Hey BassResource,

 

What kind of storage are you guys utilizing for your bucktail jigs?

I suggest you take a look at the Feather-Craft Meat Locker fly box.  It works great for big flies.  It has slotted foam and you back the hook into the slot.  The head and body lay on top of the foam   I have not used it for jigs with the heavy head but it should work.  It may depend on how big of a jig head you have. 
 
Frank
 

 

Try this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0jT1Sdn5QE

Plano boxes...

 

 

oe

Try this -

Excellent idea, thank you for sharing it.

Tom

Yea, I have tried the storage idea from the YouTube link. The foam that is said to work in the video does not.

Thanks for the responses though guys. Keep it coming.

Thanks,

Rick

Buck tail hair jigs can be washed using warm water and joy soap, dried using low temperature hair drier to restore the shape, they are not fragile. The foam lined plastic storage boxes should hold the jigs in place and prevent them from rattling around inside the compartment. Staying in place if turned upside down and trying to loosen the jig shouldn't be your goal, displaying the jigs for easy selection and keeping the jigs separated in the storage box should work OK.

My hair jigs are 7/16 oz with 5/0 hook, 3" to 4" long and the closed foam lined compartment with a slot cut for the hook should work and I plan to give it try.

Tom

Yea, I have tried the storage idea from the YouTube link. The foam that is said to work in the video does not.

Thanks for the responses though guys. Keep it coming.

Thanks,

Rick

 

What didn't work? I did it and it worked perfectly, you just have to make sure you get foam that is 1/2" thick and you cut it 1/4" wider and 1/8" longer and it will hold nice and snug. I could see if it falling out if you are trying to store 1/2oz and 3/4oz striper buck tails but even my 1/4oz stay in with no problem.

The "NU-Foam" premium densified batting that is supposed to be used as described in the YouTube video does not work as shown in that video. It is very difficult to grab the hooks out of the foam after it is hooked into the material. As it is densified, there just seems to be layers of fabric material to get caught on the hook.

I realize how to put the foam in the slot(it is literally in the video), that is not the issue.

What foam material did you use in order to get the desired results?

Thanks,

Rick

It appears this may be another reason to file the barbs off your jigs...

 

 

oe

What kind of poly foam is used?

Also, short of filing my barbs, are there any other solutions for bucktail storage?

I noted in the other thread how to store hair jigs. If you get yourself a supply of 3" & 4" long zip lock bags, you can put the hair jig in a single bag that keeps the hair in good shape. Place a dozen of the individual bagged hair jig into a 1 gallon ziplock bag, I do this for each of the colors I plan to use during an outing. I also make a soft plastic ring out of tube baits to hold the hair in place when stored, been doing this for decades and it works.

Tom

The "NU-Foam" premium densified batting that is supposed to be used as described in the YouTube video does not work as shown in that video. It is very difficult to grab the hooks out of the foam after it is hooked into the material. As it is densified, there just seems to be layers of fabric material to get caught on the hook.

I realize how to put the foam in the slot(it is literally in the video), that is not the issue.

What foam material did you use in order to get the desired results?

Thanks,

Rick

 

The foam you used isn't what is used on the video, listen to what is said, Poly-Fil Bio Based Foam Pad, not batting. You found your own problem as batting is too dense, the foam pad is what is described as open cell so it will always try to expand, the batting material is similar to memory foam. You're using the wrong material, that is why it isn't working for you.

I figured as much, seen and grabbed the right stuff today in Wally World. I guess that is what I get for reading in the comment section on YouTube and another forum that started the batting was it. Thanks for looking out SmallJaw

Last winter I came across Tim Galati's video, the same one that smalljaw67 posted in reply #3 to the OP. It seemed that foam rubber could be the solution to keeping all my hair in place so I took a trip to The Textile, a fabric store in my town that was well established long before Nick Creme poured his first worm. There I found a cardboard carton stuffed with foam rubber which I think may have been intended for use under upholstery fabric. It is 1" thick and 24" wide. I bought a length that would fill two Plano 3700s.

 

I cut the material slightly oversized with a single edge razor blade and then cut slits spaced 1/2" apart to the depth of the blade.

 

 

On the water this spring it worked pretty well but I found that the jigs did move a bit but did not come out of the foam. Of course, everything in the 14' aluminum rental boat that provides my ride on Quabbin's big waters get bounced around on days like this:

 

 

To keep the jigs tucked in snugly, this winter I'll cut a piece of thinner foam and tape it to the section of the lid that corresponds to the jigs beneath. Double sided tape will work; neither epoxy nor cyanoacrylate (crazy glue) will work on a 3700. To my knowledge, no adhesive adheres to polyethylene.

 

 

So next year it'll be the smallmouth rather than a toss-'em-in-a-box storage system thats gonna

ruffle the hair on my jigs!