About 40 odd years ago, I made some bucktail light wire jigs for bass that swam.  I think they were 4/0 aberdeen hooks.   This was before you could even get hooks for that, early '80s.

I heated and bent the eye 45 deg forward and twisted it 90 before I poured them.   I used a half worn trailer in those daze, and was especially good in cold water - a dying shad imitator.   They use a lot of swim jigs now and swim baits with FFS, etc.   

I was pouring up some drop weights and a few of those old jigs were in my supplies.   So I fished them out and tied them up with my 50 year old bucktail and added a flashabou back line.   I put them in the boat to use at Hartwell this winter, but I went Mon. to Norman and it was slow, so I tried one.   Ended up catching all my fish on that one jig.  They wouldn't touch the drop shot.   You don't have to have the latest and priciest lure to catch 'em.   I used to use 1/4 oz lead heads and twister tails, a la walleye fishing, when I first started Redman tournaments and took second in my second year opener.   Catches big fish too.   I let my back seat use my rod and jig and he caught a 5 and made a top ten check.   It's been all down hill since, so we won't go there...

I love fishing bucktails. 
 

Here some I made and fish with.

Made my 7/16 oz Viper Head jig mold in 1971 and over the past 54 years and counting have caught thousands of bass on this jig tied with buck tail hair.

Only use 5 tricolors;

Black-purple-brown, Any Where Any Time* favorite👍

Black-green, brown, Spring Craw.

Black-green-white, Shad.

Brown-red-chartreuse, Fritz ( Smallmouth)
Black-blue, Night.

Tom

Very  nice! I like hearing you guys talk about hair jigs. I’ve never fished them but love jigs and making them. So it’s a really neat told to me and they look so amazing 

I've never fished hair jigs either. How do you work them? Like you would swim a curly tail grub on a jighead?

12 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Made my 7/16 oz Viper Head jig mold in 1971 and over the past 54 years and counting have caught thousands of bass on this jig tied with buck tail hair.

Only use 5 tricolors;

Black-purple-brown, Any Where Any Time* favorite👍

Black-green, brown, Spring Craw.

Black-green-white, Shad.

Brown-red-chartreuse, Fritz ( Smallmouth)
Black-blue, Night.

Tom

Tom, with your permission or not, I'm stealing some of those color schemes  

 

Thanks for posting

3 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Tom, with your permission or not, I'm stealing some of those color schemes  

 

Thanks for posting

Pm your email and will send you photos.

Tom

Spectacular! 

16 hours ago, Joedodge said:

Very  nice! I like hearing you guys talk about hair jigs. I’ve never fished them but love jigs and making them. So it’s a really neat told to me and they look so amazing 

Joedodge, this is a great read authored by @WRB-2.0

 

The article cut off for me. @Bazoo , in the article, Tom suggests crawling/swimming the jig back to you, keeping it within 6in of the bottom.

The very first bass I ever caught on a jig was on an Arkie bucktail jig. Solid black with a black #11 pork frog trailer. That was almost 40 years ago. I was fishing shallow, and had cast the jig next to a blow down when I felt a good tap and caught a 15" bass.                                 Id been trying very hard to hook a fish on a jig, but hadn't connected. I think hair jigs are under utilized by most bass fisherman. These days, almost everyone uses rubber or silicone jigs. The fish don't change, but fisherman do. We're always looking for the latest hottest thing, but we probably already have the best. Hair jigs are an example of this.

56 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

The article cut off for me. @Bazoo , in the article, Tom suggests crawling/swimming the jig back to you, keeping it within 6in of the bottom.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/107540-oldschool-horizontal-jigging/

A-Jay

 

2 hours ago, Choporoz said:

The article cut off for me. @Bazoo , in the article, Tom suggests crawling/swimming the jig back to you, keeping it within 6in of the bottom.

I’ve talked to Tom and read his articles that’s basically how I fish a jig 

They used to use them a lot at Dale Hollow, a ka; "fly and rind".   Some fished them under a float/bobber for smallies.

I grew up in walleye country, so we fished hairjigs near or bouncing the bottom, with or without current.   They even make huge ones for muskie/pike.

Bass seem to change their jig preferences daily.   The drop rate through the water column is the best variable.   You adjust the head weight and tail/trailer to slow or speed the rate of fall.   Many hit it on the drop.   Water temperature will dictate how much action to impart.  What I was keying on was, in winter, the shad or alewives die off, so a slow fall and a slow twitch.   In warm, you can really speed up but have to maintain the right depth, much like a spbt.   They'll catch about anything, we used for crappie and tiny ones for BG.   I prefer maribou or flies for pan fish but haven't done that for a quarter century.   Glad we're passing it on...

Some of @WRB-2.0’s jigs. With Tom’s permission of course

 

7 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Some of @WRB-2.0’s jigs. With Tom’s permission of course

 

These look great.