A Little Help PLEASE ??

[SaltyBuckster]

My brother in law seined a few of these guys while down on a bluefish charter with his boys.I need a little help to figure this one out.It's a mullet that got netted with a bunch of spearing.A great bait fish that cost about $10.00 for a frozen little bag full.I need to tie a jig that mimics it.I'de say it is about 3 to 3 1/2 inches long.Here's a pic.

 

[AtticaFish]

Looks like it has a general shad shape to it... and a black/silver combo should work - i know you won't have a problem with those colors from your AZ days.

Getting the shad profile (vertically flat sides) is tough but can be done with bucktail that has a little flair to it. The Style 9 Shad Head would be a near match for the head shape!

I don't have many 'shad' heads, but will try to come up with something this week............

 

[SaltyBuckster]

I started off with a teaser last night.The baitfish itself is a yellow, gold body with a brownish top.I went with white belly,yellow middle and a tan top.Added a few strands of black in the top area to give it some kind of contrast.Chartruese pearl flash down the side and light brown thread for the head with an eye.Here's one dry in the vise and another one wet.The wet one is the one that I'm looking forward to seeing.I made the hook point down on this one also.Don't know why yet,but maybe we will find out.I think that I'm going with a 3/8 size head for the jig.

 

[StumpHunter]

I believe you have a good imitation. Nice work!

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Thanks.I like tying the teaser first to give me some kind of idea how to make the jig.I'm at the thick part of my white bucktail,lol.

 

[SaltyBuckster]

I think a little darkness in the tail would make it look a little better to the fish.Hook up,hook down??We are going to find out if I can just stop and tie a differant one on in the middle of a good bite,lol.

 

[toadfrog]

They will work just fine. Hook up hook down who the heck knows I don't but I bet it gets in a lip either way. LOL

 

[SaltyBuckster]

I think this is a better match.Went with tan body with a few strands of yellow bucktail in it.The back I made olive bucktail with grey flash and light brown thread.I made a chennile body hoping to make it a little fatter looking.It looks really good in the water,but seperates when it comes out because of the chenille on the hook shank.Not a bad thing,fish are in the water,lol.

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Whoops,lol.

 

[CrappieHappy]

Nice work...

 

[papaperch]

Not to start anything but I would vote hook up. Reason why is I always had a bad bite/catch ratio when using floating jigs.
Drop a floating jig in water and you will see hook is down when jig is floating or submerged. Way back in the 1970's when I fished for walleye quite a bit I switched to a float rig. That is a snelled hook held up by a styrofoam piece of material that looks like an egg sinker and is normally painted. My hook up ratio improved dramatically. Been a believer in the hook up position ever since.

This setup has served me well on the following walleye,crappie and yellow perch. Perch and walleye both can be exasperating nibblers at times and letting them run with lindy style rig with floating setup has proved to be the answer for those days. Crappie normally smash the minnow on the suspended hook so no finesse needed there.

In case someone would like to try this rig. On your main line slide a slip sinker 1/16 0r 1/18 oz. Tie a crane swivel immediately behind it. Next select a length of leader material , I like 6 or 8 # mono about 2-3 foot of it. I then tie leader to other end of crane swivel slide the styro piece on next and finally a #6 short shank hook. Size 8 is favorite for perch and walleye size 4 is favorite for crappie. # 6 has proved to be an all rounder.