Jig hooks for fly tying....

[Buddy Sanders]

The 'bedspread fly' thread brought this to mind.

How many of you tie flies on jig hooks?

I know you can buy 'fly tying jig heads' that already have a bit of lead molded to them. What I'm wondering is how many of you buy the unmolded jig hooks themselves for your tying.

I keep seeing more and more flies tied using these hooks. Many bass flies, but more and more trout and panfish flies too. I see lots of applications for these hooks.

Some thoughts about this...The bent up shank means that any fly fished under a float (indicator) remains horizontal in the water. I use a fly very similar to last weeks fly of the week (Myakka Minnow) tied on these hooks and fished under an indicator for smallies and panfish.

If you slide a bead onto the hook, it does the same thing as molding the lead 'head' on it, as far as application goes. Without the bother of having a mold and melting lead (tiny heads are tough to do well).

You can get the hooks down to a size 12. Because of the bend in the shank, a fly tied on these is about the same size as a #14 regular sized tie. Plenty small enough for most trout fishing.

I'm wondering if the angle advantages of the bent shank might be helpful for nymphs and wet flies. Less hang ups and such with the hook point up, etc..

The hooks are inexpensive. Around $5/100 or so.

Anyone else use these?

Buddy

[fly-chucker]

I have started to use 60 degree jig hooks lately, for bass flies (1-3/0) that I'm dragging along the bottom. Keeps the point out of the junk and the 60 seems to help it slide over things as apposed to catching on them. Don't see why they wouldn't work in smaller sizes.

Kevin

[dudley]

I tie Dan Blanton's Whistler on a jig hook.
He use to recommend the Eagle Claw 254SS, a shortshank stainless
Years back in American Angler he wrote that it was the only hook suitable

I tied with him a few years ago at a show and I was surprised he was using the jig hook instead. I asked him about it and....he changed his mind

.?...I just looked at his web site and it still recommends the shortshank hook.?..but that's not what he does himself

[Betty Hiner]

Here I go being the elitist snot head again! Even when I posted the pattern for the Bedspread, I put fly in quotes ("fly"). I know a lot of people who tie on them, and lots who use them, but to me, they're just not flies. They're lures. I'm sorry, but that's how I feel. I'm more in to natural materials, more tradition, on plain hooks.

[TxEngr]

I'm definitely not the purist when it comes to bass and bream. I even tie fly rod spinner baits for bass (gasp!). I've been playing with jig hooks for a while and have a few flies I tie up with them. I like to use bead chain for the eyes and like the way the fly works in the water bouncing along the bottom hook up and protected from the front. Here's a couple of examples of some of the flies:



A Squirrel Tail Jig



Bream Jig

TxEngr

[deserttrout]

Betty I DISAGREE!

I have been tying jigs for over 15 years. I started with 1/32 oz for Trout here in CA. I now tie on 1/64, 1/80, 1/100 and 1/124 oz jigs. I use different weight fly rods for the different sizes. from a 5w for the 1/32 and my 1w for the 1/124. My favorites have red hooks and a red ball and others have gold hooks and ball.

I use marabou, dudding, chenille, flash and so on. Just like my OTHER flys.

Using your logic, Beadhead and coneheads are not flies either then - right.

On my jigs, I have caught trout, bass, gills, perch and one BIG sucker.

Just my 2 cents in disagreement.

Jim the ol deserttrout

[Betty Hiner]

Well ... beads are APPLIED TO the hook, not a part of it. Even given that, I'd rather GO FISHIN'!!!!! I may not consider them true "flies" but hey, that's just me. I usually fish light, and the sound of a bead head, or jig, hitting my light rod gives me the creeps!!!
I don't use a bobber ...errr ... indicator ... either.

[Clay]

I'm definitely not the purist when it comes to bass and bream. I even tie fly rod spinner baits for bass (gasp!). I've been playing with jig hooks for a while and have a few flies I tie up with them. I like to use bead chain for the eyes and like the way the fly works in the water bouncing along the bottom hook up and protected from the front. Here's a couple of examples of some of the flies:



A Squirrel Tail Jig



Bream Jig

TxEngr

Ooooo, I just found a new hot carp fly. Love that Bream Jig. How did you color the chain?

[Buddy Sanders]

Betty,

For your applications, they probably won't do anything for you. That being said, a jig hook is just a plain hook with a different 'shape', something that's more common in traditional 'fly' tying than anywhere else in angling.

Where this would 'help' folks is places where you are fishing a weighted nymph and having bottom hanging problems...the upward riding hook would reduce the hang ups.

Whatfly,

In my albeit unscientific 'tests' of the hook 'style' (I don't mold lead on them, it's way too much trouble to do tiny heads like that with a gravity feed mold) I've found that even an otherwise unweighted tie still rides with the hook upright as long as it's tied to a line that comes from above the fly (if you use a heavy split shot ahead of the fly, one that runs lower in the water column than the fly, it can flip the fly over if the materials are bouyant).

If you add ANY weight, either weight 'wrapped' on the shank or a bead slid onto the hook, the hook rides upright always.

A few other things I've been figuring out while playing with these hooks:

After watching drifts with weighted nymphs on both the regular TDE hooks I used to use, and the 'jig' bend hooks, the fly does seem to ride if not more 'naturally' (I'm not sure if 'horozontal with a slight nose up attitude' is 'natural') certainly more consistently in the water. Whether that is good or bad I'll have to let the fish tell me this summer.

If you find that your wooly buggers are 'twisting' on you, these hook will alleviate that problem quite a bit.

Where this hook style shines, though, is on stuff fished in still water under an indicator. I've caught trout, smallies, pike, bluegills, and crappie on this 'style' of rig in several states.

I'm also noticing a better 'hook up' ratio on light biting fish. Maybe I'm just getting better at 'hooking' them, but I was catching more fish using these hooks last summer than I did the year before without them. Maybe it's the hook attitude, or the angle of pull changed caused by the turned down eye. Don't know why, but I do like the results so far.

And, for you guys who are 'buying' the small 'lead head fly tying jigs' they sell, I maybe can save you some coin here.

Most of these hooks are centrifically molded with just a tiny amount of lead. 1/64 to 1/120 ounce. They are 'pricey', at least to me, at around $2.50 to $5.00 a dozen depending if you want a 'finished' head or plain lead.

You can get basically the 'same thing' by simply sliding a regular fly tying bead onto the hook. The materials hold it in place. You can get them in several finishes as well as sizes. Much cheaper and it works the same (nickle for the hook, seven to ten cents for the bead, runs around 1/2 the price per).

Not for everyone, certainly. But they do seem to work well for me so far. I'm having fun playing with expanding the concept.

Buddy