Homemade bucktail jigs

[mariner_22]

Hey guys was wondering if anyone could tell me how to make bucktail or feather tailed jigs. Looking at using them for bottom bashing up north later this year. I was watching a video of Mal florance using these jigs for trout out on the ribbon reefs, which really got the blood goin. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Francis

[vtrfirestorm]

Francis,

Get hold of some lead head jigs of a size that suits you needs.

Buy bucktail or synthetic material and cut into a tuft.

Wind this onto the hook part of the jig head using some fine copper wire. IE place the tuft along the hook and wind the wire around several times.

Then apply a dab of superglue or other such as liquid epoxy to hold the tuft in place.

Try diffrent colours and glow types for night fishing.

I have made hundreds and been very successful.

cheers peter

[mariner_22]

Hey thanks peter, what jig head s do you buy and where fo you get them from im looking at using 3oz jigs. Also do you know if it is possible to make your own jig heads.

[Noelm]

of course it is possible to make your own heads, I am sure there would be a mould made just for that purpose, but you can make your own (crude) moulds and do it yourself, take a bit of care with the moten lead (fumes, burns etc) and away you go, any size ,weight you like.

[Roo]

last time i bought these, they were (i think) $2.95 for a 2 pk in sizes from 1/4 oz up to 2 oz.........I figure it would be hard to beat at that price. The advantages of making yourself would be to use other colours and maybe select your hooks/jigheads. The ones i got only came in white feather and the hooks seem ok but the gape could be a bit wider.

[slabjig]

There is a company called Do-It molds here in the US....they have a web site www.do-itmolds.com , however I don'[t know about their overseas shipping policies. They make some truly great products.

[mariner_22]

Hey slabjig

Thanks mate have had a look at the do-it moulds mob and they have a dealership in Australia down in Ballina. One thing im not sure about is on the site they reckon you need an electric heater and mixer to melt the lead. I s that what most people do or would a fire or sove do the same job.

[Red Bull]

Hi Francis,

I make my own bucktails, but I must say early on that I don't actually make the jig heads. I buy the TT or nitro jig heads (an excellent range of hook sizes and head weights in their ranges), then tie the tails on myself. If you have a tackle shop near you that stocks fly tying gear, then you're in business. Grab some packets of the cheap white tail material, then just a little bit of the more expensive synthetic shiny stuff (I think it's called crystal flash) to give your jigs a little extra touch of class and edibility ;). I use the cheap white hair to create the fatness and 'pulse' in the body, then over the top, I put the crystal flash to add some sparkle and colour. They look surprisingly good in the water with a twitching retrieve.

I use a fly tying vice and the little bobbin holder that dispenses fine thread, and then I bind the tails onto the jighead. You can do a heap of different patterns, colours and shapes, depending on the sort of fish you are targetting, and the depth you intend to fish. Fat tail profiles I've found, tend to sink more slowly, and are great for shallow water reefies. Thinner darting profiles are the ducks nuts for pelagics.

Bucktail jigs are vastly under rated as a viable fish catching lure, and catch everything from dimersal species such as trout and cod, to pelagics like mackerel and trevs. Here are a few examples of what use to good effect around the Whitsundays....

Cheers
Red Bull

[snipe]

One Very Creative Bull

[nuggstar]

love ya work there red bull, they look awsome. i hope ya get a big trout

[slabjig]

Melter does work best....but you can melt the lead with a torch. And here's another trick...I use lead free tin solder for some of the more detailed jigs...spendy...but it stays very shiny as it's 95% tin....and it molds at a much lower temperature and accepts the details of the mold far better than some of the poorer lead alloys.

[Johnl]

I use wheel weights from garages and tire stores. Melt them in a pot with a torch. I also use them to make downrigger balls.

[slabjig]

Wheel weight lead is one of the more difficult alloys...it has a lot of antimony in it...and it's difficult to get a good pour on detailed molds....pure soft plumbers lead works best.

[mariner_22]

Hey Guys bought some jig heads yesterday just to get me started will have a look for semewhere that sells feathers and bucktail. Does anyone know of somewhere in the SEQ region that does

[Roo]

get out the yellow pages and ring the independant tackle shops (ie. not the mart or Bcf) and ask! you'd be suprised what you can find in these places.
I recently went into a tackle store in a small northern NSW town that i'd driven past plenty of times before and not gone in as I assumed it would have a very limited range of products........wrong. the walls were covered in all sorts of lures and plastics i've not seen anywhere except in bigger specialist outlets in brisbane. As a bonus, I found a discontinued model lure that i'd been chasing for quite some time.

Cheers, roo.

[Red Bull]

Hey Guys bought some jig heads yesterday just to get me started will have a look for semewhere that sells feathers and bucktail. Does anyone know of somewhere in the SEQ region that does

I get all my bucktail jig tying material and equipment from The Tackle Warehouse at Coorparoo in Brisbane. They have an extensive fly tying department upstairs at the shop. However, it seems to me that some of it is a little overpriced, but perhaps that's cos most fly tying stuff is imported from overseas?

nuggstar, thanks for the comments mate, I haven't as yet nailed any big trout on my little creations, but have been bricked a few times by what appeared to be trout in the 3-4kg category. The thing is, I need to use quite light outfits in order to cast some of the smaller jigs, but paradoxically, I then don't have the pulling power required to drag these fiesty coral dwelling beasts away from their hellishly rough reefy homes.

snipe, yeah thanks Robbie, knew you'd like these lures when you saw them. I tell ya what, you should take a few on your next jaunt up to Hervey Bay with Dave P. You've got all the tying equipment, don't you?

Cheers
Red Bull

[rando]

Jones' Tackle at Lutwyche has a good range of fly tying stuff.
I have no affiliation, its just my local, and they know their stuff and treat you right
rando

[snipe]

Ginger Bull, hows this for a good idea - you lovingly diddle a few of these snapper candies up for me, send them down and I will return the favour by doing some serious tackle testing for you farrier toetouchers , since you want to poince around with light line on the reef and all, paradoxically

Kind Regards

random sniper

ps fingermark would gobble these things down

[Red Bull]

snipe....there's no ginger here, thanks very much.

I don't know that there's much in your proposed deal for me. If you can come up with an arrangement that gives me something back other than photos of your ugly mug with random reef fish, then I'm all ears. :)

You're right, the lutjanids love these lures, as do trevallies and trout. Obviously, the durability of such lures gives them one small advantage over most SP's.

Red Bull

[snipe]

Too true ginger calf, when we were in the kimberleys a few years back everything with fins murdered them - i couldnt beleive how effective bucktails were. At one stage the boys were raping my fly box for flies to use with sinkers over the shallow reefs - it was rudimentary yet highly effective. I am sure plastics would have gone well too but not lasted the distance.

Closer to home, I reckon they would be worth a drop on that deep hole at the end of the seaway north wall close to the change of tide, random wafters;)

Good diddlin to you

[cammac]

I was once camping in the middle of no where and realised i didnt have one of these so I fashioned one out of the things i could find.

Found a dead seagull and used the feathers off it gluing them to a bean sinker with windscreen sealant then wraping the foil out of the Milo tin lid around it then threading the line thru the sinker and tying a hook on. - and vola it got plenty of results - admitantly it was a pretty hot fishing spot!!

anyway thats how i made mine as i can recall - was quite a few years ago!

Cam