A few ties.

[davidriley]

A friend of mine has access to some trout fishing, which he usually targets with the lure rod and a Mepps, or soft bait. Thought I would educate him into trying a few jig flies.

The two on the left of the photo with the red tag are my version of the 'Bloody William', which is a 'William's Favourite' with a red tag tail. Black hen hackle, black floss silk body ribbed with oval silver and a red fluorescent wool tag with a touch of U.V.Enhancer flash pearl. A useful fly when there is a bit of colour in the water.

The fly below is a 'Black & Peacock spider' , a beetle or general bug imitation, normally fished in still water but I always found it to be useful on rivers too. Black hen hackle with an underbody of black floss silk overwound with 3 strands of peacock herl twisted. The body is ribbed with fine copper wire taken from an old electric motor!

The two in the top centre are the 'Pheasant tail'. An old English pattern, which can be fished wet or dry. My version is of the wet spider pattern. A furnace hen neck hackle with orange tying silk. The body is two or three strands of a cock pheasant centre tail ribbed with fine gold wire. I like the orange tying silk to show through at the tail end.

Below the 'Pheasant Tail' is my jig version of a pheasant tail nymph made famous in England by Frank Sawyer and Major Oliver Kite. The dressing is 3/4 strands of cock pheasant centre tail feather wound over a body of brown tying silk with some lead wire wound over the hook in the thorax area. Although you can't see it from the photo, when you reach the lead head the feather is doubled back over the thorax region. Very fiddly. I cheated! I tied a couple of extra strands of cock pheasant herl in before the thorax and then tied it down at the head.

The two bucktail flies are me 'playing'.

David

 

[luremaker]

Looks Good to me! I think the fish will approve as well! Nice Ties!

 

[BucktailJiger]

Beautiful ties David !

 

[Jig Man]

And sickles...:icon14::icon14:

 

[Kdog]

Nicely done.

 

[AllenOK]

Nice ties, David! The bucktail jigs would get bit in the river I fish. All of those smaller jigs will get inhaled by the various sunfish species in my area. I tie a basic Peacock and Starling pattern with a wire rib, both as a bead-head fly version as well as a micro-jig.

 

[plateboater]

Well done!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Nice bugs! What size are your jigs? Do you present them under a float?

 

[Fatman]

Love tying fly patterns on jigs - They look good

 

[dbeam]

Those look good I have added a few of those to my to do list.
Thanks for the post and pictures.

Darrell

 

[davidriley]

Nice bugs! What size are your jigs? Do you present them under a float?

Thanks.
The pheasant tails & nymph are on a jig head 1gram (1/32oz) size 8, the Bloody William and Black and Peacock spider are on a jig head 2gram (1/16oz) size 6.
The bucktails are on a jig head 3.5gram (1/8oz) not sure of the hook size probably about 1/0.

We don't usually fish jig heads under a float over here, although it is something I plan to try later this year. We would use a lure rod between 5ft 6iins and 7ft, with a casting weight of 2 - 10grams (approx 1/16oz - 3/8oz) the line would probably be braid 4-6lb, although I tend to use 8lb Nanofil. However fishing jig flies is not done very much in the UK although I am aware of one guy who has had good results and is making a few quid (bucks) tying and selling them to his friends.

At the moment fishing jig flies is all new to me and experimental but I have great hopes for plenty of success. I intend to tie a few up and give them to friends to try.

David

 

[AtticaFish]

They are all very nice, but those with the red tag tails really catch my eye. Going to have to make a few for myself. Great looking work.

My 1/32 (1gm) jigs are almost always used with a weighted float for casting. Most of my local small lakes have steep banks into deep water so i end up using fixed floats set as deep as i can set them and still be able to cast. I am casting the float and the jigs just goes along for the ride. Another option (if legal regulation) is to tie 2 separate jigs on your line to double up the weight to cast.

 

[davidriley]

They are all very nice, but those with the red tag tails really catch my eye. Going to have to make a few for myself. Great looking work.

My 1/32 (1gm) jigs are almost always used with a weighted float for casting. Most of my local small lakes have steep banks into deep water so i end up using fixed floats set as deep as i can set them and still be able to cast. I am casting the float and the jigs just goes along for the ride. Another option (if legal regulation) is to tie 2 separate jigs on your line to double up the weight to cast.

Thanks.
When you have cast your float out do you move the float or do you just allow the wind, any flow etc., to move the float naturally? I have been looking at the 'Bombarda style' float fishing, which I believe is used in the Baltic for sea trout fishing in the sea. Still researching it all but it sounds a fascinating method of lure fishing and very effective.

David

 

[StumpHunter]

Nice jig flies.

 

[LedHed]

Outstanding - killer patterns

 

[justcameslabdaddy]

Good job nice ties!

 

[AtticaFish]

.........
When you have cast your float out do you move the float or do you just allow the wind, any flow etc., to move the float naturally?.........

All of the above. I guess it just depends what the fish want on that day. Will pop it hard and fast some times but other time it takes long (5-10 second) pauses in the retrieve with no action to get a bite. I tend to start out with a specific cadence........ pop-pop-pop-pause------ pop-pop-pop-pause------ pop-pop-pop-pause------ then throw in so odd pauses and see what happens. Majority of the time i am working a bobber and jig (float 'n fly) the whole way in but have had days when the wind and current seem to make enough action and i really do not have to do much.

 

[davidriley]

.........
When you have cast your float out do you move the float or do you just allow the wind, any flow etc., to move the float naturally?.........

All of the above. I guess it just depends what the fish want on that day. Will pop it hard and fast some times but other time it takes long (5-10 second) pauses in the retrieve with no action to get a bite. I tend to start out with a specific cadence........ pop-pop-pop-pause------ pop-pop-pop-pause------ pop-pop-pop-pause------ then throw in so odd pauses and see what happens. Majority of the time i am working a bobber and jig (float 'n fly) the whole way in but have had days when the wind and current seem to make enough action and i really do not have to do much.

Thanks. Definitely will give the float a go when I can.

David