mold questions for redman

[Fatman]

Kip - nice pile of jig heads, they sure do pour fast!!!!!!!!!

 

[redear]

starting to tie some pink head and white hair jigs for that crappie fisherman I know, says that is the color where he's fishing right now. the pink heads I painted are hard enough to mess with now, may have mentioned it already but the other day when I went fishing the pond was murky and the jig that worked was just butt ugly I thought, but they could see it, was a bright green head of vinyl paint which to me is a dark lime color, red thread and two tone hair, kelly green and green chart. only had two of them and every time we got hung up we went to great lengths to get them unhung, never did lose one, I gave them to my buddy when we parted, so I have painted up a few more of those green heads.

 

[CrappieHappy]

Kip , I am going to have to order some kip soon. I have not tied with it yet, but looking forward too....

 

[redear]

Heath, there is nothing like it in my opinion, and it is a challenge to work with no doubt, but after some trial and error you will learn how to make it look good on a jig. just a few words if I may. A good kiptail with really nice hair that is pretty straight and thick and soft is alot easier to tie with, however to get good prices on these tails you need to order them from various places and you get what you get. when you have a tail with real crinkly hair that goes every which a way and it's thin and straggly, then you will have to be patient and take extra steps to get the jig to turn out looking good. I use basically two ways of tying the hair on, either the hair clump goes all on the jig in one step or either it goes on in two clumps. probably easier to get a better result with the two hair clump method, simply because you aren't handling alot of hair all at once.

 

[CrappieHappy]

Thanks Kip, I'll keep that in mind....

 

[redear]

after I start my thread wrap with a touch of super glue and then wipe any extra glue away with a paper towel, I take the jig hook and turn it in the vice so the jig is positioned with the hook riding upright just like it is when you fish it. and with the thread up against the back of the jighead. then you take your kiptail and knock all the debris off of it that has stuck to it by laying on your bench, and you look it over for the right length hair, you may need to take a pair of side cutters that people use for cutting wire, and cut the tail into sections to make it easier to access the hair you want. the bottom couple inches of the tail will sometimes only be suitable for very small jigs, if thats the case I put these stubby peices in another place for safe keeping. so the farther toward the tails tip you get, the bihher size jig it can go on, however you can use longer kiptail hair on a smaller jig by using only the tips of the hair bunch and cutting off the rest.

 

[redear]

when you cut a tail into peices for easier handling, be careful to not waste any hair, you will lose a tiny bit where you cut thru the bone if you do it right but if you just go to cutting the bone without bending the bone over and separating the hair at thr cut site, you will waste considerable hair. in other words you don't want to cut thru any hair just the bone in the tail.
After I have selected a little bunch of hair on the tail, I make sure it is slightly more than what I need, because we will be pulling any wild hairs out and also pulling some under hairs out too at the butt end. then I lay the hair on top of the jig, and make sure it is positioned so that the length is right, and I have split the hair bunch with the hooks point and bend, as evenly as I can.

 

[redear]

oh, I forgot, just before I cut the hair from the tail, I pull the hair bunch hard several times, this straightens the hair by at least 50% you will appreciate that when you go to tie with it. so I have the hair positioned on top of the jig, holding it down with my fingers, and I then wrap over the hair at least 6 times with 140 denier thread. just behind the jighead. I wrap pretty hard with the thread tension, then I take the jighead out of the vice and turn it over exposing the bottom side of the jig. I repeat the same process on this side of the jig, covering the jig all the way around with hair hopefully, I do make the hair buch on this bottom side a little shorter, which helps give the jig a tapered look, and not a paintbrush look.

 

[redear]

after you have all the hair on the jig you will have a collar of hair sticking out in front of the thread and over the jighead, go ahead and wrap your thread hard a secure the hair, now take a one sided razor blade and barely infront of the thread neck puch the blade against the hair using the lead head as a backstop, the hair will pop right off if it's a new blade, do this all the way around the head till you have all the butt ends of the hair trimmed off, now back the thread off enough wraps to expose a thin band of the hair butts, just behind the jighead, now take some high grade super glue or head cement and put it on that thin band of hair just behind the head, let it soak in then take a paper towel and touch it to the glue soaking uop any extra. now continue with your thread wraps compleating the thread neck.

 

[redear]

when wrapping the thread neck I use plenty of tension except when I get just behind the jighead where the glue was, this is because if you go real tight at this spot the thread will wedge the hair away from the head and cause you to have a real long thread neck which is not as pretty as a shorter one. then I finish the thread and touch some super glue to it, and also clear coat the head again allowing the clear coat to cover the thread also. a jig made this way can withstand 300 crappie no problem if you don't lose it first.

 

[redear]

I explained a while back how to tie the hair on the jig in one bunch, that is a different process and shouldn't be confused with this two bunch process, the thing with the two bunch process it makes it easier to use two colors of kiptail also which really makes a jig pop with contrast.

 

[CrappieHappy]

Thanks Kip!

 

[redear]

tied some kiptail jigs this evening for the crappie fishing guy and I took a few pics of the process, I tied these a little plumper than I tie them for my own use because the ones he has been catching his fish on are this plump, so with his success maybe I need to start tying them like this, plump that is. lol add aminnow to these and the crappie is sure to know he's got something for sure!

Tying with Kip:


First bunch of hair:


Flip jig over for 2nd bunch of hair:


2nd bunch of hair:


Tying 2nd bunch of hair:


Both bunches of hair tied on:


Trimming hair:


Locking hair with super glue:


Finished jig:

 

[Fatman]

You pretty much have to have thin and thick tyed jigs, as you never know what the fish are gonna want. I try not to have to use a razor blade to cut the tips near the head, I use a bit more thread to make it even but it also leaves space to put a really nice whip finish on the head.

Kip you need to post some pics of your jigs over in the jig tying section so everyone can see some nice ties!!

 

[redear]

Doug, ya know now that youve said that about the thin and thicker jigs, needing to have both in your box, I believe you are right! I never thought much about that before.

 

[CrappieHappy]

Nice work Kip!

 

[redear]

Heath, thanks again for posting those pics!!!

 

[Fatman]

Now that I see the pics of them nice ties!!!!!!! Did you get out the other day??

 

[redear]

Heath, yeah we went fishing and it was a gorgeous day, crappie were biting slow but they were biting. the water was a little murky and they didn't want the old favorite colors, so I showed my jigs to my freind and he says that one right there will work! he was right too, brite green head, red thread, green and chart. green hair, not the prettiest color combo to look at but when you lowered it in the water you could really see that head good, I learned something, always listen to an old timer!!!

 

[Fatman]

Good to hear you got out!!!