1/16 hair jig

[Montanaro]

Yesterday while fishing for crappie in 15fow over large brush pile i hooked into 2 two pounders on this lil thing bumping over branches in 46 degrees of water.

 

Youd be surprised at what big bass will eat ...

[basscrusher]

Agreed.  I can't even begin to count the number of 2-4 lb bass I've caught in winter using a 2" Panfish Assassin (both the curly tail and straight tail models).

[jr231]

I've hooked a couple nice ones using "crappie magnets" just a small 1" split tail grub on a jighead. 

[ScottK91]

I make my own small marabou and hair jigs just for cold water bass fishing. When most people see them they think they are for panfish, and I do occasionally catch some on them but they go swimming in oil ?  I also sell my jigs if your interested PM me.

[Bluebasser86]

I tie my own trout jigs and fish for them when they stock trout in the lakes every spring. They're 1/64 up to 1/16 ounce. Never fails that every year I'll catch several bass, usually a couple pretty good ones too. 

[smalljaw67]

I tie a lot of smallmouth jigs in 1/16oz up to 1/4oz but the 1/16oz and 3/32oz with a #2 hook are my best producers in cold water. Last week the water temps dropped to 49 degrees, a 1/8oz black and purple bucktail with a tiny paca chunk was a killer.

[Paul Roberts]

Not surprised at all, esp in cold water.

[mrmacwvu1]

the float and fly technique is killer in the winter time

[craww]

The  1/16 and 1/8 oz spro phat flies in white were my best largemouth numbers bait for years. Really made for fishing under a bobber those things would kill when cast and jigged back. A very carefully tied loop knot seemed to give more erratic bait fish like action.

[I.rar]

I love those spro phat flies. A real mutispecies bait that works year round for me. 

Mainly fishing small baits, almost all of my largest fish came on baits smaller than 3 inches and less than 3/16 oz.

[Montanaro]

The spro is what i was using

 

Favorite colors?  I have the silver one but wanna try baby bass.

[grampa1114]

You might want to look at 3" sluggos on a 1/16oz leadhead...been my go to for years. 6lb Yo-Zuri hybrid will give a good fall rate and pull'em out of most anywhere.

 

[DoDFire]

I throw a 1\16 oz hair jig in the dead of summer 89-90 degree H20 temps on bluff walls and smoke the smallmouth around here. I throw them on a 9'crappie rod with 2-4 pound line. When its blaze'n hot or real cold you can't beat a hair jig.

["hamma"]

  Have any of you noticed that its a bit difficult to get a good hookset with a lighter line? Maybe this is due to my stubborness as i use only mono, but I wanted to ask you what lines you use for these lighter jigs.

Reason being, I tie jigs too and have many, but found that If im fishing with 6 or even lighter pound test mono the stretch offered kind of deters a good hookset.,. and 8 pound test with a light jig doesnt really cast for crap. I stuck with 6 pd test, and a super sharp hook, on a 7ft light action rod

 Do you use braid? flouro? when fishing these light jigs?

 

[OkobojiEagle]

6lb (sometimes 4lb) fused Fireline both with and without a 6lb fluoro leader...

 

oe

[je1946]

1 hour ago, "hamma" said:

  Have any of you noticed that its a bit difficult to get a good hookset with a lighter line? Maybe this is due to my stubborness as i use only mono, but I wanted to ask you what lines you use for these lighter jigs.

Reason being, I tie jigs too and have many, but found that If im fishing with 6 or even lighter pound test mono the stretch offered kind of deters a good hookset.,. and 8 pound test with a light jig doesnt really cast for crap. I stuck with 6 pd test, and a super sharp hook, on a 7ft light action rod

 Do you use braid? flouro? when fishing these light jigs?

 

Hey Hamma,  I use spinning gear with 8lb Tuf-line super cast.  6ft fluro in 8/10lb,and I'm good to go.  The tuf-line has the diam. of 2lb mono. throw it on a 6'6 med  Falcon Bucco, and the next one that breaks me off will be the first one.  When I set the drag I keep it light and use my finger to stop the spool and then it's off to the races.  I use the same set up on the blade baits as well.  I find the 8lb Tuf-line has a stronger than 8lb breaking point  with a super thin diam.   It has served me well, and is my go to super line.

[tkunk]

2 hours ago, "hamma" said:

  Have any of you noticed that its a bit difficult to get a good hookset with a lighter line? Maybe this is due to my stubborness as i use only mono, but I wanted to ask you what lines you use for these lighter jigs.

Reason being, I tie jigs too and have many, but found that If im fishing with 6 or even lighter pound test mono the stretch offered kind of deters a good hookset.,. and 8 pound test with a light jig doesnt really cast for crap. I stuck with 6 pd test, and a super sharp hook, on a 7ft light action rod

 Do you use braid? flouro? when fishing these light jigs?

 

I use 4 lb fireline with a 7 lb fluoro leader.  Braid is key for long casts.  I use a 7' ML/F rod rated for 1/64 to 1/4 oz lures.

I've caught tons of 6+ lb smallies in spring on hair jigs.  I wish they'd work in warmer weather, because I'd save a lot of money by not using soft plastics.

[WRB]

I read that the Texas record 18.18 lb bass was caught by a crappie fisherman using a white crappie jig in Jan. Catt clarified that he, the crappie angler, used a jig and minnow combo and he should know.

Turner Jones made micro hair jigs 1/120 and 1/64 oz about 1/2" long that catch bass by crappie anglers. 

I am not going to crappie jigs when targeting bass, trout and crappie yes. The smallest hair jig I use is 3/16 oz, usually 7/16 oz and catch lots of big and giant bass with these jigs. 

Tom

[DoDFire]

10 hours ago, "hamma" said:

  Have any of you noticed that its a bit difficult to get a good hookset with a lighter line? Maybe this is due to my stubborness as i use only mono, but I wanted to ask you what lines you use for these lighter jigs.

Reason being, I tie jigs too and have many, but found that If im fishing with 6 or even lighter pound test mono the stretch offered kind of deters a good hookset.,. and 8 pound test with a light jig doesnt really cast for crap. I stuck with 6 pd test, and a super sharp hook, on a 7ft light action rod

 Do you use braid? flouro? when fishing these light jigs?

 

8 pound nanofil, suffix nanobraid, gliss (those micro tyoe "super lines" ) with a 6 pound fluorocarbon leader. You will never look back and hook 98.97℅ of the fish the ones you miss you would have never caught anyways LoL........All this with a light wire hook I like a Matzuo sickle hook size #1 for my small hair jigs. My 9' gets nanofil and maxima fluorocarbon in 2# or 4#. 

[DoDFire]

8 hours ago, portiabrat said:

I use 4 lb fireline with a 7 lb fluoro leader.  Braid is key for long casts.  I use a 7' ML/F rod rated for 1/64 to 1/4 oz lures.

I've caught tons of 6+ lb smallies in spring on hair jigs.  I wish they'd work in warmer weather, because I'd save a lot of money by not using soft plastics.

They work in warm weather for sure, I catch smallmouth in 89°-90° H2O temps  every summer on a 1\16 oz minnow head jig tied with fox or craft hair or a 1\4 oz aspirin head at night tied with bucktail just change up how you fish them and where. Fish are fish and they will eat a hair jig 365. Hair jigs are great in extreme weather conditions Cold and hot.

[Will Wetline]

11 hours ago, "hamma" said:

  Have any of you noticed that its a bit difficult to get a good hookset with a lighter line? Maybe this is due to my stubborness as i use only mono, but I wanted to ask you what lines you use for these lighter jigs.

Reason being, I tie jigs too and have many, but found that If im fishing with 6 or even lighter pound test mono the stretch offered kind of deters a good hookset.,. and 8 pound test with a light jig doesnt really cast for crap. I stuck with 6 pd test, and a super sharp hook, on a 7ft light action rod

 Do you use braid? flouro? when fishing these light jigs?

 

I get adequate distance and have had no problems with hooksets using a 7' ML rod, a 2500 size reel and 6 lb. Tatsu fluorocarbon line. This is very expensive stuff but worth it to me.

[Team9nine]

31 minutes ago, Will Wetline said:

 

Very nice ties  Love small hair jigs, and those look great! Tatsu is great stuff, too, though for hair jigs I mostly use 5# PP with Tatsu or Toray as leader material. I second the ML rod and 2500 size reel recommendation.

-T9

["hamma"]

Thanks for the replies guys! I will look into these finer lines to circumvent the issues of stretch Im dealing with. I really do apprieciate you sharing

[DoDFire]

1 hour ago, "hamma" said:

Thanks for the replies guys! I will look into these finer lines to circumvent the issues of stretch Im dealing with. I really do apprieciate you sharing

Don't forget to take into consideration the setup you are using, head size, hook size, rod action, I was on a local forum a few years ago and was always talking about hair jig fishing in the winter. One of the members got the bug after reading some of my post and seeing pics of the fish I was catching, he went out and bought a new rod in light action and spooled up with 6# line then he bought a hand full of 1\4 oz. hair jigs with a 2\0 heavier wire hook. I ran into him on the water and he was about ready to throw the whole setup into the lake. He was all kinds of miss matched and really frustrated. He finally asked me about my equipment and I'm pretty sure he duplicated my set up as far as line and rod action, I gave him 1\2 dz. of my 1\8 oz jigs with the #1 hook and he was catching fish the last time I seen anything over there. If you are using the 1\16-1\8 oz size jig it's hard to beat a 6'10" medium light, extra fast rod with a 8# line such as nanofil, nanobraid by suffix, or fireline with a 6# test fluro leader and a light wire hook. Not saying go out and buy a bunch of stuff, just try to match everything up in your system and you will be one happy fish catch'n dude.Dont worry about light line either, if your set up is right the rod does all the work for you and hook sets are just a flick of the wrist. We have caught and landed 20# striper on 6# line with a light wire #1 hook. Also if you do go to super line and leader I would recommend the FG knot for connection knot. You can always just use straight fluro as well, you don't have to use braid but in this application of finesse fishing it is the cat's meow. Hope you get dialed in soon, nothing like a winter fish on light line and a hair jig.

["hamma"]

Thanks DoDfire, Gear? I have. I can scrap the 7' light rod for now because,... I have a old shimano 2500 speedmaster reel with a fighting star drag on a new series mojo bass rod that just so happens to be a 6'10" med/light fast action dropshot rod I bought this past spring. This should work for a rod,....The reason I mention the reel is that I have 2 of these and 4 spare spools, and being fighting drag models,.. I feel they lend themselves great smallie reels. As long as you finger the spool for a hookset, as these are the quickfire models that dont have instant anti-reverse. And if it doesn't work for me? I have a dozen or so newer extra spinning reels doing nothing.

  Im a stubborn bass angler,. hence the Mono and being a "new" dropshotter, I begrudgingly spooled one of the spare spools with 8 pound flouro, tried the flouro out and didnt like the way it casts, so its now going to become a leader line spool. As the reel is old, it may get replaced with another or even, a brand new reel as xmas is quickly approaching. Bass pro gift cards are a norm for me, probably how I will get the main line too, got to love freebie, new, bass gear!

   I will check out the suggestions for a main line, spool up another spare spool, or new reel, and try it out this coming spring. Thanks again, for the balanced gear heads up,. I get it.

  And eventhough I am a stubborn old bass angler? I do striper fish in the salt up here with 25 pound power pro, and 17 pound fireline, so braids not really new to me, just will be new to my bass angling. Kinda surprised I didnt come to this conclusion earlier myself. A light braid or superline didnt even cross my mind, I guess I just never considered it, as most braid users discuss 30 pound or heavier for baitcasting to avoid it burying itself on the spool while hung on a log, or dock, etc.

   I'm so danged stubborn,..fightin the inevidable braid intrusion into my beloved bass angling,. til the end.,....lol