John Sheehan's Comments

No sweat Zack..Lance Those size jigs catch the most BGills for me too but I'm still amazed when they're in the mood how they'll hit a bigger presentation!
Thanks for your tips!

yo thanks for helping the group i thought the link worked!!!

John, these are size 12 and 14 Snider jigs. Most of them are bi-colored and glow. I sent the other photo to show a little trick that I was shown years ago that has made the biggest difference. If you use spikes (maggots), barely hook 2 on the jig by the small "foot" on the double-dot end of the critter. I noticed Greg McWilliams had a photo with his jig baited that way. Combine this with 2lb or less mono or flourocarbon on a light rod and jig constantly in little half inch twitches which will make those 2 spikes dance. I'm tellin you those little tricks have madea huge difference in catching fish. You may already know these things, but I just wanted to share what works for me.

I want to send you some photos of some jigs and tricks that I learned from old timers over the years (for bluegill). Perch are biting well in this area, but it seems I can't seem shake my gill addiction.

Hey John, the website for the crafthair might be under Punisher Jigs out of Selina, Tenn.

Also, a lot of the crafthair jigs I tie a little long to imitate baitfish and to get the undulating movement of the fabric. This helps with the overall minnow-like appearance. I tie some jigs that are on smaller heads and just use a sprig of the hair that has been trimmed and they are mostly what I would use for the gills and their smaller mouths. Most of my panfish hairjigs are designed for crappie, perch and anadromas shad species that run up our rivers in the spring. My bluegill patterns aren't as colorful and are smaller and trimmed back a bit and in black, brown, red and beige colors. You got some coming your way!

Hey John...that one perch had 9 bars on one side and 10 on the other! I have seen them with as few as 5 and then the 10 bar fish in the photo. Average is 6 to 8.

Hey John...thanks for nice compliments about the jigs...I have been tying them for about 15 yrs now.

As implied, craft hair can be found, or ordered from, craft stores or hobby shops. They come in 12 x 18 in skeins or smaller. Prices vary, but the colors are endless. It's pretty easy to tie with but can get static electricity and make it a little hard to manage. They flow through the water with great form and undulate unlike other materials...great for cold water applications. You can go online and order any color of the rainbow from Bullet Baits out of Tennessee...just put em in the search engine and you should hit their site.

It's a softer material than bucktail, and moves more, where as bucktail is stiffer, but more bouyant than the craft hair. I tie bass jigs with bucktail also, as it seems to allow a slower decent in cold water on larger jigs of 1/8 or 1/4 ounce, which are the heaviest jigs I tie.

I'm gonna send you some, but keep in mind that some of the most simple patterns I tie are the most effective in some situations. Hope this helps....

Jim

Hey John...regarding the jigs, I use craft hair on about 85 % of the jigs I tie but sometimes use marabou, bucktail and lately...streamer and sea hair. Some people don't like the synthetics, but I have caught a ton of fish on them and the pink/white combos are by far the most requested from me. Hey...shoot me a pm with your address and I'd be happy to send you some, along with a few new creations. I have been using sparkle braid on some new creations and they may be good for ice/cold water applications in your lakes. Jim

Bill-
Glad to hear you are both enjoying the music! Thanks for the note.Wish you lived closer so we could jam.
While you were enjoying coffee, music and a sunrise I was sleeping off a Jim Beam and Yuengling induced headache initiated last night by an informal jam session with friends,students and wife Linda.I knew I wasnt gonna be able to get up early for ice fishing!
All the best,
John

John, My girlfriend and I are enjoying your music this morning.....it's very good with coffee while watching the sunrise!

Hey John...I made the wire strike indicator out of .014 and .018 DR Blues guitar strings. With a small pair of pliers, make a 'loop' and secure the wire with a tight bend to itself, crimping it over. Then, you can use bright red fly tying or sewing thread to wrap and build up around the base of the loop. Once the wrapping is nice and thick, tie off with a couple of half hitches and then coat it twice with Crazy Glue (brush on ). This enables you to see the strike better over a dark hole in the ice.

Then , affix the wire through the opening of the tip top so that it extends about 1 1/2 inches past the tip. I then wrap the wire tight to the rod tip using red wraping thread and coat it with Crazy Glue as well. The entire length of the wire will be 3 to 4 inches long, but only 1 1/2 in will hang out over the rod tip.

As you can see from the photo in the blog, I actually bent the wire 'upward' slightly to compensate for the weight of the lure, which may tend to 'sag' the wire on a downward curl that would not show a light strike. It is important to bend the wires just enough to get semi-straight 'plane' to show the very light strike, and hence movement, of the wire. Set the hook!

Also, if the wire 'lifts' up, you also have a strike! It may bounce or snap straight down. Try it on a rod or two.

Hope this helps Jim

I got 'em John!!! go check out the new photos!

John, I usually fish very light with size 12-14 Snider jigs in pink/purple or pink/white with 2 spikes (maggots) barley hooked on their flat end. Depending where I fish, it's usually 6ft or less. The bite has slowed down this week and bigger fish are harder to coax into biting.

i was fishing a spill-way, and it was still pretty much iced over, not a lot of water to work with. 12-25ft? our ponds and lakes here in the small state don't go that deep. around here the mean depth of a pond runs about 6-8ft. round here most dont fish this time of year. i just cant wait till spring i guess

They were in about 12' close to bottom working my way up.

Good to hear from you! It is nice to ice fish again. I'm sure that my bluegill catch rises through the winter. Stay in touch.

Hey John, Happened to remember caught a limit of bullfrogs on my fly rod and a red dry fly. Bout anything will take a fly, oh and the muskrat was snagged.
Greg