We all probably know that there's a positive psychological component to making and using our own stuff, especially when it works. Some stuff we make is from scratch, but most creations usually with at least some pre-made components.
Flies, jigs and lure modifications are pretty easy to do. Jigs are to me, one of the best fish finding lures ever made. Basically a fly with a large weighted head. Easy and accurate to cast, great for probing the bottom, life-like if made right and there's a snag free effect with the hook point riding upwards.
Here's how I make mine:
Buy unpainted, undressed jigs(much cheaper). Get a fly tying vice that'll handle larger hooks, heavy tying thread(3/0 or larger)/bobin, a quality fly tying scissors for med.- heavy cutting, enamel paint, cheap brushes and water proof color markers, maybe some kinda clear-coat for paint protection and head cement( super glue seems to work just fine).
Dressing them up has endless variations: stiff and supportive for shape definition, flexible and lifelike for movement in the water, color variations and combos. Synthetic or natural(syntho. tends to be tougher). When shopping for materials it's best to first check a hobby/craft store(cheaper), and then patronize a fly fishing store for the specialized stuff.
Here's a 3/4 oz. triangle head jig with a nice long hook shank. Probably designed for a plastic/rubber body add on. Therein is another great aspect to jigs: ability to change to diffrent body types or colors.
Start with a thread base on a prepaired jig head (painted, eyes added).
I like to layer the colors kinda like the naturals. Baitfish: white belly; middle-maybe 2 colors, one a little darker than the other; dorsal/back- the darkest of the naturals overall color(brown on this'n). REMEMBER: the upward riding hook side will be the back of the critter. Best to start with the tail, as the body dressing will cover it, as you work forward. A drop of glue on each section( tail for example) will strengthen the fly.
After the tail's completed, all the body components should be tied on at their ends. The floss in the last picture is to even out the body and to try and get a taper---narrow(tail) to thicker(head).
I use white materials on the body and head sections as much as possible, cause it's much eaiser to use waterproof color markers get the layered effect. Good quality artist's color markers are best.
Wrap the main body materials forward(pipe cleaner here). Then the dressy stuff, in this example a long feather from the saddle area of jungle cock( this would be an example of a material type best bought from a fly shop). Some type of thin wire twisted together with the feather, then wraped forward might protect the feather shaft from being cut by fish teeth.
I like to add what would be comparable to a wing on a streamer fly, up on the neck area. This can be tied in before or after the body is completed. I used maribou here because it has great life-like movement. To me, the secret to life-like artificials is individualized movement of various parts of the jig/fly---think fin and tail movement on real fish.
Next and finally: the coloring, the thread tie off(finish knot), some glue and a clear-coat of some type.
Yeah, I know, that's more detail than is really needed for most fishing applications. For me though, I like to try'n be creative(IT'S FUNNER THAT WAY!) and ya never know, that educated big'un that's been fooled and managed to get away several times in his life might get fooled one more time, if the presentation is just a little over-the-top different and life-like.
This weekend the wife and I are attending a church conference in Honolulu. If you look close enough you can see that it's not just a flashy streamer fly on my "Lucky 13" cap, but a tie clip fly. Yep, I'm gonna remove it and wear it with my white button down sport shirt and yellow tie. And I ain't gonna let "Mrs. Proper Protocol" tell me I can't do it!
Good stuff! Greg graciously sent me one of these excellent pieces in the box of 130 Sailfisher he very graciously sent! Really good-looking fly.
Agree about hobby shops- you can buy pounds of tinsel at Wally or hobby shop for what a few inches costs at a Fly op- I've got a whole lot of fish, fresh and salt, doing so. Clear nail polish and nylon upholstery thread with your shop vice works fine to- I grew up in a very small town with only a Kmart and later wally, and so did with what I could get my hands on easily. My hunting buddies ad plenty of bucktails, so a $1 rattle can of white and some jigheads turned all that into a whole lot of nice jigs with flash for about .30 each- mostly the hook.
I agree G...using your own hand made lures is the best...takes the fishing experience up a notch. I'm not much of a lure crafter, but my brother makes all the spinners and jigs we use for trout/bass/panfish. He even packages them up in a little kit with label and all and gives them away to his buddies. I have to "trade" reel servicing for my Tank Flies...sheesh...::)
Looks pretty "fishy" to me !! Seriously, great job !
If I were a fish I'd eat it off the picture, looks so good!
Quote from: Gfish on July 10, 2019, 09:55:56 AM
Yep, I'm gonna remove it and wear it with my white button down sport shirt and yellow tie and she ain't gonna change my mind!
Famous last words... ;D Dominick
Quote from: Dominick on July 10, 2019, 04:19:52 PM
Quote from: Gfish on July 10, 2019, 09:55:56 AM
Yep, I'm gonna remove it and wear it with my white button down sport shirt and yellow tie and she ain't gonna change my mind!
Famous last words... ;D Dominick
Yep, let us know how that works out for you...before, during, and six months later...🤦♀️...😀
Good Luck, Fred
Yup. Misses "strict protocol". "No, that will be improper at a church meeting!" Usually she lectures the issue to death and I give-in.
:) Word of wisdom ....
Quote from: oldmanjoe on July 10, 2019, 06:01:35 PM
:) Word of wisdom ....
Unfortunately — I am guilty of both...
Best,
Fred
You're not alone, there !
Those are some great looking jigs! And it is always sweeter to hook up on something that his home made/home built!
Great looking jigs. Always heard they're more effective adding eyeballs.
Looking Good G. ;)
Let us know how that fly works out for ya with the misses. :D
Update. Ok. Possibly I lucked-out(i.e., avoided getting beat-up verbaly). She forgot to bring my dress pants from the mainland, so I never wore the dress shirt and tie, as I only had board shorts(worn with aloha shirts) and didn't wanna look like Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Could have asked her to wear the fly in that case. Or maybe she wouldn't know she was wearing it? Huh? Ya feel me?
Who dat?
Hey Gfish, as I was digging through some of my Dad's old stuff, I ran across a trick you may already know about for your jigs but I thought I would throw out there. I have a box with several sections/partial rolls of lawn chair webbing material. He accumulated sections in several color combinations, and then would cut an unravel them before wrapping onto a hook to make shrimp fly leaders for rock cod fishing off Morro Bay.