Hair/Buck Tail Jig Fishing Tips

[DEPS_250]

I have never tried using a hair/buck tail jig for freshwater bass before. On the other hand, I have used them extensively in the salt for halibut, stripers and rockfish on charter boats. I am planning to give hair/buck tail jigs a try sometime this summer in a few weeks. My goal is to learn how to fish them in freshwater and eventually catch some bass with them. 

 

For all intents and purposes...A hair jig is 'always' fished with no trailer in freshwater right? On the other hand, I am pretty sure there are many freshwater fisherman out there who have probably experimented at least a couple times with using a trailer on a hair jig in order to stand out or show the fish something different, right?

 

Reason why I ask is, I have always used a trailer on my hair/buck tail jigs in the salt when targeting halibut, stripers and rockfish. And it seems to always work. And yet, I never see freshwater bass fisherman use a trailer on hair/buck tail jigs. They always fished them 'bare'/as-is. 

[bowhunter63]

They work great for Especially cold water. They used to rule the roost than came soft plastics. Hair and real pork trailers are deadly. Smallmouth love hair 

[TnRiver46]

53 minutes ago, bowhunter63 said:

They work great for Especially cold water. They used to rule the roost than came soft plastics. Hair and real pork trailers are deadly. Smallmouth love hair 

I saw some good deals on them in a  local shop but I didn’t pull the trigger, I might need to swing back by. I was going to wait til winter but I’m sure they eat them in summer too 

[WRB]

3 hours ago, DEPS_250 said:

I have never tried using a hair/buck tail jig for freshwater bass before. On the other hand, I have used them extensively in the salt for halibut, stripers and rockfish on charter boats. I am planning to give hair/buck tail jigs a try sometime this summer in a few weeks. My goal is to learn how to fish them in freshwater and eventually catch some bass with them. 

 

For all intents and purposes...A hair jig is 'always' fished with no trailer in freshwater right? On the other hand, I am pretty sure there are many freshwater fisherman out there who have probably experimented at least a couple times with using a trailer on a hair jig in order to stand out or show the fish something different, right?

 

Reason why I ask is, I have always used a trailer on my hair/buck tail jigs in the salt when targeting halibut, stripers and rockfish. And it seems to always work. And yet, I never see freshwater bass fisherman use a trailer on hair/buck tail jigs. They always fished them 'bare'/as-is. 

Send me a PM with email and will send you my Horizontal Jigging article and info on hair jigs, pork rind trailers.

Tom

[WRB]

  Hair or hair/ feature jigs similar to crappie jigs are popular for  Smallmouth bass and often fished under a bobber; Float ‘n Fly.

Larger hair jigs similar to salt water Strip bass jigs often called a Preacher jig about 5” long is the other extreme.

Bass hair jigs 1/4 oz to 1 oz once popular like Doll Fly combined with a pork trailer was the original “jig n pig”. This type of bucktail hair jig still works good but most anglers have moved on to silicone skirted jigs that offer a wider range of colors with fakes that appeal more to anglers.

I am old school and still use hair jigs with pork trailers year around with good success simply because big bass still eat them.

Yes pork moved in both cold or warm water whereas some soft plastics tend to stiffen in cold water. The problem today is pork trailer have become hard to find and expensive.

Tom

[Pogues2300]

 Check out hair jig Seth Feider on YouTube. Randy Blaukat did a video talking about them recently as well. I tried Seth’s take on it last fall and had a blast in Minnesota! Zero trailer

[softwateronly]

I started messing around with preacher jigs based off @WRB's recs last year and it's quickly become a staple for me.  When on, the bite is tremendous and leans towards big fish.  I definitely recommend out cast tackle's chicken jig, 5/8oz works really well from 8-25' and great place to start for big hair jigs.  

 

scott

 

[DEPS_250]

Just watched a couple of the Seth Feider videos. 

 

Why does he call a hair jig a 'chicken'? Is that word specific to a certain area of the US only (i.e. Minnesota)? l have never seen anyone in Cali call a hair jig a chicken. 

 

Seth recommends 17-20lb fluorocarbon. Would 14-16lb fluorocarbon work or would it be too light?

 

I understand weight is going to depend on how deep you are fishing and how fast you want the bait to fall but what would be the recommended weight sizes if your just starting out? I like to fish fast, therefore I tend to favor bigger and heavier baits. Would 1/2oz, 3/4oz and 1oz suffice?

 

Is it mainly a summer or winter time bait? Or is it a year round bait? I fish in Cali and I have never seen anyone fish them in the winter, spring or fall time in our lakes.

 

From my understanding and from experience, a hair jig is only fished in Cali in the summer time when the bass suspend and school up. Are there guys in Cali using hair jigs all the time no matter what season it is and I am just not aware of it or have not seen it?

 

 

 

 

[Pogues2300]

Pretty sure the Seth feider or Randy blaukat video explains it honestly some comes down to trial and error

[PaulVE64]

I've been tying hair, feathers and fur on jigs for smallmouth for a few years.

Soft plastic trailers work great on jigs.

I'm river fishing so anything from 1/16 to 3/8 is normal for me.

[softwateronly]

4 hours ago, DEPS_250 said:

Just watched a couple of the Seth Feider videos. 

 

Why does he call a hair jig a 'chicken'? Is that word specific to a certain area of the US only (i.e. Minnesota)? l have never seen anyone in Cali call a hair jig a chicken. 

 

Seth recommends 17-20lb fluorocarbon. Would 14-16lb fluorocarbon work or would it be too light?

 

I understand weight is going to depend on how deep you are fishing and how fast you want the bait to fall but what would be the recommended weight sizes if your just starting out? I like to fish fast, therefore I tend to favor bigger and heavier baits. Would 1/2oz, 3/4oz and 1oz suffice?

 

Is it mainly a summer or winter time bait? Or is it a year round bait? I fish in Cali and I have never seen anyone fish them in the winter, spring or fall time in our lakes.

 

From my understanding and from experience, a hair jig is only fished in Cali in the summer time when the bass suspend and school up. Are there guys in Cali using hair jigs all the time no matter what season it is and I am just not aware of it or have not seen it?

 

 

 

 

 

-Feider's has 2 hackle feathers tied in with craft fur, hence the name.

-I throw it on 7'6 MH 30lb braid to 16lb shock leader, 14-16lb should be just fine.

-1/2oz is a nice slow glide while tight lining, I surf it down the weedy breaks in 8'-15'

-I've definitely done best post spawn till turnover, but I think there's ample opportunity to find a cold water bite, especially a warm up in early prespawn.  Just haven't done it yet with the big hair jigs.

-I'm without electronics, so my suspended schoolers are the toughest to find.  This is one of my search baits for em.  But my best action is swimming/coasting them within a few feet of the bottom.  I like to think of it as a swimbait; big, natural, and subtle.

-mikeybalzz fishing and milliken on youtube has lots of preacher jig action as well.

 

scott

 

[DEPS_250]

57 minutes ago, softwateronly said:

 

-Feider's has 2 hackle feathers tied in with craft fur, hence the name.

-I throw it on 7'6 MH 30lb braid to 16lb shock leader, 14-16lb should be just fine.

-1/2oz is a nice slow glide while tight lining, I surf it down the weedy breaks in 8'-15'

-I've definitely done best post spawn till turnover, but I think there's ample opportunity to find a cold water bite, especially a warm up in early prespawn.  Just haven't done it yet with the big hair jigs.

-I'm without electronics, so my suspended schoolers are the toughest to find.  This is one of my search baits for em.  But my best action is swimming/coasting them within a few feet of the bottom.  I like to think of it as a swimbait; big, natural, and subtle.

-mikeybalzz fishing and milliken on youtube has lots of preacher jig action as well.

 

scott

 

Haha LOL! I get it now. They tie chicken feathers on the jig hence, chicken jig. Did not see that one. Thanks.  

[JMac603]

I use bucktail 1/4oz frequently. Depends on the weather how I fish it - cold is a slow straight retrieve and warm I'll pop off the bottom and let it pendulum down. I find it does well when they're suspended post spawn and they chase it down like a tube. I throw these more than I do paddletails or swim jigs with plastic skirts. I fish them on a 7' M St Croix Avid 3K Tatula with #8 trilene mono. 

 

I'll throw a Gulp leech on the back sometimes but the jig does just fine on its own. 

 

Recently I've been enamored with very light maribou/hair jigs - 1/16 and 3/32 on long limber rods with light line. I've done VERY well this year on these and having a blast perfecting that rod and reel combo. So far it's a 7'6" ML TFO Resolve, a Tatula 4k, #10 daiwa 8 grand braid, and a #4 trilene xl mono 10' leader. 

 

I've never tried the heavier hair jigs others have mentioned. I rarely fish heavy tackle but that might be worth a go, too, at some point here. 

[Alex from GA]

During deer season the processors will usually give me all the tails I want.  I tie 1/4 to 3/4 oz heads with from 2" to 6" tails.  During the winter I'll throw the larger ones to the banks later in the day for stripers and during all other times points and rocky walls hold bass, mostly Alabama bass where I fish.

[papajoe222]

Most hair jigs I use are 1/8-1/4oz.  If I add a trailer, it’s a curly tail grub on a jig with shorter hair. I work them along the bottom, dragging the ones with the trailer and working the others with  either short hops, or a yo yo style retrieve. I use them mostly for smallmouth, but early pre-spawn they work well for largemouth, too.  

[bowhunter63]

17 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I saw some good deals on them in a  local shop but I didn’t pull the trigger, I might need to swing back by. I was going to wait til winter but I’m sure they eat them in summer too 

Oh heck ya a slow bite black hair jig. Straight out straight back