ChrisD46

I like this tear drop clip from VMC in sizes #00 for poppers and up to size #2 for spooks : https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/VMC_Crankbait_Snaps/descpage-VMCCS.html . They are cost effective to buy a range of sizes and then you are set . Makes changing top water lures faster as well . *Whether you use a clip or a split ring - just go with the smallest size which fits the top water lure so you do not impede the action with a clip / split ring that is too heavy .

One topic to consider is: "How long are the frog legs" ? When I take any new frog out of the package I like to fold the legs back over the frog and trim where the leg strands meet the tip of the mouth (usually an inch or 1.5" of the legs trimmed off) . This may help with the frog "walking the dog" technique as less drag with shorter frog legs while still maintaining enough length to give great action to the Frog.

The majority of my jig heads I use now for powder coating are for Ned Rig and Shakey Head applications , so 1/16th oz. ~ 3/8th oz. is 90% of jig head size range . No problem to use powder paint straight from the jar (making sure to keep it fluffed) . *When I retire soon , I will definitely build a deluxe DIY fluid bed set up for powder painting jigs (along with my new Do-It molds for Mid-West Finesse jig heads and Shaky Heads) ... I have to show my wife I have no plans of parting ways from the Bait Monkey and his close relative : The Tackle Making Bait Monkey" !!

I appreciate the replies - it appears that a fluid bed is very nice but not a deal breaker if just doing a few jig heads from time to time .

If say you are only powder coating up to a dozen or so jig heads at a sitting - do you need a fluid bed set up for powder coating jig heads ?

Glenn + Shin delivers again !... Great tips offered !

Looks like I would be fine with the sizes and colors replied above for an arky jig ... A football jig can also be stroked , and swam too which I had forgot about in favor of other applications (i.e. chatterbait) .

It must have been fairly recent (last month or so) as I had just bought some missing colors (thankfully) ... Hot Pepper Frog (5") and my favorite Green Pumkin Blue flake in 5" are now gone . Yum Dinger will be my value stick worm now and has the green pumpkin variations I like . I'm also a fan of the SK Ocho , the newer Zoom Stick worm and of course the OG Senko . *I plan to be in BPS early this week and will ask in person what the deal is with the reduction of Stik-O colors offered ?

As a "do everything" style jig - what are your favorite sizes for the Arky jig ? In most cases it looks like you would be fine with 3/8th oz. and 1/2 oz. in your typical craw and bluegill colors?

I believe there is a place for the 110mm size pencil popper, there is a hole in my top water where I go from a small popper straight up to a frog or a larger 125mm+ size pencil popper .

For Pencil Poppers you formally only had the larger 125 and 135 sizes to use - who has had success using the newer , smaller 110 size Pencil Poppers now being offered from Yo-Zuri and other pencil popper makers?

*I would like to see the keeper a little closer to the front of the hook - this aides in not only rigging soft plastics with the open hook but also especially better for T-Rigging to hold the soft plastic better (closer to the jig head) . To prevent snagging I am using Ned Jig heads to lend themselves to T-Rigging so I can bury the hook point in the soft plastic (the Berkley Half Head Jig in 1/16th oz. and 1/8th oz. is ideal for rigging a Ned Rig open hook OR T-Rigged with hook buried in the soft plastic) .

Snake Heads are prehistoric invasive creatures - they rank right up there with Zebra Mussels with me !

*Don't forget Finesse Swim Jigs using a 3.25" ~ 3.5" swim bait trailer !

Good feedback - as far as hook sizing , some suggest that the Victory #1 size EWG is the same size as the Owner 1/0 EWG . My yardstick of measure is with the more widely available Gamakatsu #1 and 1/0 sizes which is about right for most Ned sized soft plastics .

The Do-It Molds Mid-West Finesse Jig Head Mold + the Victory #10777 #1 size and #1/0 size EWG hooks are receiving a lot of positive feedback as a weedless Ned Rig Jig Head solution ... *Anybody have any experience / updates to share with this set up in terms of having good (or improved) hook up success using a EWG style hook (Victory #10777) ? I would think the Elaztec material would work great with a EWG style hook as the Elaztec collapses so easy to allow good EWG hook ups ?

*Become a motivational speaker (like me) while living in your van down by the river ... Survive on SPAM and wait for site sponsors TW and SO deals !

I would say it depends on the head and skirt colors offered by the jig maker (I don't pay as much attention to the names). Colors such as Bama Craw (Junebug / Green Pumpkin) , Blue Craw , and a Green Pumpkin / Orange can work successfully for both imitating crawfish as well as bluegill . Also using a Green Pumpkin color jig and then altering the soft plastic trailer colors with Green Pumpkin , Orange , Brown , Blue , etc. can be effective to get you where you need to be . Choosing a dedicated Bream / Bluegill color jig is going to be more limiting as you definitely favor more of the Bluegill coloration and not a Crawfish with the Green Pumpkin / Blue / Orange / Yellow colors . Lastly , starting with a Green Pumpkin color variations in jigs as I shared above offers the most flexibility .

Another useful video Glenn - good insight offered by Drew Cook on using four different worm techniques in the post spawn months.

I appreciate the replies ... It looks like Black and Blue , a Bream / Bluegill color and a Craw color would be three good colors to start with for flipping / pitching a structure jig around docks and brush or other structure. The Siebert Dredge series look interesting - I'm not familiar with the hook style but I'm sure it was selected for a good reason .

*An Arkie style head jig is what I refer to as a "flipping" jig - sorry ...

I'm more of a football jig / swim jig user of jigs when it comes to bass , so now venturing into flipping jigs to learn a new technique ... For flipping docks , laydowns , etc. what are your favorite flipping jigs (colors and sizes too ) - thanks in advance !

Smart !

A few comments : First , also consider your split rings with single in line hooks (may need to beef up the split rings) . Next , VMC and OWNER are the only single in line hooks I am familiar with . Owner is carried by TW but not the VMC to my knowledge. Hook sizes for converting from treble hooks may be a little different between the VMC and OWNER single in line hooks . I like the idea as nothing strikes more fear into me than a wildly thrashing bass with treble hooks in its mouth !

*I'd have to keep Smelly Jelly in it's own ice pack (along with Zman Elaztec soft plastics !!)