my son has refined the wool/satin ties for better finesse casting & retreiving as shown in his website at surefirejigs.com
 

lizardpuller

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Oct 18, 2013
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jiggerjohn said:
My son and I still fish and tie with Red often. Red tends to tie his a bit fuller with satin (he mainly vertical jigs), while my son has refined the wool/satin ties for better finesse casting & retreiving as shown in his website at   surefirejigs.com

THANKS FOR THE INFO JJ. I HANDCOUNTED THE SATIN IN THIS REDS JIG, AND THE AMOUNT OF SATIN WAS 10 TIMES WHAT I HAD READ TO USE.  i ENJOY ALL YOUR POSTS ON HERE, AND THE WEBSITE IS GREAT. tHANKS.       lIZARDPULLER.
 

jiggerjohn

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Yeah, Liz,  ole Red likes to pile on the satin & other flash materials! Trouble with vids and descriptions of Red's jigs is that no one that made these tutorials EVER SAW one of Red's actual jigs, nor,for darn sure, ever watched him tie one! I was just talking to Red on the telephone Monday, and he and I laugh all the time about people trying to recreate his ROBUST jig bodies by using too much wool, without the all important flashy, actionized satin dressing ! Red told me that he'll be tying & selling his jigs March 4-7 at the big annual Niles Ohio Outdoor show.
 

jiggerjohn

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Incidently I just got off the phone with Red, and he personally invites any reader/member of this forum to sit down beside him and tie alongside him, the exact step-by-step procedure for his pattern ! He'll even supply the materials, and mentioned that this year the Niles show is in a new venue in neighboring Girard, Ohio ,starting March 3 thru the weekend.
 

lizardpuller

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Oct 18, 2013
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Yeah jj......red called me when i got the jigs from him. We talked nearly an hour lol......couldnt believe he called. If he vert jigs these 1/32oz jigs, he has to have magic hands to even sense the jig. Id love to do the ohio show.....long drive from central alabamer tho. Enjoy all ur posts n pics....
 

jiggerjohn

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Lizard, Often on Pymatuning reservoir, where Red resides, this shallow water can be like glass and it's easy to drop a light jig straight down on 4# test. I've watched him many times,and sometimes I think his hands ARE magic, or he has ESP in detecting bites! However, as soon as any wind comes up, on go the split shots about 8" above the jig! Sometimes we need 3 big shots,when that 16000 acre flatlander kicks up, to keep our lines semi straight, even in the mere 12-16' depths that we prefer.
 

lizardpuller

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Ah ha........gottcha.  I live 30 minutes from Guntersville and 30 mins from the Coosa chain, so wind is the norm for me most of the time.I read on the big thread where he would rather add split shot to a light jig than go to a heavier jig. I havent played that game yet......learn something new about every time i re-read that miniature bible on Red........
 

jiggerjohn

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Lizardpuller, Below is another way to get Red's light jigs "out there" that you many enjoy trying. I've been having a great early season on trout (and yesterday bass,crappie, bluegill joined in!) with this method, thanks to unusual open (ice free) water, so did this write-up for a small local magazine

Half headers, full bubbles
by John McKean

Red Denmark and "Eskimo Fats" are two of my grandson's favorite fishing mentors. Young Andraes (11) was expertly casting a filled water bubble, as directed by Alaskan Chris Kiana (Eskimo Fats) in his well written book on employing float and fly, along with a trailing wool/satin jig inspired by ole Red. He retrieved the barely floating bobber beside an old weed edge when a huge rainbow trout exploded on the wooly jig. Used to playing big fish on UL spinning outfits, Dra confidently worked the monster in, only to discover that dad and grandpa had wandered down shore and weren't anywhere around with the family landing net! Yep, the big gal pulled off right at shore.Unperturbed, Dra continued casting, and within 5 minutes had another trout, almost as big, well hooked -this time with dad Sean anxiously standing nearby with long handled net at the ready !

Yes, at this time of year cold water trout are quite active, but often seem "way out there", beyond crowds and, at least in lakes, out of normal casting range. Some years back my friend Chris, a 71 year old Eskimo tribal elder (though a Viet Nam vet , and with a doctorate in business administration !) told me about his unique method with a water bubble and fly, as he has perfected over 55 years in wilderness lakes in his vast home state. It turns out this system is wonderfully productive on our heavily pressured local waters for elusive rainbows, browns, and brookies, as well as most other species.

A water bobber is clear and hollow, with a slideable center stem that can be pushed open for an instant water fill. At about an inch and a half length, when filled it weighs an ounce. This weight will carry a fly or light jig out a "mile" ! Yet,despite the weight, because it is essentially just water, it is neutrally buoyant in the lake. Filled a bit less than full,it floats just as does a regular bobber, tho it seems to retrieve a bit smoother when fully loaded.

We've always found that Red's sparkly jigs are highly enticing to all trout, so we use these, or smaller 1/64 oz home tied models, behind our bubbles. Red usually produces 1/16 oz jigs for his extensive crappie fishing while vertically working brush piles below his boat; these tend to be just a tad heavy for float use, so we often take a pair of side cutters and clip the soft lead heads in half (or less). This yields a flat bottomed head that swims perfectly while steadily reeled behind our clear bobbers.

Mostly, this is an easy, fun method of fishing for most of our shallow reservoirs and wider rivers. But, trouble is, you may find MANY crappies, bluegills, catfish, and bass interspersed within your trout catch ! To this end, if there is interest, I'll do more articles on the water bubble technique geared specifically to these others.
 

hookup

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A water bobber is clear and hollow, with a slideable center stem that can be pushed open for an instant water fill.

I have caught and released many High Sierra lake trout using this method.
 

redear

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I had a few of these casting bubbles and couldn't figure out how to attach them to my line, anyone care to explain?
 

hookup

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We'd do a couple ways.

First, thread line through the rod and them back around

Next, thread line through rod, then tie on a swivel - let float run up & down line freely.

Last, thread line through rod, then add split shot - let float run up & down line freely.
 
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