River Rat316

Usually neon, would be smaller flake with more of it, but that looks like regular medium flake to me. Does regular gp red have black flake in it also?

Yes those are Mustad hooks. Thank you for the kind wors on the jigs guys, Aaron does an awesome job with the photography!

I love Butch browns Videos.... I don't know if you can see that in there.... can you see that in there?.... roflmao And it helps that he is always on giants fishing out of that little boat, the guy is my hero!

My finesse jigs go down to an 1/8th they include 3/16 and 1/4 oz. I don't know that I have ever had a request for a 1/16oz weedless skirted jig. I personally wouldn't use them and that's where a lot of my products originate from. If there was a bigger market for them, their would be more options

Arkie, is a brand name and also a head style, I have 2 different arkie molds, it just denotes a jig with a 60 degree line tie with a wide flat base that is meant to bounce off hard cover like wood. So when a arkie jig is named its not necessarily mentioning the brand. Just a little clarification

And the bass care why ? I should probably stay out of this but I'm not gonna more skirt material: Changes the profile of the jig, could be a good thing or a bad thing Could help, could hurt, depends on the situation Better hooks: The fish will actually like that cheap jig better, cause the big girls will take that cheap eagle claw and bend it around like a pretzel, and get loose. You have to absolutely be kidding me, that a jig with a cheap #ss eagle claw hook is going to perform any where near as well as a good jig with an Owner or Gammie hook, even Mustad for that matter. Better Paint: Probably a total confidence thing, I personally like a painted head, and I know most do, I know the arkies come painted, but it don't last long where you normally fish a jig Custom Colors: ...... only one thing here... color only matters when it matters wire or thread tied skirt: More flair= more bites, lee messing around adjusting the skirt, the ability to slap weeds free on top of the water without losing the skirt. In general less messing with the jig, and more fishing.... but hey the fish don't like when you are fishing, so they probably like hand tied jigs less I am not saying don't start out cheap, I think I started with the arkies at Walmart, I know I did on the hair jig side. but once you get the hang of it, you can venture out, or stick with the arkies, its your choice. But to say that one of the Arkies from Wally world will perform just like a custom jig, is a flat out lie imho

\I have the advantage of a power plant dumping hot water in about 12 miles upstream, so my water stays above that 37-38 degree mark almost all year, compared to when my dad was a kid they used to ice skate the river in this area. If I get really itchy I just go within a couple miles of the discharge and they are usually pretty active no matter what the weather ion the winter. I think that power plant is the whole reason for the excellent smallie fishery in my area

Owner straight shank, they have a really really good light wire hook, if your not fishing around heavy cover, or a 3x one if you are

12"? Wow.... Around here we have 4"..... Giid luck though, I bet a B.A. would bust through on a high cast..... : Thats on the lakes that are snow covered, there are a couple that didn't have as much snow cover due to being wide open in the wind that are like 14-17", we can drive on those, makes it easier!

Yeah I am going to too....... see how tough they are when they are landing on 12" of ice..... man I need to rethink why I live up here

Our bite pretty much shuts down at 37-38 degrees. I think they still feed, they have to, they are not like lake fish, they still have some level of current to deal with no matter where they are, I just think their feeding windows are very small, like 15-30 minutes a day and thats it. Above those temps they are fishable but below those temps it gets very tough! FnF or whatever you want to fish, water temps below 37-38 the fish aren't gonna go!

Thats how I always used to do it on EBAY, there auction fees are ridiculous and this was a way to recoup some of your auction fees. It doesn't cost anymore to ship the item, but I can guaranty after paying auction fees on the other auction he is probably making like an extra 50 cents or so.

I don't disagree on with that on numbers.... but size? We must be fishing different fish, over the years, the jig has proven to me that it brings the big mommas in!

I am sure that cranks are just repainted, most plastic companies probably just remelt, otherwise there is ebay, and company stores, I know that Berkeley has a big company store in Iowa and they have big lots of plastics, jigs and other stuff that are flawed.

IMHO there is not a better or more consistent big fish bait then a jig. They are also the most versatile bait out there, like already said fished near the bottom or swum up near the top, they can pretty much do it all. I don't pitch or flip that often to be honest, most of my "deep" jig fishing is working a deep weedline or combing an underline point or some other type of structure, these usually entail some type of cast whether it be short or medium (I don't like that much line out with a jig because it diminishes feel and hook setting ability imho). As far as equipment goes most of my jig fishing is done with a 7" mh Fast action rod, I own like 3 flipping sticks and always have at least 1 with me but when I am working deep or off shore structure I am almost always using the 7'er I think the majority of your jig fishing you could get by with a 6'6" or 7' mh fast action rod, just remember on the hookset that there is a weedguard and usually a big thick hook that you have to drive home to get that fish to the boat.

1 Spinnerbait 2 Jig (Swim, flipping, or hair) 3 Soft Plastic stick Bait The variations of jigs I fish with probably account for about 60-70% of my fish, but I can break them down into 3 different baits. I could also throw in as a honorable mention soft plastic swimbaits, t-rigged anything but especially 7" curl tail worms, and a shakey head with a 4" worm

IMHO I think alot of the cold water debate has to do with one major variable. Is the water warming or cooling?I have caught fish on blades and swim jigs in water as low as 40-42 but the water was warming from like 36-38 a couple days before and the water was warming throughout the day. Now if the water temp is falling they might turn off from reaction type baits at anything below 50-55. This is all relative to our northern bass also, they are a little bit hardier up here since there world gets covered by ice for 5 months out of the year :'(

Floro leader definitely helps, I attach about a 8" section with a uni to uni knot, I have not noticed any killing of the action. J Francho brings up a good point when they are chasing, I usually try not hooking them though, just sweep and crank as fast as I can trying to discourage them, sometimes the stupid little ******* chase it down and still eat it though. I don't lose many cranks though, my big problem is jigs.... nothing ticks me off more than setting the hook and theres nothing there... I mean nothing, no jig, no fish, it gets irritating! :'(

I use a chunk trailer with the chunk trimmed down to a v so it doesn't flair the hair and make it look all weird, around the 1st of the year or so, I should be introducing a trailer that is special just for these, I have the molds in my possession, now I just need the time to pour and send out for pictures!

Deep slow water, the dam area sounds like your best bet. Fish as slow as possible, I have found that in water temps below 37-38 degrees the fish really slow down.... I mean really slow down. They might have a 15-20 minute feeding window per day! So it becomes very tough! I have always done best with hair jigs fished super slow, others might have some other lure selections to suggest

All Pics are now on the website, premier series hairy craws will be updated within a couple of weeks!

If you got the Mustad 38108 it is a heavy wire hook and is to thick for the molds, the eye inlet and hook slot at the back of the jig needs to be reamed out for those hooks. The 38109 is a regular wire and 3/0 and 4/0 should work in all of those molds I believe.

Black and white daredevil... used to cast those things for hours in a river by my mom and dads house. Every day in the summer me and my friends would ride bike down to the river and cast daredevils, inline spinners, and spinnerbaits for toothy critters! The first for bass fishing was a 3 or 4" grub on a 1/4 oz jig head fishing the Mississippi for smallies. Lazy ikes were always good to, still have a couple of those!

Forgot to add, the only retrieve I have used with hippy jigs is a super slow drag, with 3-6 second pauses to let the rubber flair out, and the hair has a real subtle action on the pause also. They represent a nice big easy meal!

Double wide beavers, 5.5" craw worms, 6" finesse worms, and the skinny chunk, are all good "big" jig trailers in the winter. Hippy jigs don't really require the monster trailer that everyone thinks they so though. The rubber flairs out so wide due to the fact it floats, and the hair is sparse enough that it just adds a subtle action and a little more bulk to the bait. Here is a pic of a hippy in my tank, the trailer is a 4.5" craw bug that I pour, and you can see the trailer is more than big enough