How Do You Tie?

[Kdog]

Yesterday, the wife was watching me tie some jihs and asked why I did things the way I do.

I have always tied as follows:
Thread wrap
-quick wipe of thread cement to lock onto hook
Tie in tail feather(s)
-quick wipe of thread cement over new thread
Tie in Body material and finish matarelli style
-Lock in neck or final thread wraps with a quick drop of thread cement.

She then proceeded to tell me she watched some videos and they do not use any cement or lacquer. I then got a bit smart and said why can you fish one of my jigs all day or until you snag it and it still looks like it just came out of the tackle box. Occasionally she buys some clearance jigs because she like the color of look of them. Usually at a discount house and most of them last for a fish or 2 then are a bare hook.

So how many still use cement for each stage???

 

[hookup]

Depends ....

I use Harder Than Nails as my thread cement. For some jigs, I lay down a line of thread, tie in something, add a drop of nail polish, then tie in the rest & finish with nail cement.

For other jigs, I just tie then seal the head thread because an undercoat of nail polish doesn't help much to hold bunches of buck tail or silicon hair.

 

[Jig Man]

I use a water base thread cement.

 

[BucktailJiger]

Bucktail collars get a coat of hard as nails . Walleye can be hard on the thread collars at times .

 

[plateboater]

Krazy glue everything except head. That gets a good coating of Sally's and over collar. I whip finish but prior to whip add Krazy via brush to thread. Been doing it that way a long time. Basically the same way Stump does it on his videos.

 

[PanfishHunter]

whenever i have some available i coat with sally's HAN. If not i give it a couple extra whip finishes. For some big 4/0 striper flies i tied for a buddy, i coated the thread with krazy glue, if i wasn't making the head with acetate floss.

 

[Jay Wirth]

Your wife is very observant...

For a basic Jig:

View attachment 9

I lock my thread onto the hook shank and wrap 1/3 toward the bend and back to the head. I cut the hair, remove the fine fibers, stack and arrange in my fingers and trim the butt so hair is at length against head. I add the dark color of my material (hair or feather) 7-8 wraps which compresses the hair under the thread and give it a twist around to the bottom side of shank (top when finished). I then add the second (lighter) color 7-8 wraps with pressure like the first. At this point even without thread cement my jigs would never come apart due to the hourglass shape of the hair at the wrap and the underwrap which act like the teeth on pliers. I finish my collar and snip the tag end of my thread. I coat the collar with Wapsi head cement (lacquer) or once my final bottle is gone, old fashioned spar varnish. The cement or varnish, when thinned properly will soak into the thread, As Well As, under the wraps along the hair fibers through capillary action. Done!

Here in central NY I am tying everything to use from crappies to tiger muskies and anything in between.

The worst you can use IMHO (sorry plateboater & panfishhunter - though acetate floss is way kool old school) is super glue. Unlike spar varnish or lacquer, super glue dries quite brittle. The threads will crack and break with pressure (no sharp edges needed). To test this drop a small dot on a piece of denim. once dry press the glue spot together from the edges. You can even try washing the fabric a few times if you wish. What happens is that the fabric snaps like plastic.

 

[plateboater]

Good info

 

[Pop]

I agree, good information. To take it a step further, what do you mix with the varnish and what ratio. Thanks, Pop

 

[Bucko]

I do not use bonding agent until after the jig is done. I wrap right enough and never have material pull loose. Cementing at the end just saves me time.

 

[Radtexan]

I do not use bonding agent until after the jig is done. I wrap right enough and never have material pull loose. Cementing at the end just saves me time.

Agree. Nothing wrong with securing it in as many stages as you wish, but when tied properly a jig will stand up to several hundred fish.At least if crappie fishing. I had one go 334 till a bush finally got it. I use head cement at the tie off, but that's it.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I only use clear nail polish on bigger jigs. I finish with 4-5 half hitches. Been doing this for over 20 years and don't remember ever having one come untied.

 

[Pup]

Pretty much the following way with a few exceptions.

1. Clear nail polish applied to hook shank, then wrap a thread base.
2. Clear nail polish over half hitches or a whip finish during the intermediate stages of a tie.
3. Clear nail polish at the collar to finish the jig.

Generally, I tie small hair jigs. Most of my thread wraps occur at the collar.

 

[Hawnjigs]

1. Best prevention of entire tie sliding down the hook shank is a tight long enuf base thread wrap.

2. For trouties, to resist thread shred two coats of NP over the top wrap - cheap thin stuff for initial thread soak & seal, then Sallys for a protective top coat.

Sally Hansen has quite a few clear polishes including Diamond Strength, Hard as Nails, & No Chip Acrylic - which is the tuffest?

 

[hookup]

a jig will stand up to several hundred fish.

In the rocky ledgy rivers I'm fishing in, a jig's usually used to polish the rocks in a slow SLIDER style life & drop technique - I loose allot of jigs before I can catch that many fish.

 

[Jay Wirth]

I agree, good information. To take it a step further, what do you mix with the varnish and what ratio. Thanks, Pop

Laquer based head cement like the Wapsi I like so much I thin just enough so it flows well through my needle applicator bottle (think thin syrup). The spar varnish is perfect straight from the can.

Another great cement I like was sold by Gudbrod. I have a couple jars 25+ years old that work great still - Im pretty sure it is spar varnish.

 

[hookup]

Not sure what you were saying when you said spar varnish. Even though I use to sand, stain, & varnish boats for some extra coinage during high school and when I dropped out of college, I still looked it up. Probably must be because I breathed in to much of the fumes and lost to many brain cells.

I found an investing article on why spar varnish and not regular ol' varnish.

http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/articles/difference-between-spar-varnish-and-regular-varnish/