Hair jigs

[IgotWood]

I am considering tying some hair jigs for the winter. Not the typical ultra-light hair jigs that many of us fish in the winter, but traditional 3/8to 1/2oz jigs with hair rather than rubber skirts. My question is can I put the weed guards in after I tie the jig? I was thinking about pouring the jig heads without the weed guard and then drilling out a space for the weed guard after the jig is tied. Perhaps I can put the weed guard in and then  fill the hole with epoxy...? Any thoughts or suggestions?

[WRB]

I don't use a weed gaurd with my hair jigs.

Couple of techniques to consider depending on the jig head and hook type.

1. Use a rubber band around the hook eye held by the hook barb.

2. Use a Hichhiker spring clipped to the hook eye and a 2 1/2 inch section of finesse worm. Cut a 5" worm in half and split the end opposite the flat cut end about 1"*. Screw the cut end onto the hitchhiker and insert the jig hook point into the split end crotch. This is my standard weed guard, adds scent and color, plus movement and is weedless.

Tom

* split length should about 1/4" shorter then length between the hook eye and hook point.

[IgotWood]

Thanks Tom. Great ideas. However, the weed guard is a must. My water is clogged with grass and tons of wood. My thought is to tie normal flipping/pitching jigs with hair/feathers, rather than a rubber skirt. I still want to put a trailer on them. I figured Since I like to tie flies, but hate bass fishing with the fly rod, it would be fun to tie some jigs. Plus it’s something a little different that the fish have probably never seen. 

[cadman]

Just pour your jig with a weedguard hole, paint head, bake head, tie your hair or feathers on jig body and then glue in your weedguard with epoxy or super glue.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I tie some hair jigs for bass.  I use bucktail, rabbit strips, & Arctic fox tail hair a lot.

 

My best creation is a big bluegill imitation bucktail on a swim jig head with a guard. Comes through veg surprisingly well.

[Bdnoble84]

You most certainly can. I understand why WRB is suggesting to keep it finesse since that is the point of hair fishing but for me fishing smallmouth in a nasty rockstrewn river, its very disappointing to bury the hook in a rock a couple casts in when i just spent a decent amount of time tying it. I’m also not fishing clear water. I/ve done a few like this this year in 1/8, 1/4, and 3/8. Havent had a ton of time to fish thwm but they do look good in the water. Ive played around with bucktail and marabou with rabit strip trailers as well as straight bucktail, marabou, and craft fur and using a small chunk trailer. One note with the bucktail and craft fur. Go shorter than you think u should. I did some that i thought was plenty short, but when i put the trailer on the hair was pretty well covering it up and it is a no no to trim your hair at the tip, it kills the action.

[IgotWood]

Great info Bdnoble! Thanks! Noted about the length of bucktail. I’ll probably be using more Arctic Fox, which is pretty short. I’ll have to fit my intended trailer on and take a mental measurement of length before tying. I plan to tie most of these in 1/4-3/8oz. I plan on tying some traditional fitness hairjigs too, but this particular inquiry is basically experimental. 

 

I tie trout flies mostly, but there aren’t any trout within 200 miles of where I live. Lol! I love to tie, but I tie a bunch of stuff and give it all away. Trying to find a way to make it purposeful to me again. However, I have ZERO interest in bass on the fly rod. 

[Black Hawk Basser]

One tip: Don't go too long with a rabbit strip tail.  They tend to flop over and foul up on the hook when you're jigging the bait.  I try to not go much more than 3-4" past the hook, or you have problems fishing it with any type of snapping cadence.

This is a simple one that works great for me.  Rabbit strip tail and wrapped around hook shank.  1/4 oz head, 4" total length

[Bdnoble84]

4 hours ago, IgotWood said:

Great info Bdnoble! Thanks! Noted about the length of bucktail. I’ll probably be using more Arctic Fox, which is pretty short. I’ll have to fit my intended trailer on and take a mental measurement of length before tying. I plan to tie most of these in 1/4-3/8oz. I plan on tying some traditional fitness hairjigs too, but this particular inquiry is basically experimental. 

 

I tie trout flies mostly, but there aren’t any trout within 200 miles of where I live. Lol! I love to tie, but I tie a bunch of stuff and give it all away. Trying to find a way to make it purposeful to me again. However, I have ZERO interest in bass on the fly rod. 

I live in illinois so pretty much similar experience with limited use for flies since i really dont feel like getting into fly fishing. I tie alot on 1/16-1/8 oz heads with marabou (think fieder fly) and bucktail. I’ve gotten fairly creative tying regular bass jigs with silicone as well on 1/8-3/8 poison tails.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I have tied flies for some years now, mostly tungsten bead head ice flies.  I am just starting to play around with jigs for bass and walleye this year.  I have a commercial account with Hareline Dubbin, so it's fairly cheap to experiment with a lot of materials.  Looking through their catalog, the amount of options makes a guy's head spin with all you can create.

[IgotWood]

That commercial account with Hareline is money! I have been considering starting a small tying business, but it's hard to justify it. It's so difficult to make money in it.

 

That idea with the poison tails is ringing a bell with me! Those are basically stand-up jig heads on a wide gap hook, right?

[Bdnoble84]

18 hours ago, IgotWood said:

That idea with the poison tails is ringing a bell with me! Those are basically stand-up jig heads on a wide gap hook, right?

They are a rocker style head. I think they are advertized to stand up but they do fall over in my experience if you put slack in the line. I use them for swimming as well as walking over rocks. They do surprizsingly well worked through some nasty rocky areas. I use 50lb braid and a med heavy rod and its a challenge to loose one in my experience.

ive had some hook up issues with the widegap hook. Mostly its me trying to really drive it. A sweeping hook set seems to work better. Once they are on though, its been pretty much money for me.