Vertical jigging Master

[jiggerjohn]

Redear, Yep, we tiers gotta find ways to enjoy the winter ! Testing and tying ,I find, has us "catching lunkers in our minds", so along with such daydreaming there's nuthin wrong with taking that time to enjoy your tying creativity!Was talking with Red today & he was doing the same tying & daydreaming -he could tie one per minute, but enjoys "playing" with materials, thinking about the actual fishing, and admits he only gets 10 to 15 built per hour! Today he was building the weightless beadhead Fly, and we got into a discussion (well, him teaching and me listening!) of how early season largemouth bass in shallow weeds,docks, cattails (where these grow, Red maintains, the water around warms quicker and pulls in bass, crappie, and perch) enjoy a slowly twitched(with pauses,or a basic slow jigging motion) through the top water column. Red says to tie up red satin over dark colored wool (the black sheep of the family?!) to do a real number on shallow largemouth with this ORIGINAL suspending lure (a streamer fly )! By the way, he most often casts these red&black wooly streamers behind a torpedo float, which he believes creates a water disturbance that attracts bass attention.

 

[redear]

jiggerjohn, thanks for keeping us posted on what Red is doing. gonna have to tie up some of those wool flies. I take it his knee is healing good.

 

[jiggerjohn]

In an amazing coincidence, just after talking with Red about the drawing power for pike and bass with a black and red wool/satin fly, I "discovered" this pattern while internet browsing - http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=69469 . This one is called "Chip's Northern Magic" and has produced when all else fails in Saskatchewan during the past 20 years! So, I tied it,using Red's materials -thicker bunches of red satin for the worm like tail, some dark wool on the bead headed hook shank, and a sparse outer tie of black SF material or buffalo hair. Amazing action in the water -the long satin really is slinky! Look out bass & pike!

 

[redear]

I bet that would get a pikes attention!!

 

[jiggerjohn]

I was talking with Red yesterday, and was surprised that he'd been back to the hospital -seems he had a fainting spell due to a long history with heart fibrillation, and landed right on his newly fixed knee. Fortunately the docs remedied his "ticker" medication and also found the knee undamaged. Says he feels like a hundred bucks -until I reminded him that that doesn't go far these days!! So he's back tying in earnest for the upcoming Niles, Ohio show set for Mar 1,2,3 . Currently he's also planning on attending the 5 day Buffalo show the weekend after that. Hopefully I'll be there for both shows to assist the ole boy - he really wants to have vices set up at his booth to teach others to tie his great pattern !

Of interest to our tiers here, Red was telling me about the tough days for crappie, when his basic white pattern is greatly enhanced with a few purple satin strands. Sometimes, according to Red, crappies go crazy for purple in this mix! He was also describing the great results of tipping his jig with just one inch of the back end of a nightcrawler on his jig for bass, walleyes, and channel cats. Tho he's found he rarely needs to ever tip his instant action creations, SOMETIMES the wary fish need to have some taste to encourage them to hang on for a few seconds more.

 

[Fatman]

Great looking pattern!! The wife is trying to figure a weekend to get to my Dads - Maybe I'll get that weekend to hit the Buffalo show. That would be pretty cool!!!

 

[redear]

good to hear ole Red is ok and the knee is doing ok too. JJ thanks for keeping us abreast of Red's recomendations for tying these jigs. I can't waite to try these jigs in my home waters!! thanks to Red and JJ we have something new to play with.

 

[loby]

Here are a couple pics of Red fishing on Pymatuning Lake!

 

[loby]

View attachment 3View attachment 2View attachment 1

Here is some Pics of Red "The Legend Of Pymatuning Lake"

 

[Fatman]

Loby first welcome aboard from Vermont!!!!!!!!!! Nice pics!!

 

[loby]

Loby first welcome aboard from Vermont!!!!!!!!!! Nice pics!!

Thank you for the welcome! I am an avid jig angler also, and spend lots of time with Red! He is one of a kind!

 

[LedHed]

Welcome loby from SoCal. You are very fortunate to have fished with Red.

 

[redman]

Loby a Big Howdy from deep east Texas. Be sure to add some stories about old Red. Some times they trigger thoughts that need to be recorded for history sake.

Redman

 

[redear]

welcome aboard Loby!! and thanks for posting those pics!

 

[loby]

welcome aboard Loby!! and thanks for posting those pics!

Thanks everyone for the great welcome! I will certainly keep everyone updated on Red! Going to stop by to have some coffee with him this week, and to see what he has tied up! We are already talking spring fishing..........:jig:

 

[jiggerjohn]

I was comparing notes with Red,by phone, this morning. I'd tried some "tank testing" comparing various materials & had the idea that a small plastic worm on the wool/satin bugs would yield a cool "jig n worm" for largemouth ; trouble was, the plastic bait couldn't begin to catch up to the lively motion of Red's jig, so why use something that only DETRACTS from the action?! Red agreed,and also confirmed my subsequent comparison testing against a marabou fly -the spread out satin fibers had a much more "defined" motion when hopped or twitched, and in the marabou clump(when it doesn't mat) you also couldn't make out the flash fibers nearly as well! Red has made some jigs with both the satin/flash and a marabou tied stinger hook, but says it just proves to dull the total action of his basic fly.

As redman requested above (and I hope Loby will add a bunch here!!) here's a story that Red told me this morning ; He'd met a guy at a show a few years back, who followed Red around for a couple of years, in hope that they could hook up out on the water. Finally, through a tackle shop owner friend, a days trip was set up. As this fellow later explained excitedly to the store owner, Red drove him to the dead center of the lake,dropped down jigs and they immediately took 45 crappies, bigger than this fisherman had ever taken on his own, in the first half hour! Red then said he was bored and drove his boat to another spot -same deal -"in the middle of nowhere" (the guy didn't realize these were good mid lake humps& bars), Red pulls up a bunch of great crappies. Then Red says "Kinda off today, let's go find the BIG ones!!" and they eventually did find a mass of 14+ inchers!! That angler will probably never be the same!

 

[loby]

View attachment 8

Here's probably my best Crappie fishing story, Red wasn't with me this day.......but his custom jigs were! It was mid April a couple years back, and I was on Pymatuning Lake looking for some fish. I was doing a little searching when I found a very interesting spot that I had never spotted or fished before. The Lake was full of boats so I was careful not to draw a lot of attention, (you know what I mean...lol) Anyhow, I dropped one of his custom jigs (white/green #4 gold sicle hook) down in about 12fow.....Wham!.....everytime! Now remember, this is with no minnow, scent, or nothing tipped on the jig (this is the method I prefer!) I was meeting some friends of mine that day on the Lake, they come up every spring in April and stay at the cabins on the South end. They come up for a week every spring to fish and always appreciate my help since I do a lot of scouting and spend countless hours finding fish! This spot was definitely hot and thought I would grab a few of the guys and return! I went to their camp, after spending a few hours BSing and getting a bite to eat.......I told them I would be happy to take them out with me if they agreed to NOT TAKE ANY LIVE BAIT! They thought I was crazy but agreed! I gave them each a few jigs and we headed out to fish! 4 of us fished the spot and it was amazing! They could not believe it.......We brought 2 coolers of nice Crappies back!! On the way home I stopped at Red's house, of course had to have some coffee, and explained the situation....The next day when I arrived at camp, I had at least 100 of Red's jigs and sold them all for him! To this day, we talk about that day, and of course I always have some of Red's jigs for sale or take Red with me to see the boys!

 

[Fatman]

Great Story!!!!!! Red must have been thrilled!!!!!!!!!!

 

[redear]

I love it!! great stories!

 

[loby]

I love it!! great stories!

Thanks guys! I'm glad you are enjoying them! Here's one more...........

Myself and my best friend Dave (who decided to go drinking the night before....) are in a Bass tournament on Conneaut Lake, Pa. We meet at my boat at 6am ready to go! We catch some fish and things are going pretty well, but the ending time is approaching fast! I give my partner one of the larger jigs that Red made (brown Maribou jig w/#2 hook 1/4 oz) and go to one of my favorite spots! I even tie it on his line for my partner and tell him to cast it out, let it hit bottom and retrieve it back slow! BOOM........I grab my video camera trying to get fight on film, while also trying to net the fish! OMG........he is screaming at me not to miss it with the net! We finally land it after about punching each other! It's a 5 pound plus Smallmouth Bass that wins the big fish category. The video we capture is nothing but 2 men swearing at each other.........