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.

[whatfly]

While I certainly sympathize with Betty's attitude, the original post merely asked who is using jig hooks and what might be the advantage. He was not necessarily asking about jig hooks with beads, lead heads, bead chain eyes, etc. I'm curious why a jig hook is any different than an up eye hook in the eyes of the "purists?" A rhetorical question, of course, because purists are often more interested in tradition than reason (grin).

That being said, I can't imagine there being any particular advantage to using a jig hook without weight at the head. A jig hook is meant to rollover and introduce a "jigging" (sic.) motion by see-sawing through the water column, if you will. I'm not sure why one would ever resort to them unless you were going to add some weight. Most of the examples given (e.g. Blanton's Whistler) all involve files with enough weight at the head of the fly to roll the hook so it rides point up. Without that weight I don't think a jig hook would be any more or less effective in most fishing situations that any other hook . In the example of suspending a fly horizontally in the water under a bobber, while the idea is intriguing I think the lead head has a significant roll in the position of the fly so I'm not sure an unweighted fly on a jig hook would behave the same.

Just a guess though, because I've never felt it necessary to experiment with the concept, although I might have to give it a try if I can find some really small quality jig hooks (the best all seem to be for bigger game than trout).

[deserttrout]

Waspi sell the gold head jigs in my favorite small sizes. Cabella's has them for sure. I have bought hundreds from ebay. I tie close to 150 a year and on one lake, in the winter from shore, they are deadly. In my boat I use my fly rods as well as troll with trolling flys I tie. Maybe someone will run a small jig fly swap. I would sign up.
Jim

[Extremely Low Budget FF]

When I moved into my current home six years ago I found a full box of Eagle Claw 1/0 jig hooks in the barn.

I use them to tie unweighted crayfish patterns for smallmouth and largemouth bass.

They work well for me!


Ed