size 10 crystal chenille

[redear]

recently while getting some gray pearl chenille from CAT I ordered a few packs of the size 10 crystal chenille just to try for making crappie jigs. First off, I don't know if it catches fish any better but some of these colors are gorgeous, I got the junebug, silver, dirty chicken and blood runner which is greenish chart. with red accents and it really pops. the dirty chicken has a medium pink core with green mylar flash that sticks out further, I think when the sunlight hits this stuff it will really light up.

 

[Fatman]

Nice colors but it's some big stuff

 

[duffy]

Who is CAT? and you got any pictures of the stuff??

 

[redear]

duffy, cat is crazy angler, who is one of the good material suppliers down in texas, he carries a boatload of chenille, this stuff I am talking about is in the crystal chenille category, it comes in several sizes but the large size 10 isn't always in stock as I think he has it custom made that size and it runs out pretty fast. I am a computer dummy so no I can't post a pic but you can check it out on his site. the pics don't do this stuff justice though. I tied it on a size 6 and 4 sickle jighook and it worked on the 6 believe it or not, the size 4 was spot on. I saw pics of it for years and wasn't impressed, but when I got a few packs I couldn't believe how much better it looked in hand. I found that when tying, it might be best to not crowd the wraps like a lot of us do with the smaller sizes, it just covers more with less, and you can see more reflection and color by not overlapping, if that makes sense.

 

[redear]

I thought this stuff would be too big for a crappie jig but after tying a few, it is actually perfect for a size 4 sickle, especially if you are only putting a couple hackle vee's on there for the tail.

 

[Jig Man]

Texas toast is another good one...

 

[duffy]

Thanks Redear, I'll check it out. I tie up larger stuff anyway so it's good to have another source for something differen't.

 

[redear]

jigman, thanks for that suggestion! what is your favorite color tail for the texas toast? I went fishing today with a buddy and the crappie were being hard to get, so I kept switching colors until I finally tied on the size 10 jumebug with gr. chart tail, we use crappie nibbles to tip with and fish our jigs under a small float. Well I didn't catch many fish but this jig did produce 2 nice male crappies, a couple yellow perch and a medium gill who had the jig own in his throat pretty good, the jighead I tied it on is about 1/24 and it's somewhat flat on the sides which allows the bare head to flash a little in the sunlight. I received my second order from CA today and haven't opened it yet, kinda bootlegged the package into the house, lol, anyway size 10 will get swallowed by a medium gill so no it's not too big.

 

[Jig Man]

My first choice is Chartreuse, and I have mixed in a little brown or black at times... But mostly Chartreuse.

Not the size 10, but the center jig is some Texas Toast. The other two are Bloodrunner. I have good luck with it too...



View attachment 2

 

[Barefoot]

Beautiful jigs Jig Man! The large chenille trims up nicely if needed. All chartreuse look great with the Texas Toast Redear.

 

[duffy]

Was looking through the colors and that Rainbow color might work good too. Sort of imitate a crappie for going after bass.

 

[redear]

thanks guys! those are some nice looking jigs! I have some of the size 2 or 3 texas toast and always liked the look of it, just couldn't seem to decide on a color scheme.

 

[redear]

I went and ordered some more size 10 crystal chenille but they were out of some of the colors I wanted in this size, I ordered some more junebug just because it's beautiful and I found the fish liked it too. when crazy gets the size 10 in I think it goes fast. I really wanted some in the hot shiner color but they were out of that. I have some in size 3 and its great.

 

[st.croix.boy]

Nice jig bruh....looks like a little bit of black marabou palmered over the chartreuse tail?? Si o no?

 

[Barefoot]

That is just a few snips of black saltwater hackle.

 

[duffy]

Just ordered some of the #10 in the colors they had that I wanted. They were out of about 4 other colors I wanted to try but what I got should be enough to keep me busy practicing. Got some Toast, Bug, June Bug and Dirty Chicken.

 

[Barefoot]

I can't tell if CAT is discontinuing the lg crystal chenille or expanding into it but they have only a few options available.
JS Fly has a few options that might interest you.
My favorite:
http://www.jsflyfishing.com/glissengloss-estaz-standard-size
A nice section of colors for the Cactus.
http://www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-cactus-chenille-large#!reviews
That Blood Runner from CAT is a favorite of mine.

 

[Fatman]

This was some I traded for that they got from Wholesale Sports

 

[duffy]

Thanks for the link to jsflyfishing Barefoot, they have some other materials that I've been looking for. My #10 crystal showed up and it sure is nice stuff. Should build up well on the larger jigs so they don't look so skinny. With harvest just around the corner I won't have time to try it out right away though but might sneak one in sometime. When ordering I thought CAT was possibly phasing out some of the colors in the size 10 but going down the list it seems like they just offer it in certain colors. Some are marked "out of stock" while others have "not available" on them.