humpy jigs

[HillbillyGeek]

Pink salmon will be running again next year, and I'm going to start making jigs early for a change. When the humpies finally hit the rivers, my buddies come out of the woodwork begging for jigs. Since it's still VERY early, I'll have time to let the creative juices flow and come up with some new designs. Ultimately, the specific pattern may not be a big factor but it's fun to tinker.
:geek:

Informal survey:

What sizes & colors do you think are the most effective? Yeah, I know... any color will work as long as it's pink. But there are several different shades of pink.
Bubble gum (light pink)
berry (light pink with a touch of yellow)
hot pink (AKA magenta)
cerise (hot pink with a touch of purple)

What about color combinations? pink & yellow, pink & white, pink & purple, pink & chartreuse, etc.

Do you prefer lures that reflect light (glitter, tinsel, etc), or is color the only factor?

Ever use a jig with rubber legs?

Ever tried a wooly bugger jig? (hackle wrap)

How about materials that glow in the dark?

What hooks do you like? Long shank, short shank, sickle, round bend, heavy wire, light wire, red, black nickel, gold, bronze, etc

Do you like jigs that have a contrasting head color, or a head that blends with the body color?

[SmokinAces]

Pink Bunny Leaches, Pink Clousers, Pink Zonkers! Get at emmmm... Pressing those humpies!!!!!!

[A9]

I was thinking about our jig tying guru (Hillbilly) the other day when I was looking thru my 1/4 oz pink jigs...Wondering if he was gonna tie up anything special. All your other jigs are awesome Hillbilly Geek. You gonna be selling any of these jigs? They are tough to pick up in stores by the time summer hits, they are in high demand....

Those pinks weren't picky at all in 2007. Anything pink or white, or the combination of both, seemed to work great. 1/4 oz jig, tied to 8 lb mainline and trout rods, toss those jigs out, twitch em in, FISH ON! Much more productive then fishing dick nites in my opinion....

Late in the Pink run I got hooked on using 1/4 oz black jigheads with mini green hootchies. Green spatterback mini-hootchies with the tentacles trimmed up a bit...Yep, green. Worked better then pink jigs.....

Pink Marabou jigs were among my favorite, a little white never hurt. Pink or light pink. I see no reason to work with extra material for the fur (flashy tinsel/glow in the dark) but it couldn't hurt either. I toss them into the deeper pools of the Snohomish, some spots have to be 10+ feet deep or more, I guess a little glow couldn't hurt. An older asian gentleman used to be at the same spot I'd go to every morning, and he would kill them with a glow in the dark 1/4oz jig head with a green spatterback mini hootchie. My black jighead worked, but not as well with his.

I fished with medium length shanked jig heads, round bend, light wire when I made my own green hootchie jigs..... Not from preference, but that was about all I cared to buy as they would hit anything. I'd love to see some sickle hooks on a short-medium length shank, with light/medium wire. Two combos: 1) Pink head/pink marabou and 2) Glow in the dark head and mini green hootchie......

The smaller the better in rivers. I had some buddy's who would SLAY the pinks dropping 1/8 or 1/16 WHITE crappie jigs from their DB or jet boat...

Here's a pic of what worked pretty well for me....

[HillbillyGeek]

Thanks for the compliments Jeff. :colors:

That looks like a woolly bugger jig in your pic. It's a design that fly fishermen have been using for a long time and is now showing up in commercial jigs. Here's a site selling them for $3.99 + shipping.

http://www.reactionbaits.com/detail.aspx?ID=817

OUCH! That's a lot of moolah for a jig! If I sell any, I'll probably price them between $1 & 1.50 -- depending on how early they are ordered. Making jigs will always just be a hobby for me. The last thing I need is more stress in my life, and turning a hobby into a job usually takes all the fun out of it. :pale:

Hootchie jigs are very easy to make. Could be a topic for a future tutorial...

Here's a super easy hootchie jig. All you need is a jig head, a b2 squid, and a dab of super glue.



The "hootchie spin" might work well for people who like to plunk. I tried to troll this one @ Storm lake last spring but got hung up in less than 60 seconds. (Storm lake is snag city!)



Coating jig heads with glow paint is simple, and it can be applied over other colors. I have not actually tried using them for salmon yet. Since their eyesight begins to fade as soon as they hit the rivers, a glow effect might be a good thing. Or it could be a waste of time. For some species (trout?), that extra glow might look unnatural and be counterproductive. Dunno.

As far as hooks go, I'm becoming a big fan of Matzuo sickle hooks. They have shorter shanks & a wider gap than most other brands. Plus, they are the sharpest hooks I've ever used. Seriously. Captain hook sells the 2/0 90 degree red or black sickle for about 8 cents. They are perfect for 1/4 oz humpy jigs.

I'm going to be out of town for a few days, but when I get back I'll start posting jig pics -- fresh from the vice.

[northfork]

Too funny you should bring this topic up HG. STS and I were just discussing breaking out the kiddie rods and getting them tuned up for the humpy's.
Might have to get a selection from you this year as I'm back to work full time and don't have the time to dabble at the vise.

[A9]

If I sell any, I'll probably price them between $1 & 1.50 -- depending on how early they are ordered.

As far as hooks go, I'm becoming a big fan of Matzuo sickle hooks. They have shorter shanks & a wider gap than most other brands. Plus, they are the sharpest hooks I've ever used. Seriously. Captain hook sells the 2/0 90 degree red or black sickle for about 8 cents. They are perfect for 1/4 oz humpy jigs.

I'm going to be out of town for a few days, but when I get back I'll start posting jig pics -- fresh from the vice.

Can't wait to see some more pictures...All your jigs are killer!

As for me, I'd love to order some if you make some wooly bugger and/or hootchie jigs on a 1/4oz jighead with Matzuo sickles.....I'm too lazy to make my own jigs....:dwarf:

[Dave]

Last pink season I fished the Stilly under the Sylvana bridge using a 50/50 Dick Nite. I hooked 1 fish on my medium weight trout rod and lost him at the shoreline. Great fight! Next to me I watched a guy limit (4) in a half hour tossing a Chartreuse Kast Master which I do have but didn't have with me. I will use that Kast Master this coming season. I watched several others toss pink spoons and squids in the river that day and they caught nothing. I think the strike in the rivers is a triggered response rather than a feeding bite. That theory seemed to hold true that trip and the chartreuse color and the Kast Master's action seemed to be the lure they didn't like in their face.

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

...

I used hootchies exclusively in 2007 and did very well. I killed them in 2005 using marabou jigs, but for some reason, I did not do that well with the marabou jigs in 2007.

So, I started using hootchie jigs.

First, I rigged them like in the pic--hootchie slid onto a leadhead jig.

But I found a more effective way: tie the hootchie "Texas rig style" like bass fishing. Here's how I do it:

Octopus hook (size 1/0 or 2/0)--then 3-4 colored plastic beads on top of the hook (try pink, white, glow, beads)--then slide the hootchie on top of the beads--and then a bullet slip sinker on top of the hootchie. I used 1/4 oz or 3/8 ounce bullet head sinkers. No need to paint the sinkers--use plain unpainted lead. Adding scent or a chunk of prawn on the hook helps.

The advantage of this rig, versus the standard jig head, is that the weight is able to slide up and down the line as you're fighting the fish. This makes it a little easier to keep the fish hooked. Also, the octopus hook (short shank) seemed to hold them better, compared to a longer shanked hook, which is usually what you find on a pre-made jig head.

For hootchie color, I had good luck with hot pink, light pink with white glow-in-the dark, and blue with white. I didn't get to try other colors, but i am sure they would work fine. I stocked up this past year on hootchies, and bought a bunch on Ebay for about 15 cents each. Also bought lots and lots of 1.5 inch and 2 inch crappie squid tube baits, in pink, white, glow, etc.

I bought 150 of these jig bodies on Ebay. I think they'll work great. They can be T-rigged, or rigged on jig heads.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-0-x-50-Hot-Pink-R ... m153.l1262

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

Last pink season I fished the Stilly under the Sylvana bridge using a 50/50 Dick Nite. I hooked 1 fish on my medium weight trout rod and lost him at the shoreline. Great fight! Next to me I watched a guy limit (4) in a half hour tossing a Chartreuse Kast Master which I do have but didn't have with me. I will use that Kast Master this coming season. I watched several others toss pink spoons and squids in the river that day and they caught nothing. I think the strike in the rivers is a triggered response rather than a feeding bite. That theory seemed to hold true that trip and the chartreuse color and the Kast Master's action seemed to be the lure they didn't like in their face.

On the Snoho, I saw people doing really well with the 1/2 chrome, 1/2 blue Kastmaster.

[big fish lite line]

well I made a bunch of jigs last season and they worked phenomenal. I used 1/4 ounce sickle jig heads and painted them pink with nail polish then I tied on marabou cabalas sells marabou for a great price. when they were running last fall a guy i know that pretty much dedicates his life to river fishing took use up the snohomish in his jet boat. It was by far the fastest fishing I've ever had. that day we estimated that the four of us caught and released at least a hundred humpies. we had four fish on at once numerous times and we could even watch the humpies hit our jigs 4 feet from the boat. one thing i found out is that the 3in gamagastu pink curly tail grubs work excellent and they save you alot of work. I was catching just as many as the other guys who were using marabou

[A9]

Last pink season I fished the Stilly under the Sylvana bridge using a 50/50 Dick Nite. I hooked 1 fish on my medium weight trout rod and lost him at the shoreline. Great fight! Next to me I watched a guy limit (4) in a half hour tossing a Chartreuse Kast Master which I do have but didn't have with me. I will use that Kast Master this coming season. I watched several others toss pink spoons and squids in the river that day and they caught nothing. I think the strike in the rivers is a triggered response rather than a feeding bite. That theory seemed to hold true that trip and the chartreuse color and the Kast Master's action seemed to be the lure they didn't like in their face.

On the Snoho, I saw people doing really well with the 1/2 chrome, 1/2 blue Kastmaster.

Half silver/half orange kastmaster worked for some folks one who fished next to me one day....

[HillbillyGeek]

Here's an experimental pattern that turned out pretty good. A glow pink head might be better than the chartreuse. Or maybe keep the chartreuse head & add some to the tail???




1/4 oz green chartreuse head (looks yellow in the pic but it's green)
2/0 matzuo sickle
pink estaz + hot pink bead
hot pink + white marabou tail

[kavykid2k6]

i usaully use a 1/4 ounce white jig head with a pile of hot pink marabou on it, but last year i switched over to the hoochie skirts with the white head just because they are so much easier and seemed to work better then there feathered counterparts. i have found the white jig head to be a huge thing as far as catching the fish in deep (10+ ft)or murky water. and if any one needs jigs let me know, i got close to three thousand of them

[HillbillyGeek]

Here's a woolly bugger jig. Saddle hackle makes it extra "woolly".

I normally don't make tails quite this fluffy, but it should be proportionate to the rest of the body.



1/4 oz
2/0 matzuo sickle

[HillbillyGeek]

This one was fun! :geek:

Spun dubbing is very versatile. A little dab will do ya! When spun tight, it looks like thin sparkly yarn. When spun loose, it looks fuzzy. (The spinner is sitting next to the bobbin in the pic.)



Recipe:
1/4 oz, glow over hot pink powder paint
2/0 mustad ultrapoint
body = loose-spun dubbing
tail = crosscut rabbit fur + glow flashabou

[A9]

They all look sweeeeeeet HillbillyGeek. All of em would be good for those humpies!

If your interested in selling some, I'd love to pick up 15-20 or so of em so I'm ready early for this upcoming Pink season.....

[Kokonuts]

HillBilly...... Have you used any of those for Kokanee? Do you make anything for Kokanee?

I know that I keep bugging you about the KOKES but I fish Lake Merwin for them all durning the season & I dont get a chance to fish for much else! Besides your stuff looks great!

I am planning a trip to the Flaming Gorge this June & if I had some of your goodies I could write up some great stuff on all the Big Bad Boys that I get! Maybe even include Pictures!!!

KOKONUTS!!

[HillbillyGeek]

HillBilly...... Have you used any of those for Kokanee? Do you make anything for Kokanee?

I know that I keep bugging you about the KOKES but I fish Lake Merwin for them all durning the season & I dont get a chance to fish for much else! Besides your stuff looks great!

I am planning a trip to the Flaming Gorge this June & if I had some of your goodies I could write up some great stuff on all the Big Bad Boys that I get! Maybe even include Pictures!!!

KOKONUTS!!

Sure, I can whip up a batch of jigs for kokes. Not really sure where to start though...
Got any preferences for weight/hook size/colors/materials etc? :chef:

[Kokonuts]

HillBilly....I fish mostly at Lake Merwin in Sw Wash for the Kokanee, and I was thinking about jigs for trolling. Colors are : Pink, Orange, Green, White & any combos of them.
Because I am trolling weight should be kept as light as possible. Your Jigs might be the something different that I am looking for. I have used a lot of the Squid
hoochies , wedding rings, spin & glows. I dont know how to post picts on this board but I will try to show you some that I have made up!

[Mike Carey]

Beautiful jigs!