Painting the jig head

[Palad]

How many of you just tie your jigs and leave the heads unpainted?

 

[AllenOK]

I started out doing that, but as I kept reading this website, I ran across old threads about painting with fingernail polish. About 2 weeks after that, I stepped up to powder paint.

 

[LedHed]

I'm hooked on powder paint & fingernail polish.

I think jigs should at least be clear coated because of oxidation of the lead. If you want the bright shine - seal after you pour. If you want the dull gray - rinse with vinegar, dry, then clear coat.

 

[hookup]

To a few of the old timers I know - it really doesn't matter. I've seen them catch fish with no paint on the jig heads. I know one guy who's a great angler who will not fish a jig head w/ paint

I paint every one

But if you want to catch the angler, it's a must

 

[Hawnjigs]

Lead free doesn't tarnish like lead in FRESH water, so no need to seal. Personally, I've not noticed that painted or unpainted works better than the other, tho my tie mentor JiggerJohn prefers unpainted.

But, who among us can resist appreciating eye candy?

 

[AtticaFish]

I do have a couple sparse bucktail jigs i like to leave the head unpainted.......... but probably paint 95% of what i tie.

 

[slammingjack]

I paint all my jig heads! I have like 30 colors lol one I call sand ,which is what it looks like.

 

[AllenOK]

I think it basically boils down to personal preference, and a distinction between what catches fish (unpainted, sparse ties, etc.), and what catches fishermen (eye candy).

 

[duffy]

At times it does make a difference in the catch rate or attraction. My wife and I were walleye fishing and she had an unpainted erie jig with a nightcrawler and I had the same with a chartreuse painted jig head. She was getting over double the bites than I was so just for the heck of it I switched to a flo-orange head with no change. Tied on a plain jig and started getting more bites. If you noticed I said Bites.  At that time the fish seemed real spooky and while we were getting bit it was hard to hook them and get them back into the boat. Most of the time the chartreuse and flo-orange colors seem to help, but not that day. Lot's of variables.

 

[redear]

I prefer unpainted now because they seem to catch plenty of fish in the waters I fish.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Maybe half painted is a good compromise? Yesterday got 4 nice trout up to 6# + a whupped 8-10# that hook pulled right at my feet. The beat up BooHU jig had at least half the black paint chipped off exposing the shiny tin metal beneath.

Facetious am I.

 

[saltyfeathers]

I paint everything I tie. Having said that, I have on more than a few occasions continued to fish a bait til there was so little paint left it looked like flakes (often times just because I have a hard time cutting off a bait with good "mojo"). At times I have wondered if the fish occasionally show a preference for the unpainted head because maybe it doesn't show up as well in the less than crystal clear waters I fish, thereby giving the bait the appearance of a smaller profile. But until I learn to speak striper and ask one of them....who knows