Jigs, trailer problem, advice/opinion

[Worm Man 2020]

Recently, Bought a lot of older 1/4oz. and 3/8 ARKIE Jigs, some old tubes, and trailers that, Had KVD's picture on them, looked a lot younger. LOL

About half of jigs have rattles, that are glued and have a track for hook shaft. The skirts are grey rubber (still good) and what looks to me as Christmas tree tinsel, in reds, greens and blue.

I have seen that manufacturer at K-Mart, I think?   ARKIE    (I thought, something on "You Tube" mentioned, they were good to skip) Have flat/rounded heads.

The reason, I got 25 jigs and 8 bags of plastics for $5.00.  I'm just learning to skip docks and figured I'll be losing a lot, thinking of using them as practice dummies.

Question #1: Do, I just break those rattles off, to put trailers on, or what?

Question #2: How long do plastics last, and would, those old tubes still be good?  (about 1/2 of head is thick/solid) for Texas rigging.

Question #3: Would it be worth it, to replace the skirts, with modern day material?

P.S. Packages, look old, but still has fluid/salt with no leaks. (plastics feel, just like the new ones I just bought). I don't want to litter!!!!!

Thanks in advance,

 

[fullcoupe]

Q1: What you're describing just sounds like a standard issue swim jig with a rattle. How big are the trailers? Are they specific 'chunk' type trailers (2-3" in length), or are they full-size baits? It really depends how much hook shaft those rattles are taking up. A shorter trailer would be the best option because they're more compact, and you could probably keep the rattles in place.

Q2: If the plastics are old you can usually tell as soon as you insert the hook - the plastic will be gunky and the hook will want to just tear right through it. This is normally a result of heat exposure. If you run a hook through it and it stays put, they should be fine.

Q3: No. If you have 25, I say fish 'em till they disintegrate

 

[Turtle135]

Nothing wrong with rubber skirts. I prefer round rubber over silicon when I tie my jigs. There are a couple of reasons you do not see a lot of "retail" jigs with rubber skirts. First, over a long period of time rubber can rot and disintegrate (retailers can't have that happen to a product sitting on their shelf). Second, silicon skirts come in a wider variety of colors (which IMHO helps catch "fisherman" and not necessarily bass).

Are those rattles enclosed in a little plastic case on the underside of the jig hook shank? I have seen those before, they largely block a trailer from being "threaded" onto the hook. When I did not want a rattle I would snap those off.

[Worm Man 2020]

Thanks for your in-put.

Hooks look like 4/0, the ones with rattles don't have room for trailer. The rest have no keepers.

Hey, question on trimming jigs, Weed guards and skirts? Should I keep longer? Since, I won't use trailers on the rattle ones.

Thanks again,

[Turtle135]

I almost always "thin" weedguards and shorten them if they are excessively long. Since I buy plain jig heads and tie my own skirts my cost per jig is under a buck (I would rather stick a bass than keep a heavy weedguard just to try to avoid a snag).

Typically my skirts are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch beyond the end of the hook bend. The only thing I watch for is a long skirt affecting the action of the trailer (too long of a skirt can dampen the flapping of trailer arms - of course in cold, cold water I want to dampen that flapping).

 

[WRB]

Penny wise pound foolish often applies to some bass anglers. You get what you pay for, sound familiar? 

Worm Man a bargin is only good if you can use it.

Arkie isn't a mfr, it's a jig head shape that uses 60 degree jig hook with a fiber weed gaurd, made by nearly every jig company. Vintage Strike King jigs should be endorsed by Denny Brauer or Bill Dance, not KVD.

My suggestion is order some jigs from Siebert Outdoors that are designed for skipping under docks, Dock Rockers. Practicing a technique with the wrong tackle leads to frustration.

Tom

[Turtle135]

Regarding "Since, I won't use trailers on the rattle ones". I think you always will want to use a trailer. Drop your jig into a sink full of water and let it sit still. What you should see is the skirt float up and away from the hook shank. You want that trailer to be the target the bass keys on (where the hook is). 

If that rattle pack is in your way you can hang a chunk style trailer on the hook like in this image.

[jbrew73]

  On 2/4/2016 at 9:30 PM, WRB said:

Penny wise pound foolish often applies to some bass anglers. You get what you pay for, sound familiar? 

Worm Man a bargin is only good if you can use it.

Arkie isn't a mfr, it's a jig head shape that uses 60 degree jig hook with a fiber weed gaurd, made by nearly every jig company. Vintage Strike King jigs should be endorsed by Denny Brauer or Bill Dance, not KVD.

My suggestion is order some jigs from Siebert Outdoors that are designed for skipping under docks, Dock Rockers. Practicing a technique with the wrong tackle leads to frustration.

Tom

Expand  

http://www.arkiejigs.com/

[WRB]

  On 2/5/2016 at 12:15 AM, jbrew73 said:

http://www.arkiejigs.com/

Expand  

There is a Arkie Lure co founded by Bob Carnes in the 60's, unfortunately he didn't trade mark his jig name or the design. Siebert Outdoors for example can market the arkie jig.

Tom

[papajoe222]

An Arkie style jig Is what I prefer when fishing timber and the type rattle you described could have a barb on the upside toward the hook bend.  It's purpose is to keep the trailer from slipping down to the bend, but they don't leave much room between that barb and where the rattle chamber attaches. 

[Catt]

Sounds like you got some left over WalMart products.

WRB Google Bob Carnes vs Gene Larew!

[Worm Man 2020]

Great info, WRB,Turtle135,Catt,papajoe222,jbrew73, and all. Thanks for the wed-sites and photos. Awesome !!!! 

Going to have my children help, "Old Dude" Daddy, on computer to cut/paste pictures. 

 Already have several (nice) jigs, not to mention, I've ordered more from Tackle Warehouse, BPS, and Omega Custom Tackle, once I reviewed my notes from this site, from you gentlemen's recommendations. They run $4-$5 each.

The jigs, I picked up at this show, are shaped like maybe an (upside down, Bull dogs head w/ big jowls), flat on bottom and have decent 4/0 hooks? I can't bend them with surgical hemostats. Only one had rusted bard on hook, so I tested that one, to see if I could bend. It broke, eventually. (put in vise)

There are bards on rattles as Papajoe222 commented. Dang, these are from 1960? That was when I was born... LOL

What WRB mentioned is Spot On. I thought, cheap practice jigs at $5.00 for 25. Coupled with me learning accurate Skipping, I'll be snagging them under docks, in other peoples boats, fallen timber, and trees. etc. etc. etc.

Might keep me from scuba diving to get my good ones back.

Once again, Appreciate all your help.

[WRB]

  On 2/5/2016 at 4:16 AM, Catt said:

Sounds like you got some left over WalMart products.

WRB Google Bob Carnes vs Gene Larew!

Expand  

Catt you posted Gene Larew history of inventing salt injected soft plastics, very interesting and also posted the history of Doll flies, Ernie Thompson lures that pre dates any Arkie jig by a decade.

My memory is good enough to know what I was fishing with in the 50's and 60's, knowing where I was living at those times, as bench marks. Like most regions around the country local mom & pop tackle stores carried local lures along with name brands. The first football jigs locally were sold in bulk and had 2 types, with and without a wire weed guard and had 3 weights 1/2, 5/8 and 3/4, plain unpainted no skirts. The skirts were vinyl and also sold in bulk in 3 colors black, brown and purple. If you wanted 1 or a dozen you picked them out. The time period was 1961, the year I went to College. I didn't see a commercial football jig until around 1968 when Bill Haddock sold his version packaged for peg boards.

There are lots of local lures that never get beyond the mom and pop tackle stores until someone developers a market for them, bass fisherman are tight lipped and don't share things like secret lures.

[Catt]

WRB Larew & Arkie argued over jigs as well, Arkie won this time.

Your right though there were dozens of small companies that never patented their products. 

[blckshirt98]

Check the skirts for rot, I've bought some old jigs in the past for dirt cheap but on closer inspection the band holding the skirt was rotting away.  If it's rotting either find some thread and re-tie it, or, find the smaller size zip tie and use that to replace the skirt band.