Hair Jig Questions

[KingMidas]

So after watching a lot of videos online of people's fishing hair/bucktail jigs mainly for smallies I decided to purchase a few in various sizes, head shapes, and colors. I have yet to tie one on. Once I hit the water I usually have another lure/bait in mind and can't convince myself to tie on one of these hair jigs. I think having a few questions answered will help my confidence.

1. What is the optimum line, rod strength, and reel type to use for hair jigs?

2. I get out on my families boat whenever my Dad goes out but most of my fishing is done from the bank or a small canoe. That means I usually fish small water (max ~ 200 acres). I've seen videos of guys swimming hair jigs through fairly open water but never anything like the conditions I'm usually in. Besides deep, calm parts of local rivers/large streams I can't think of another place to fish these. Am I wrong? Would they be effective in a relatively small, weedy pond? I have one I love to fish because its stocked with smallies, which is a rare thing in my area.

3. Should I use a trailer? Most videos I saw showed them being used without trailers but my brother's highschool fishing coach uses grub trailers on his hair jigs. Any advantages/situations for using a trailer?

4. Just in general, how do you fish these hair jigs? Any advice is welcome, I really want to be successful with these a few times and start building my confidence with these jigs.

Thanks in advance everyone.

[joetomlee]

I am in a similar situation as you with similar questions so I am eager to hear what people have to say. I was under the impression that they'd be more suited for river fishing in current. But, like you, I can't convince myself to tie them on and commit because I still have too many questions. I'm glad you posted this.

[Bassun]

So the old classic is back in action again.  Hair jigs are DEADLY on smallies.  Before I give my opinion which is basically just what works for me, here is a link to a little more talented and well known name:  http://www.bassresource.com/mike-iaconelli-fishing/hair-jigs.html

 

Mike obviously knows what he's talking about...

 

Me personally I have the best luck using a setup with a 7' med-light rod with a fast tip, and a spinning reel.  (Pfleuger Trion now, but used to use an Avocet iirc).  I run 6 or 8lb floro, I think it's Vanish or Transitions by Berkly but I'm not positive I just know its super tough and seems very clear in the water.  I can feel every little bump and touch of the lure with this.  I look at my hair jigs as food.  So a brown, organge or even black and blue, I will consider a crawdad usually.  I will fish those right on the bottome lightly hopping and skipping them around.  Whites, and white with a splash of chartruse (of course with chartruse for smallies ) I look at being minnows and will generally swim them.  I love using those at the tails of riffles and on leading edges of drop offs.  Those are the only colors I fish with any regularity.   I fish them nice and slow and let them do their magic. (oh I have used an orange one with some flash in it and swam it along the bottom once when I saw bass feeding on some small orangish minnows.  It worked great, but only that one time.)

 

This is one of those lures that even cross over into flyfishing for smallies it is so effective.  Especially swimming them.  A clouser minnow is a deer hair version of the same thing (basically), and the same results can be had.  In fact, if you fish ultra light I would even recommend moving to the clouser version for swimming.  It's very light so you can really keep it in the water column while moving it very slowly.  I tie my own flies so I can adjust weight etc, but the standard pattern available at any fly shop is deadly on an ultra light setup.

 

I personally don't have nearly as good of luck with these on largemouth or even spotted bass.  However, smallmouth and red-eyes (rock bass) in my area just devour them.  (SW Virginia).  Here's one more tip which is unasked but helped me learn how to use certain lures in the past.  Next time you go out on what you think will be a good day, ONLY take some hair jigs.  Force yourself to use them for a day.  Watch them, feel them, see how the fish react differently to them on the bottom vs when your swimming them.  I will almost guarentee you that by the end of the day your confidence level will be so much higher with them, you will seldom hesitate to use them.  BUT -- be sure you're not setting yourself up to fail.  If your trying to use these guys on a med-heavy baitcaster with 25 lb mono or braid; your success will be greatly reduced.  Think of them as a finess jig and fish them as softly as you would a 4in black and purple finess worm and you have the right touch. 

 

Good luck, be careful and TIGHT LINES!

[smalljaw67]

So the old classic is back in action again.  Hair jigs are DEADLY on smallies.  Before I give my opinion which is basically just what works for me, here is a link to a little more talented and well known name:  http://www.bassresource.com/mike-iaconelli-fishing/hair-jigs.html

 

Mike obviously knows what he's talking about...

 

Me personally I have the best luck using a setup with a 7' med-light rod with a fast tip, and a spinning reel.  (Pfleuger Trion now, but used to use an Avocet iirc).  I run 6 or 8lb floro, I think it's Vanish or Transitions by Berkly but I'm not positive I just know its super tough and seems very clear in the water.  I can feel every little bump and touch of the lure with this.  I look at my hair jigs as food.  So a brown, organge or even black and blue, I will consider a crawdad usually.  I will fish those right on the bottome lightly hopping and skipping them around.  Whites, and white with a splash of chartruse (of course with chartruse for smallies ) I look at being minnows and will generally swim them.  I love using those at the tails of riffles and on leading edges of drop offs.  Those are the only colors I fish with any regularity.   I fish them nice and slow and let them do their magic. (oh I have used an orange one with some flash in it and swam it along the bottom once when I saw bass feeding on some small orangish minnows.  It worked great, but only that one time.)

 

This is one of those lures that even cross over into flyfishing for smallies it is so effective.  Especially swimming them.  A clouser minnow is a deer hair version of the same thing (basically), and the same results can be had.  In fact, if you fish ultra light I would even recommend moving to the clouser version for swimming.  It's very light so you can really keep it in the water column while moving it very slowly.  I tie my own flies so I can adjust weight etc, but the standard pattern available at any fly shop is deadly on an ultra light setup.

 

I personally don't have nearly as good of luck with these on largemouth or even spotted bass.  However, smallmouth and red-eyes (rock bass) in my area just devour them.  (SW Virginia).  Here's one more tip which is unasked but helped me learn how to use certain lures in the past.  Next time you go out on what you think will be a good day, ONLY take some hair jigs.  Force yourself to use them for a day.  Watch them, feel them, see how the fish react differently to them on the bottom vs when your swimming them.  I will almost guarentee you that by the end of the day your confidence level will be so much higher with them, you will seldom hesitate to use them.  BUT -- be sure you're not setting yourself up to fail.  If your trying to use these guys on a med-heavy baitcaster with 25 lb mono or braid; your success will be greatly reduced.  Think of them as a finess jig and fish them as softly as you would a 4in black and purple finess worm and you have the right touch. 

 

Good luck, be careful and TIGHT LINES!

 

This is really good advise and I will expand a little on it. I have been making hair jigs for quite some time, where they are really effective is in cold water and around smallmouth but the last 2 years I learned that they can be really effective when it is hot out and the fish won't hit anything else. For the warm water I'm using a 1/4oz round head jig fished on either 6lb. or 8lb mono, the trailer is a small worm and the hair is bucktail, I'll make cast to docks or other light cover and I'll let it sit still and then move it slowly and stop it again. The cold water period I rarely use a hair jig over 1/8oz, and I'll make them as small as 1/32oz but I prefer 3 sizes, the 1/16oz, the 3/32oz, and the 1/8oz, the key to hair jigs is to fish them slow.

[Nice_Bass]

To further confuse the situation, I use 1oz  hair and living rubber jigs with great results. It is a huge bait that may even have a 5-6 inch trailer as well.

 Hair jig is just another tool- make sure your weight and line/rod match your use and fish them at the depth fish are at, and you will get bit.

 

I have 3oz hair jigs for stripers as well, but that is another topic altogether.

 

what kind/size jigs do you have?  Weed guard?  football head, etc? There are lots of different factors, but really a hair jig will work year round, any body of water really.

[KingMidas]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I now have the confidence to take bassun's advice and take a day and set it aside for just hair jig fishing. To answer nice_bass, I have the following hair jigs now: 1. Black w/ weed guard and a flat bottom kinda darter head 2. "Perch" color with fish head jig head, these are about 3 inches long 3. Green w/ orange coloration, flattened round head ( kinda looks like a fat almond) with a weed guard and some plastic skirt material 4. Brown w/ yellow eyed roundhead jig. All of these are fairly light, I think the heaviest being the brown roundheads at 1/4 oz. sorry for the strange explanation of the jig head shapes.

I basically went down a few aisles at my fishing supplies store and picked up what limited hair jigs they had. I think that I have enough to experiment with under the right conditions but I was wondering if anyone has any particular hair jig that they would recommend. If there's a good reason, I can always buy 1-2 more variations to allow me to be successful in more situations.

Thanks again guys for the thoughtful responses.

[WRB]

I fish hair jigs year around, it's a misconception that living rubber and silicone skirts are only good in warm water and that hair jigs work better in cold water....nonsense!

A skirt is a skirt and the hair is just a jig skirt. Most hair jigs today are made for smallmouth bass and walleyes because anglers still believe they work for those fish. If you put the hair jig away, it can't work in your tackle box.

The jig & pig was the original ball head hair jig with a pork trailer that pre dates the Arkie head jig with vinyl skirts that also used pork trailers. The key word with hair jigs is pork trailers. Both the bucktail hair in combination with natural pork trailer taste and feels alive to bass, especially big bass. The down side is pork dries out easily, is messy compared to soft plastics and hair mates in contact with most commercial attractants.

I see sponsor NorthStar offers hair jig selection.

Tom

PS; the 19 lb bass in my avatar was caught on a hair jig with a pork trailer!

[JayKumar]

The advice to just fish one technique/bait (hair jigs, in this case) is great...but it takes some discipline and time.  Worth it, though.