DoDFire

I'm in your neck of the woods all the time, we have a place in Smokey View Camp Ground.

1989 Bullet 17Vee with an old 1989 Evinrude 150 XP.

Those are awesome, the bug has hit me and I want to learn how to paint like that. I just don't know where to start. Good look'n work for sure.That bluegill and olive craw are sexy.

I have always poured and used the Matzuo sickle in #1 for my hair jigs and love them. We have also caught several 15 pound stripers with a #1 and six pound line in the winter while chasing smallmouth and the Matzuo always held up and no bent hooks but the hand full out of 100 that are trash ain't no fun especially when you pour it and paint and don't catch it till you start to tie. Thanks for the review, I'll be ordering some EC to try on my next pour.

That is just wicked nasty..... look there I just named it. Hahaha Great look'n tie for sure.

Do yourself a favor and don't get hung up in fishing nothing but a jig. When I started making my own I pretty much quit fishing soft plastics, top water, and crankbaits. And wouldn't you know it my catch rate went to the bottom of the lake just like a jig but boy ohhh boy when they were on the jigs I puckered their butt. I just purchased $400 worth of "stuff" to get back on my cranking game so hopefully this next year I can start catch'n again. You tied a hair jig yet?

I am interested in learning how to paint my own Crankbaits and wanted some pointers as where to start. I have painted 30 million $$ aircraft when I first enlisted in the Air Force and that was only 2 colors 20 years ago, now I couldn't paint the ground if I dropped a gallon of paint in the dirt, but I want to learn. For you guys that do paint, what are the things I need to research before I ever spent the first $. Better yet your recommendations on books or info online that are straight forward steer you in the right direction with tools, equipment, and supplies as well as how to set the equipment up (compressor psi, brush, nozzle settings etc.) I'm all about learning so any help is greatly appreciated. My daughter is very talented with her painting skills (not airbrush) and I could see us doing this together for Daddy/Daughter time if we can learn it. Not sure if classes are offered for airbrushing but that could be an option if it is. Anyways I'm open for any and all suggestions. Thanks.

You can do it with out breaking the bank. If you need help or have questions feel free to ask I don't mind one bit to help you out. You opened a can of worms for sure haha haha...I love it when I get to pour paint and tie. I also catch many a fish in my mind when I'm in my special place.

Love this story.....

I heat the bills and slowly apply pressure to turn the bills down then a quick dip in almost boiling water to expand the plastic just a touch then I change the hooks out to a lighter size so the lure is more buoyant. I also use a little jj's magic on a q-tip and put a faint chartreuse on the bottom. It looks like a Buckeye Lures Wake Up when I'm done.......Bone is the only color I use. I could always buy a wake up from Buckeye but we fisherman love to tinker. When a smallmouth blows up on one it looks like you dropped a bowling ball from 30,000 feet.

Any of my modified Bomber Long A's that I use as wake baits.

I love nanofil 8# for my hair jig rod and bought gliss a month ago, but I'm not sure about the stuff......I have a spool of suffix nanobraid in 8# that I'm thinking of spooling on tonight. The suffix nanobraid may be the ticket. Also I use a 6# leader and the FG knot is the best I have used on line to line connection if you use leader.

http://www.bassmaster.com/blog/new-hot-weather-technique http://www.bassmaster.com/blog/float-n-fly-when-its-hot

Deadly lures on our East Tennessee waters in winter and summer when it's right.........Check out the Damiki Vault blades and Binsky blades. Both have been good to me except for price but if you play they say you pay. I like the chrome blades before the sun gets up over the ridge tops and bright on the water then I give them the painted blade from binsky. They wont eat the chrome here once the sun is high but they will the painted blade. You make me want to load the boat up and get out of here right now.

I wish Norris H2O temps would get that low.........This HOT fall is killing me. looks like we will be cold now though.....Good look'n fish for sure.

I have an addiction for hand tied hand made jigs and will tie anything that has a hook, Let's see your homemade hand tied creations........

I throw a 1\16 oz hair jig in the dead of summer 89-90 degree H20 temps on bluff walls and smoke the smallmouth around here. I throw them on a 9'crappie rod with 2-4 pound line. When its blaze'n hot or real cold you can't beat a hair jig.

No trailer at all......That's how I fish my 1\8 oz. Foxtails and they flat out catch fish. Try it if you fish the small 1\8-1\16 jigs and see how it works for you. Summer time at night is the only time I use a trailer then it's Uncle Josh 101's in black. Toooooo bad they stopped selling the 101's.

Also....Foxtail and no trailer. I have fished with others that use a trailer or even a minnow and I catch just as many if not more on some trips. Trailers are not needed unless you just want to use one.....save $$ and tie or buy more jigs.

In the winter and summer I never use a trailer on the small jigs, I have fished with people in my boat that have used a minnow or plastic during those times and I have caught just as many of not more than them. I do fish a trailer in my 1\4 oz buck tails on summer nights.....Uncle Josh 101's in black. I use fox tail in winter on the 1\8 oz, craft hair on 1\16 oz. in summer and bucktail on the 1\4 oz. at night during summer. Hair is a big deal often overlooked and that's fine with me. I fish one day 2 years ago and it never got above 13 degrees with 45 degree water temp. I arrived at the boat ramp right at day light as well as 1 other boat. I fished til I had about 1 hour if day light to go as well as the other boat and we both arrived back at the same time. As we loaded up we had the dock talk and I asked if they did any good and they used a few words and said NO but they had 1-2 hits all day (I'd been loaded and out by lunch if that was me) they then asked me if I did any good and I told them I caught 24 and with a crazy look they asked if I was crappie fishing. I said "nope, chase's smallmouth" they looked at me like I was crazy and then asked what I was using I said, hair jig.........you could hear the ice freezing harder hahahaha. They slung everything in the boat they said and nothing. I had 24 all day with my best 5 weighing about 19 pounds. I will never forget that day. I did give them a dozen jigs and told them to share, the next time I seen them they just loved me and then bought another dz. Hair jigs flat out catch fish.

Thought I would post up here and share the way I fish a hair jig in the winter. For those of you that have never fished in the winter you are missing out on a good time to catch some nice smallmouth. Give this a try and be patient, but most of all remember your safety while on the winter water holes so you can fish another day. This read is the way I fish a hair jig, I am dang sure not an expert but when I do grow up I want to be a Billy Westmoreland. I thought I'd post this up since we are getting into that smallmouth time of year that I love so much. Some may tell me to hush and thats all good, I love to share ways of catch'n fish and make'n memories with family and friends. Hope you don't get bored and enjoy,,,, I know I am not an outdoor writer or an expert on fishing but I have learned this style of fishing from guys that have shared their experience and a few articles that were wrote. I get asked often about my set up and how I fish it, so pull up a stump, here it goes. The set up I use consist of a 6'9" Fenwick EliteTECH smallmouth rod in ML-F, I have a Pflueger President (6925) reel that I have spooled with Suffix 8# nanobraid and I use Seaguar Red Label in 6# test as a leader that is about 15-20' long. I know that sounds like a long leader but there is a reason why. If you get hung up and can get the leader on the spool you will never damage or break your line to leader connection. Most times all you have to do is take the boat and get over top of the jig and give a slow steady pull and you will get the jig back. If it is buried with no hope try to get the Flurocarbon on the spool, it's quicker to to a jig on than it is to retie a leader. For my main line to leader connection I tie a FG knot and I make around 25-30 wraps. It is a very strong connection that shoots through the line guides without any restrictions. I love a 1/8 oz. hair jig and that's what I start with every trip, if you see that the fish are real stubborn and don't want to eat the 1/8 drop down to a 1/16 oz and see what happens. I target a bunch of bluff walls and like to find the ones where a channel swings into it. Most of the time there is a sweet spot somewhere near by. I also like to fish the locations that have a mix if bigger rocks along with the gravel and clay this might be a long tapering point or flat that has deep water near by. I have caught smallmouth on a hair jig in 45° water all the way up to 89° water anywhere between 4-5' deep all the way down to 45' deep, most times you are getting hammered in the 15-18' mark. I make my cast and let the jig fall on slack line, once the jig is on the bottom I engage me reel and I pick up the slack with my rod tip bringing it to the 10-11 o'clock position. Then I give the jig a little life by just turning the reel. This is where most folks struggle and I still do at times but you have to tell your self to slow down. I only move the reel handle when I am doing this and it is painfully slow, sometimes I may bounce my rod tip but its just enough to feel the jig bump on the other end of the line (real light) I will tell you this, knowing what that jig is doing on the bottom is important and you have to feel every little bump, tick, and you even need to know how it feels when you feel no weight at all, that's a good clue your jig is in the mouth if a fish. There will be days the fish hit so hard it feels like they could throw a loop in your line but most of the time you just feel the rod load up. When you feel it load just put nice steady pressure on your line and reel at the same time or a flick of the wrist will be all it takes the fish will let you know (no bone breaking or boat rock'n hook sets needed) Most of this info is for cool water the only thing I do in summer is go to a 9' crappie rod and make the cast and engage the reel right after the jig has sank a few feet then I let it swing back to the boat on a tight line, use your reel to maintain a slight bow in your line. Most of the strikes are a nice solid bump. Set the hook the same way. Like I said before, I'm no expert but this is my set up and the way I fish it on a couple of East Tennessee lakes and it has caught me some nice smallmouth and several of those green fish. I hope this helps someone out and I hope I didn't bore anyone. Hey, it's always a good day to talk fish'n

Any and all......I have tied hair on sworming hornet fish head spins, I pour paint and tie football, poison tail (my flipping jig) arky head, round finesse, aspirin head (hair), brush jig, I also tie drop shot hair flies. I love fishing hair jigs for smallmouth so my favorite to tie is hair. I also tie a 6" bucktail that is not like the others you see for those ledge fish in summer. If it has a hook and I can get thread around it then it gets tied with hair, rubber, or silicone and sometimes all three together. hahahaha

Hair jigs....... 1/8 oz. In the winter, 1\16 oz in the dead of summer, I know a bunch will scratch their head about the summer deal but trust me it works. Ohhhh yeah and I fish it on a 9'crappie rod in summer as well 2-4 pound line.......keep scratch's your heads, LoL. Lake Fish'n I sling Hair jigs, blade baits, jerk baits, spy baits, football jigs, wake'n a bomber long A. River Fish'n (wading) Fluke and Rebel Wee Craw Each and every true "trophy" smallmouth I have caught was caught on 1\8 oz hair jig. Go figure.

Just wanted to say howdy from East TN. I have fished for 40 years now and have been a custom jig tier for 10 years so it's tough for me to lay the jig down. I was a big crankbait guy many years ago and got away from it as in I only had 3-4 crankbaits in the boat for the last 10 years. I have been lurking on here for sometime and decided to join in since this place is a wealth of knowledge. I just made a purchase for a crankbait set up rod, reel, line, and crankbaits and used the info you guys shared here to help me make decisions, so Thank You for that and I also am interested in starting to paint custom baits and see a few of you have shared your knowledge on that here as well. Looks like a good place to learn or refresh some forgotten days so Thanks to the folks that make Bassresource.com possible. I look forward to being part of the group.