First attempt at building jigs

[keysd13]

I ordered some stuff and these are my first attempts. Any suggestions on improving them are welcome.

[BassinID]

Those are nice, I love the skirt choices!

[keysd13]

Trying to mimic a bluegill because they seem to be the main food source in my local lake.

[BassinID]

Yea, I gathered, I think if you threw about 4 strands of blue in the second one that would be tops for me, but they look great, and bluegill change based on location so you are probably right on!

[crankybait]

not bad, love the colors... id bend those fiber guards down a bit, though. maybe thin em out too, but thats jut my preference

[Jim80]

nice job man most the places I fish blue gill are the main food source as well and those would be killer . How many strands are you using on the skirts ?


Jim

[Bassboss]

Wow! Those are some great looking jigs, not bad for a fist time ... better than I could do!

- Happy Memorial Day

[keithdog]

Those look great keys! Very nice. Take a look at Janns Netcraft. They have a bluegill skirt you may want to take a look at.

[The Doc]

Cool jigs. They look great. I just started making my own myself a few weeks ago.

[MallenManson]

I know absolutely zilch about makin jigs but those look great!

[keysd13]

Jim, 2.5-3 skirt pads seems to produce a full skirt. I have the bent pliers and the plastic tool. Both work, but the 4 dollar plastic tool with the hook is much easier.

[BigBassin144]

Jim, just if you're wondering, there's about 20 strands per tab or pad. I use 4 pads, or 80 strands in my jigs, and that's what Kory uses in his too.

BB

[sac]

Originally Posted by keithdog

Those look great keys! Very nice. Take a look at Janns Netcraft. They have a bluegill skirt you may want to take a look at.

I 2nd that. I'm getting a few of those for spinnerbaits. They're killer looking.

Your jigs look awesome! How much $$$$ do have into one? Bluegill do change color thats for sure

[NWOhioBear]

Thought they were awesome. Did you do a drop test to get an idea?

[66KingFisher]

I like the big eyes on the jighead....are those just stick on? Did you paint your heads or powdercoat them? They look great.

[carolina-rig-01]

where in missouri are you from?

the jigs look great. did you think about putting just 4 or 5 strands of purple in the skirts? i think that would really help make it look like a bluegill, just my opinion though.

also if you get to looking for skirt making tool that will really help you get all the different colored strands in just the right place on the skirt you should look at the skirt expander from naked bait co. i use it and now i don't even know where my tube type skirt tools are at lol, the skirt expander really is the way to fly. but i realize you didn't ask so maybe i shouldn't have said anything.

great looking jigs!

[keysd13]

Sac-- I have around a 1.80 in each one. I'm thinking of picking up some molds so I can pour my own hooks.

66king--The eyes are stick on and heads are powder coated. I'm going to try and airbrush another set of heads to match the skirt color combo and I'll post pics of those.

NWOhio-- What do you mean by a drop test? I trapped some of the local bluegill, minnows, and crawfish to get color ideas.

[keysd13]

Carolina-- I live in Nevada and fish at Bushwacker lake a good bit. I will have to check out the expander. Comments always welcome with me. Always trying to improve you know.

[NWOhioBear]

When you make a jig drop it in the water to see how fast it falls and how easily it moves through the water. That way when you cast and just let it drop first the fish can react to that specifically. Like dropping it by docks and similar cover areas.

[sac]

Man those are nice!(not all the pics where showing the first time I looked) I want to start making my own baits too. Nice job, where are you getting your stuff from?

[keysd13]

fishingskirts.com

[cassidyta]

I think your jigs look great, but the weed guard appears a little overbearing in the amount of black. Perhaps something thinner or maybe even lighter in color. I played with using 100lbs flouro on mine. It is just a personal preference, but an honest opinion.

[Bucket]

jigs look great iget my skirts from there too! i tried to powder coat my first jig and had an issue between the weed guard and 400 degrees. the heat won.

[BigBassin144]

Bucket, when I heat my jigs for powder coating, I never heat them at more than 350 degrees. When curing the powder paint, I use 250 degrees.

BB

[3dkicker]

Good looking jigs. Best way to test them out is to get out on the water and see how they do. I like the fact that you matched the prey in your area when working on the colors. I did the same when I made mine. Haven't done a Bluegill or Perch yet, all craws so far.