Go small or go home

[Hawnjigs]

Jig anglers are by nature creative, always trying new ideas or variations of same ol'. JiggerJohn spends his Winter downtime stuck inside his head contrapting all manner of tweaks some verging on wacky. Of course, with his experienced skills every creation catches fish until he moves on to the next latest greatest.

One of his enduring foundations tho is small jig ties in the 1/64 thru 1/16 sizes with a preference for 1/24 mostly with #8 hooks. There being no panfish opportunity out my way and since I prefer targetting larger other species my preferred jigs are usually 1/14 to 1/8 oz weight with #2 thru 2/0 hooks.

However during a best current option canal smallmouth session cupla weeks ago while still open water decided to tie on a remainder trout jig in my waist pack 1/16 #8 Sickle natural gray brown tip rabbit fur and was surprised that it got bit as well or maybe better than the previous broke off 1/16 #2 with 2" motor oil twister. by lots of smallies average 12-13" + an uncommon 19" wally & also rare 10" perch.

The canal subsequently ice capped and couldn't fish it till this past Monday as mentioned in another post with a fresh 1" 1/16 #6 short black mink fur jig created just for this time and place. Bite was slower but still managed bout a dozen smallies + 14 & 18" wallys + a 4-5# catfish.

Do yah think size matters?

 

[jiggerjohn]

Actually during my early years, the great Sports Afield writer, Jason Lucas, always impressed me with his constant stress on small hooks (why use shark gear,he'd say), light buoyant lures, and working a lure slowly with added tweaks. Now, 60+ years of experience later, I confirm that Jason is still "right on the money" !! Of course ya can build about any type of jig,material or soft plastic, on a 1/24 oz jighead, and catch everything on them -and a no. 8 thicker wire O'Shaughnessy will hold everything!

 

[jiggerjohn]

As to big fish on tiny jigs, an old clip from Pa Angler magazine,Nov 71 -
"
Still and all, it has been Jim Hetrick of St. Marys who
has topped every record in the tailwaters book while using
his Little Kinzua Warrior jigs, and he is to be credited
with changing the emphasis in jig fishing from the large
"snatch" type jigs once so popular on the river as far downstream
as Tionesta to the fishing of jigs so small they approach
the finesse of wet fly fishing.
"The smaller the jig I use," Jim says, "the larger the
fish I catch." And to prove the point, he and a couple
friends have recently hooked and landed nine musky running
from 32 to 40 inches in length from the tailwaters
while fishing with 1/32 ounce jigs less than an inch in
length.
But while Jim will credit most of his "luck" to small jigs,
I happen to know that there are other contributing factors.
For one thing, this fisherman doesn't really jig a jig. Instead
of the usual lift-and-drop method used by most fishermen,
he will let his lure lay dead on the bottom, giving
it only an occasional twitch. Or work it slowly in towards
his position with the slightest rod movement.
And another thing. He is a dedicated night fisherman as
are most of the tailwater regulars. He seldom starts fishing
before nightfall, and claims his best catches are made between
midnight and the last hour before dawn."

 

[Hawnjigs]

No doubt tiny jigs get bit by surprisingly large fish, the limiting factor is the smaller the jig weight the lighter the line needed to cast & handle them. Out here landing a 10#+ any species might be tediously time consuming on 4-6# test line in my preferred rock bottom areas. As another adherent of the pre-sunrise bite time is of the essence cuz its game over when the sky lightens.

But yah if you don't have to worry about big fish spooling you, digging into bottom snags, or around break off obstructions small jigs on light line does have advantages.

How does Mr. Hetrick land up to 20# muskies on light line(?) in fast water?

 

[jiggerjohn]

I'm not sure how Jim Hetrick landed the muskies, or what his equipment was like. I did have contact last year with his grandson ,tho, and was assured of the muskie bite ,and that he (the grandson) caught his first, and many muskies thereafter, on Jim's small jig -almost always in a red,yellow,white bucktail pattern. Now, Kinzua dam outflow is often relatively calm with fairly clean,rock bottom, and I did get the impression that light spinning gear was used.

 

[hookup]

When I first started fishing the right coast, it was with small jigs, small plastics, light line and very light gear.

I was lambasted that I killed all the fish I caught because the fight built up lactic acid in the fish and causes them to die

I upgraded and fished for years with heavier tackle, bigger hooks, and bigger plastic. It worked

As I get older, I'm tending on downsizing back to what I fished with and am loosing fish. Now I'm looking for a happy medium.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

For the past couple of months since the water got cold all I have been using are 1/48 float n fly jigs with a #8 or #10 sickle hook and have caught more bass, crappie, bluegill, redear and trout than the previous 12 months combined fishing them under a weighted 3/4" float. The length of these baits are no more than 1 1/4 " in length. I got my PB Black crappie just over 3 lbs and almost 18" on December 30th on one. Little jigs will catch big fish all year round if you use them.

 

[Hawnjigs]

JJ1 what kind of main line & leader if any are you using? 4# mono in my experience can be broken by head snaps or landed flops by fish weighing less than the #test, mostly due to jig tie knot fatigue.

3# crappie is epic !

Mr. HU, have you ever actually seen fish die due to fight stress ?

 

[hookup]

Mr. HU, have you ever actually seen fish die due to fight stress ?

No. But I was young and stupid and believed everything I read on the internet at the time ;-)

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I'm using 2-3 # Maxima with a 7' Shimano Soare BB spinning rod and a Shimano Stella 2000 reel. Rod is rated for 1-3 # line and has an .8 mm tip. In the four years I've been using it I've caught bass over 6# on it. I liked this rod so much I bought a second one and a replacement tip in case I ever break the tip since it's so small. I've had this rod bent double and thought it was going to break many times but it's always held up.

 

[Hawnjigs]

That sounds like pushing the limits of UL fishing. Do you ever lose fish to line breaks ?

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I lose fish occasionally to break offs but it's usually on the hook set or when I don't retie after catching a bunch of fish. I don't retie like I should when it's cold and occasionally I pay the price. When I was a teen I fished for carp a lot with 2-4 lb test and caught carp to 18# on 2lb. and 27# on 4lb. I like giving the fish a chance and 2lb. is stronger than most people think.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Since JiggerJohn shared his Basher tie with me - bucktail, rabbit, Flashabou pattern - I've stuck with the fur+flash combo for over 10 yrs and always caught fish, mostly trout, when I used those jigs. To my eye, the jiggly Flashabou over or undertie with the fur body was essential as a bite attractor.

Lately tho following the KISS principle decided to dispense with the Flashabou and tie with straight fur on small jigs, after I got some sheeny short fur natural black mink tails from Greece.

Already reported success with 1/16 #6 Sickle ties using that fur with smallies + a few wallys, and yesterday took that jig trouting in a badly depleted due to a mysterious fish kill section of a small river. As expected a full mile of river was barren until I got to a riffle tail pool that yielded nice 4 & 5# bows. My usual big trout 2" Gulp Minnow on a 1/14 head failed to get bitten, tho maybe cuz there weren't any other fish present.

So simple straight fur ties will now have a permanent place in my jig arsenal. Which is what the local marabou or bucktail jig experts have been demonstrating since I got here 7 years ago.

Not many of those jig masters left, as 3 have passed on, maybe a few more I haven't seen in years.

 

[hookup]

tie with straight fur on small jigs

I tie with a space amount of beaver fur and bear fur on a 1/64oz jighead with a #6 hook. Fly fishing buddies love it. I call it the Bear Beaver jig

 

[Hawnjigs]

Hahaha, you could probably sell a bunch if you wanted to on name recognition. Maybe also consider a tie using cat trimmings and a large rooster feather jig. Abreviated BB, PH, & BC jigs.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Sunny 57* today so hit the river. Using the same 1" long 1/16 black head #6 Sickle tied with plain black mink fur as last trip ventured further down river and it was worth the exhausting 7 mile RT ruff country hike. Caught 5 nice trout on the black jig then switched to a same size light gray mink jig after a drop off and the new color was rewarded with another hit by the same fish and landed. Kept the light jig on and 4 more nice ones were caught and of course released. Considering that the upper river was almost totally fish killed gratifying that some down river fish survived.

Oddly no smaller trout present, smallest was 7# and largest 10#. Note that the fish were scattered along 2 miles of river, not bunched up in a hold or two. Formula for trouting success here = permissioned private riverfront access + venturing well off the beaten path to fish alone + lots of thoughtful practice to identify likely holds and minimize time wasted flailing unproducttive areas.

And per the subject of this thread small jigs.

 

[hookup]

Great job on catching some size

 

[Hawnjigs]

Reposting an older pic of crosscut old mink coat fur used for tying showing the short length thick fur. The pictured jig is 1/8 #4 but as you can see a finished 1/16 #6 jig without the propeller would be 1" long. The old fur has lost its natural sheen and the fibers are brittle, hence my aquisition of fresher black mink tails mentioned. Fur strip length is adjustable for fuller or skinnier ties. The pic also shows that a #6 hook is likely the longest shank that will allow the tie to extend far enuf back to cover the hook bend.

I'm not aware of pre-cut mink fur strips being available for sale, scraps are available on eBay or one can search for pelts.

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[Hawnjigs]

Could be that the black head black short mink tie 1/16 #6 stub jig attracted a first in a lifetime same fish CATCHES on 2 consecutive casts yesterday. Contributory tho was that the spawned out female rainbow trout with a concave belly was desperate for food, skinniest trout I've ever seen. Guessing only weighing 4# vs a healthy weight of at least 6#.

Nonetheless another experience verifying the effectiveness of that small jig. Earlier that session 8 & 11# chunks bit the same jig.

 

[skeetbum]

I’ve had no experience with mink and I’m coming into this late, but I have played with size differences a bit. I’ll just talk of crappie fishing near where I live for this instance. 3 ramps to the St Johns River within 10 minutes of the house. I start before the sun and use 1/32 #6 sickle with a 2” Bobby garland Shad. That works for a while, sometimes a good while. But eventually it slows and if I’m lucky I get some small fish. So I put down that rod and pick up a lighter rod with a 1/43 and a 1” Itty Bitty slab slayer in a similar color. Put in the same place that the 2” baits were used, the better fish are interested in this. My good fish are of good size with some well over a pound and occasionally approaching 2. There are many days that all I use are the smaller baits and the hand ties I’ve made to mimic the colors of the plastics that produce. That’s the better fun for me as the jigs don’t tear up. I use some kiptail and micro chenille that takes a surprisingly hard beating and still look good. I have some other furs, like arctic fox, but just haven’t dug into them yet. I wish I was still in TN as I believe the smallies I used to target would fall prey to these smaller jigs. Thanks for reading and I really like the mink shown above. Gotta be like fox and I like it a lot.