Vertical jigging Master

Hawn

Yes the 1/64 jig could be subbed. Alot of fly fisherman are using the tiny jigs as they are cheaper than some of the beads, only problem with it is if your in a state with no-lead law or fly fish only as a jig is considered a jig.

When I last talked to Red , he described his version of a walleye jig, made with his basic wool,flash,satin formula - he ties it quite a bit longer and throws in a stinger hook. I'll get more details next time I'm up, but he had a guy take him out on Pym a few weeks ago specifically for walleyes (Pym is famous mostly for 'eyes, but Red doesn't care to go out for them all that much);so he gets out to one of his private 18' midlake humps, drops down his newly tied long walleye jig, and gets three 20 inchers within minutes (Red says this is also the world's best channel catfish jig when tipped with a 1" nightcrawler piece!). His client was utterly flabbergasted, and quickly joined in the vertical jigging! Anyway, I was inspired by this and thought a Hawn's HU head Boolie could be tied as a "RED BOOL" and,like the high energy drink, really jump into action! Put the usual propeller and tiny cone in place on the 1/14 oz HU, then formed a pulled out ,minnow shaped section of basic off white wool in the back end-maybe a bit thicker than normal & extending back an inch or so.Still wanting the materials somewhat sparse & thin (the wool in water thickens everything to a fatter chub-like shape anyway! Years ago in the original Fishing Facts mag, a bunch of old time Wisconsin experts had a tremendous secret -they specialized in stream caught, super healthy chub minnows for HUGE, legendary catches of northerns,walleyes, and bass-hmmm, today I'm gonna dig up that story!), I put in 3 strands of gold ,long flashabou, then "covered" that underneath with a thin pinch of RED SF blend. Around the sides (which flare outwards due to the wool), I used a thin layer of white satin. This gives a nice silouette of a finger sized, plump little minnow, with flashy material offset enough to derive tremendous action from the propeller. May just be one of my most realistic boolies yet -sure looks like a PA stream chub!

Jigger would like to see a copy of the Article and a pic of the jig.

jj,the white satin on the sides with it's brightness will show up really well,like a lateral line. It shows up so well that I'm tying it in first and then adding the wool around and over it and under the blacklight it still shows up well. I tried them for the first time yesterday and crappie,bluegill and bass ate it regularly in cold water. Tying bigger baits for smallies and walleye is on the list for sure.

Jungle, Glad ya got to fish the satin sided wool jigs -great going on that catch!! And YOUR carefully painted CHUB heads should certainly be terrific for the longer "Red Bool chub" jigs that I've been tyin' ! I've noted in my testing of this longer ,fatter version that the boolie spinner REALLY activates the swimming motion of that bright white satin on the sides -the wool sorta pushes those cloth fibers apart to bring more motion to each individual strand, too ! Then ,I've taken to placing just a small bit of natural brown wool on top of the normal off white main wool section, to yield just a bit more natural, darker backed chub coloring into the mix. I still strive to keep this Boolie tail dressing on the sparse side within this blend of stuff, to yield best swaying action.

jigger - you gonna post a pic of this red bool chub??

ya'll are killin me!! they took away our internet at work yesterday and I'm trying to catch up with you all when I get home. went to bass pro today and bought two swatches of wapsi sculpin wool, black and white, tomorrow I want to look for those peices of natural color wool Iv'e had for years, sure hope I haven't thrown it away. I see crazy angler has wool in chart. as well.

redear I'm afraid they'll cut our access at work too!!!! Hopefully they're just doing a system update and you'll get it back!!

yeah Doug, we are hoping it is just an update, it has happened before, but I wouldn't put it past them to do away with it for good.

Want to try tying some of these but can't figure out the satin portion of it. Anyone care to explain it better to a dummy like me. Seen the satin ribbon at fabric tore but don't how you guys are using it. Unless it is as simple as cutting the ribbon into narrower strips.

Papaperch, When Red does this, he gets a square section, about4x4 " of white satin CLOTH, not ribbon, then takes his fingernail,placed near the center border of the square, to grab and pull just a small bundle of the bright white fibers off an end -these slide right out. He takes the bundle,ties in its center on his jig a few turns, flips the other section to the opposite side and finishes the tie. I'm discovering ,on my satin ties, that if I fan out the satin strands to flare out(due to wool base) from the bottom of the jig that a more pronounced action is produced, especially for vertical jigging.

By the time I get the stuff to try these I'll have all the tips and tricks for tying them!!! Thanks all this a a really great thread!!!!!!!!!

I agree, a real good thread!! haven't fished them yet but can't waite to try them, especially in some other colors too. I can see a two tone green with a green head etc. or a gray wool with a pink head.

I just ordered some wool from crazy angler, chartruese, white, gray, yellow, orange and pink, at 2 bucks a pack, also got some kiptails in kelly green, gr. chart. fl. yellow, white, orange. maybe this stuff will help get me thru the winter.

Yeah right buddy!!!!!!!!! The way you go through kip tail it'll be gone in a month or less!!!!!LOL I'm beating my chenille supply and might have to re-stock a few colors soon.

My sister in law is a seamstress and I asked her if she had any scrap pieces of satin, she thinks she has about 4 colors so here's hoping I can save on the satin purchase.

really want to get into this wool thing more tho, and test the jigs out as far as how they catch fish in my area, so I needed more wool colors. the kiptail is a given and will always be a staple in my box too. momma caught me ordering the stuff too!!

You might just need the heater out in the work shed!!!!!!!!!! if Momma gets ticked!!!!!!!!!!LOL

with my luck she would turn the power off on me!! kinda excited about the wool I ordered though. lol

Ok, someone tell me a wool jig fishin story!! I know a couple of you have been fishin it at least a little.

Redear, With our PA weather closing in now for winter, I have to mention the wool success to end the season (well,I'm still hopeful-the lakes haven't completely frozen up yet!). My son, grandson, and I got to spend some time at our hard fished local lake for the late Fall trout season, so we tied up our usual 1/24 oz Boolie jigs with a small chunk of natural off-white wool as the top layer of the tail (below was the usual 2-4 strands of of gold flashabou & a 1" piece of rabbit or mink zonker strip). Despite the lake's edge sometimes iced out a few feet, and those few others out there that fished bait & spoons catching next to nothing, our Wool-Bools got us nearly 70 very nice rainbows in several days out (all released)! Some days ,to keep somewhat warmer, we fished in bright sunshine (post cold front,clear skies) from about 1 to 3 in the afternoon, and trout still loaded on to wool backed jigs (maybe the fish wanted just to keep their mouths warm with the wool!!). I'll have to see if Keith at Hawn's jigs can post on here with a few photos I'd sent him of some of those fish.

One disasterous afternoon out, my 31 yr old son Sean, quickly nailed 7 beauties to my zero !! Discovered the trout were laying particularly low that day and would only take something that sank ultra slow - Sean ties his jigs a bit heavy handed on materials and also went with a lighter Hawn's alloy 1/32 oz head. His jig must have been just floating around down there for lethargic trout to munch on. Crazy thing was, after he caught number 5 , and I was still floundering around hitless, we heard a duck quacking loudly in the background ; Sean commented "See ,Dad, even the ducks are laughing at you!!" Of course, I learned from my mistake and loaded the wool topping on my next tied Boolie, and actually scalped the little wise guy over the next few days!

I noted that many of the bigger trout took the wool lined jig as it sank,landed on bottom , and SAT there for an instant. Does this stuff have a mild natural scent to it? For one thing, the way wool holds liquid, next season I intend to dunk it in corn juice for trout, cats, and carp! Red told me he has observed clear water brown trout, in particular, watching the jig hit bottom. He calls it "the rule of 3" -he watched them move from a neutral position to look at the resting lure,then return to their former holding spot, then they'd wait for a bit and proceed to go back for a second look before returning. BUT, the THIRD time, Red maintains they come back to the jig and ALWAYS take it! Same rule of 3 for tight holding smallmouth bass!