Is hair jig still popular?

[Eddie101]

Do you guys still use it? I have a few (black/chartreuse) sitting in my tackle box collecting dust since I never gave'em much love. I'm planning on using them when bites are hard to come by;like now since we just had a cold front and fish are not cooperating.

 

So, what brand/color/size do you recommend? 

[TnRiver46]

Yes, I saw them get a lot of

usage on the pro tours this season 

[Mr. Aquarium]

I love them! Killer cold water bait, I tie my own for fall-spring cold water fishin.

 

depends on what style you are using.  If you’re vertical fishing  then a 1/8 or 1/4 would be good. I  fish them slowly on bottom. Cast out and slow twitch back. I’ve had good days this way. I never had electronics on my kayak.  Also look at jig head styles. Ball head jig would be good for vertical jiggin, stand up jigs and other styles like that would be good

for bottom fishin. I love natural colors. Browns, blacks and olives.  

[WRB]

Hair jigs are not popular anymore with a few exceptions; 1/8-1/4 for Samllmouth and 3/4-1 oz Dr. Jigs for LM ledge anglers.

The myth that hair jigs are for cold water reduced their usage and simple colors without bells n whistles lost thier appeal to today's bass anglers.

Hair jigs work great year around, the pig n jig was a hair jig with pork rind trailer, both lost thier mojo but still work good today if you can find them.

Hair jig with pork trailer is the one lure I used year around anywhere anytime. Do they work? Look at my avatar and 5 PB's listed.

Tom

 

[SpinLight]

On 9/15/2020 at 3:49 PM, WRB said:

Hair jigs are not popular anymore with a few exceptions; 1/8-1/4 for Samllmouth and 3/4-1 oz Dr. Jigs for LM ledge anglers.

The myth that hair jigs are for cold water reduced their usage and simple colors without bells n whistles lost thier appeal to today's bass anglers.

Hair jigs work great year around, the pig n jig was a hair jig with pork rind trailer, both lost thier mojo but still work good today if you can find them.

Hair jig with pork trailer is the one lure I used year around anywhere anytime. Do they work? Look at my avatar and 5 PB's listed.

Tom

 

What kind of pork trailer do you use on a hair jig?

[Jig Man]

I use them without a trailer.  Mine are not traditional. I rarely let mine touch the bottom.  I swim them with twitches.  One of my best colors is silver and red closely followed by purple and orange.

[WRB]

47 minutes ago, SpinLight said:

What kind of pork trailer do you use on a hair jig?

Pork rind is no longer commercially availble

The pig n jig was a hair jig with pork trailer or pig now lost in the archives of history.

To messy and simple colors doesn't appeal to today's bass anglers but bass prefer them.

The cold water time is a myth, hair jigs work year around. Crawdads are less active in cold water and hair jigs replicate crawdads, go figure.

Tom

[Team9nine]

Not sure they were ever ‘popular,’ but I’ve been throwing them for around 15-20 years around here with great success. I just use plain cheap ties along with a few custom ties and tiny hand pour trailers (or no trailer at all).

[WRB]

Jig skirts have evolved over the last 70 years.

The 1st jigs were tied with chicken and pheasant feathers, followed by marabou feathers pre 40's. The Doll fly jig was the 1st multi colored bucktail hair jigs used with Pork rind trailers known as the bass jg or pig n jig very popular until vinyl shirts came out in the mid 60's along with football and Arkie style jigs, Pork rind remained the popular trailer. 

Uncle Josh bought thier competitor Pedigo in the 7O's and owned that market with a few local suppliers. Out west Super Pork became very popular in the 80's-2000 until hogs started to be raised with quick growing technology thinning the skin. Good hog backs became rare and expensive killing the Pork rind business about 5 years ago.

Silicone skirts and soft plastic trailers now dominate the jig market.

That is about it.

The answer is hair jigs are no longer popular and pork rind is now highly sought after by those in the know.

Tom

[Guitarfish]

Wellll, it depends.  A month or so ago I was fishing salt water and tied on a big hair jig that caught four monster rockfish as fast as I could reel them in.  Then a few weeks later, on a slow fishing day, I whipped out a jar of pork tails that I added to the same hair jigs and the bite picked up.

 

I actually was impressed enough I went and bought some in smaller sizes. 

[SpinLight]

12 hours ago, WRB said:

Jig skirts have evolved over the last 70 years.

The 1st jigs were tied with chicken and pheasant feathers, followed by marabou feathers pre 40's. The Doll fly jig was the 1st multi colored bucktail hair jigs used with Pork rind trailers known as the bass jg or pig n jig very popular until vinyl shirts came out in the mid 60's along with football and Arkie style jigs, Pork rind remained the popular trailer. 

Uncle Josh bought thier competitor Pedigo in the 7O's and owned that market with a few local suppliers. Out west Super Pork became very popular in the 80's-2000 until hogs started to be raised with quick growing technology thinning the skin. Good hog backs became rare and expensive killing the Pork rind business about 5 years ago.

Silicone skirts and soft plastic trailers now dominate the jig market.

That is about it.

The answer is hair jigs are no longer popular and pork rind is now highly sought after by those in the know.

Tom

Thanks for your comments, Tom. I enjoy reading about the history and evolution of fishing lures. The Thompson's Doll Fly was made somewhere around Knoxville, TN, as I recall. And the Pedigo company also made one of the best tailspinners called the Spinrite. It caught a lot of large smallmouth in Dale Hollow Lake and the TN river lakes.

[VolFan]

I use NorthStar custom baits Hippy Jigs on a regular basis in NC, especially in moving water. It can imitate everything from craws to minnows depending on the color and trailer. Its a year-round bait.

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, SpinLight said:

Thanks for your comments, Tom. I enjoy reading about the history and evolution of fishing lures. The Thompson's Doll Fly was made somewhere around Knoxville, TN, as I recall. And the Pedigo company also made one of the best tailspinners called the Spinrite. It caught a lot of large smallmouth in Dale Hollow Lake and the TN river lakes.

I live in Knoxville, People surprisingly still make all that stuff!  you just have to end up sitting around the right campfire with the right old timers. You won’t find them for sale on their webpage! Hahaha

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Hair jigs are killer man.  They can be a pain to clean if they get slime on them, but they for sure work.  Theyre surprisingly expensive and there isn't a ton of companies that put them out, I tie my own.  I fish them most often in cold water, so I want to get the slowest fall rate possible.  The Gamakatsu Round Jighead in a 1/16 is my favorite jighead to use.  The longer collar allows you to add as much hair as you want as long as it has a light wire hook.  I like to use synthetic craft hair because it seems to have more buoyancy then natural hair and you can get it in just about any craft store.  You want to use the longest strands of hair you can get to create drag.  Once you finish tying it, you can trim it down if you need to.  I use wax thread to secure the hair to the collar, because I have it to tie flies with, you don't need to go out and buy it just about any kind of thread will work.  You can use nail polish on the wrapped thread instead of fly cement.  Once the hair gets wet it sticks together and the profile is much smaller.  I like to cut 3/4" piece off plastic worm and slide it down the shank .  That way the hair cant clump together tighter then width of the worm.   

[WRB]

4 hours ago, VolFan said:

I use NorthStar custom baits Hippy Jigs on a regular basis in NC, especially in moving water. It can imitate everything from craws to minnows depending on the color and trailer. Its a year-round bait.

Forgot about NorthStar, they make a hybrid bucktail hair and silicone jig, The P&J football looks good.

Tom

 

[FishTank]

I have tried one from Outkast and did OK with it but it wasn't enough for me to change from a either a swim jig or a regular casting jig. 

[looking45]

I use them in the winter months here in Norcal. They work great on the spotted bass. I use 1/4oz jigs tied with hair from a gray squirrels tail. No need to use a trailer as the hair it tied a little longer than a normal jig.

[Bird]

Back in the late 70's we called them bucktail jigs......hair jigs with uncle josh pork trailer. 

Black and chartreuse was a smallmouth killer. 

 

I went away from them when the consensus said there's better options, likely cost me lots of fish.

[OnthePotomac]

When the tidal Potomac goes down to 60 Punisher Hair jigs are very popular and usually in Blue/black.  The weight is dependent on where you will throw it on the river and what the tide is doing.

[Jonas Staggs]

On 9/15/2020 at 1:49 PM, WRB said:

Hair jigs are not popular anymore with a few exceptions; 1/8-1/4 for Samllmouth and 3/4-1 oz Dr. Jigs for LM ledge anglers.

The myth that hair jigs are for cold water reduced their usage and simple colors without bells n whistles lost thier appeal to today's bass anglers.

Hair jigs work great year around, the pig n jig was a hair jig with pork rind trailer, both lost thier mojo but still work good today if you can find them.

Hair jig with pork trailer is the one lure I used year around anywhere anytime. Do they work? Look at my avatar and 5 PB's listed.

Tom

 

Pork grinds? Like the kind you eat and can buy at the gas station?

Pork trailer? Like a piece of meat?

On 9/13/2020 at 2:54 PM, Eddie101 said:

Do you guys still use it? I have a few (black/chartreuse) sitting in my tackle box collecting dust since I never gave'em much love. I'm planning on using them when bites are hard to come by;like now since we just had a cold front and fish are not cooperating.

 

So, what brand/color/size do you recommend? 

I have some small ones that work good....and my 1/2 oz hair jig has probably been my most productive when I saltwater fish

[waymont]

I use these hair jigs on Smallies in deep clear lakes. I slow reel them just off the bottom, no twitches.

Blacks and browns work well. These are high quality jigs, and last a long time.

 

https://jimmydsriverbugs.com/product-category/hair-jigs/

[MickD]

4 of my last 6 smallies over 3 pounds came on maribou jigs I tied.  For smallies the experts say black is best, olive is very good, now and then pink.  I've not used them in good largemouth habitat, but they should work, and I'd start with black.

 

I like maribou better than hair, limper, really enticing look in the water.

 

[garroyo130]

 

On 9/15/2020 at 3:49 PM, WRB said:

Hair jigs are not popular anymore with a few exceptions; 1/8-1/4 for Samllmouth and 3/4-1 oz Dr. Jigs for LM ledge anglers.

The myth that hair jigs are for cold water reduced their usage and simple colors without bells n whistles lost thier appeal to today's bass anglers.

Hair jigs work great year around, the pig n jig was a hair jig with pork rind trailer, both lost thier mojo but still work good today if you can find them.

Hair jig with pork trailer is the one lure I used year around anywhere anytime. Do they work? Look at my avatar and 5 PB's listed.

Tom

 

 

Bringing this thread back.

 

@WRB I notice that you've recommended punisher hair jigs in the past. Not sure if I am looking at the wrong website but these show "craft hair" in the description. Would these still be the jigs you recommend, or are there better options out there?

 

https://punisherlures.com/products/the-punisher-jig 

[WRB]

Not a fan of craft hair but it’s difficult to find bucktail hair jigs commercially available. Marabou is feathers not hair.

The link to Jimmy’s River Bugs looks interesting and we has a site sponsor who makes hair jigs from time to time, don’t recall the name North Star? 

Tom

[Steelhead]

VMC has a bucktail jig. Reasonable priced. What I'm looking forward to using is the VMC Moon Tail jig. Fantastic colors. TW has a date of December 29th.

 

Sure like the look of those Punisher jigs and the great selection in sizes.