Been filling in the jig box for my first trips to Quabbin Reservoir next week where I expect the water temps to be in the high 40ºs. I'll be using vibrating blade baits, suspending jerkbaits and rubber skirted jigs with low-action trailers, but what I really get a kick from is a smallie slurping up an 1/8 oz. hair jig crawling along the bottom. Let's have a look at the bench set up to make them:
Last year they sure liked an 1/8 oz ball jig with a couple lengths of grizzly hackle on top. I treated myself to a saddle of Metz #2 Microbarb Grizzly when on a steelhead trip years ago in New York. No reason a smallie shouldn't have a taste of this select stuff.
Three scissors? Yeah. The fine point black handled Skeeter II is used only for thread and stays sharp. Above it is a Fiskars which has titanium coated blades, very good for bucktail. The elegant, gold plated Dr. Slick's have dulled over the years and become my "beater" scissors which I use after I've adjusted a clump of hair just right and find a few wayward strands over the ball. (Yes, I agree - that's up for an OCD award.)
UTC 140 denier is used for 1/8 oz. jigs; 210 for heavier. The scraps of paper towel on the lamp base are not in case of a nosebleed . . . Let's go to the next photo.
Instead of traditional penetrating head cement (Wapsi, Orvis) I've been using readily available super glue (cyanoacrylate). And I like it better because it takes less time to apply and is at least as secure. You can apply a drop as you wrap and continue or simply saturate the collar after you tie off. You want a scrap of paper towel handy if you have a heavy thumb on the tube or, simply to sop up any excess on the finished collar. This adhesive is formulated for tight-fitting parts; it's not a top coat. Pulling on the bucktail, I'd still get a few hairs loose but fewer than with traditional cement. All the jigs above have been pull tested and I have no doubt the bass will pull on them too.
Here's another view of the hair and hackle bucktail:
Want to try slow rolling a Herring Head underspin by my northern smallies, see how they respond. Like CJ, I see bucktail dressing the product of Do-it's mold.
I had difficulty closing the swivel loop by squeezing with needle nose pliers. Then I figured out an easier way: Grip the fitting firmly and then rotate your wrist to close the loop.
Here are a few 1/8 oz. bucktails in the color that Henry Ford always fished:
I'm thinking now that fewer strands of Wapsi Black/Red Grizzly Accent would have been better.
I pulled out a small drawer that I had labeled "hair" some time ago and found a piece of what I'm fairly certain is bear hair. (Munkin, what say ye?)
It would be nice to own a fancy rosewood handled comb to pull out bear's underfur, but this no-frills plastic comb that came with my beard trimmer works just fine.
I'm thinking that this thick hair will make for a slow drop on these little jigs . . . Float like a butterfly, sting like a Mustad 32746 BLN 2/0. Oh my. I'm up past my bedtime. Look for a Quabbin report next week.
