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Starship Jig Explained

As you can see here, my infamous Starship Jig is nothing more than a disc of clear plastic with a small hole poked in it's center. This hole is then forced down over the eye of a common shad dart jig - 1/64th in this case. This makes the jig spiral and flutter as it falls through the water.

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Comment by dick tabbert on January 28, 2014 at 12:21am: Thanks David There on my list of thing to do.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on January 27, 2014 at 8:09pm: What a great idea especially for us people who like to vertical jig. David did you make these and if so how.

Well, Dick, it isnt hard at all. You knock out a disc of clear plastic using a hollow punch to start. Then, just poke a small hole in the middle using an awl or small nail. Then, force the hole over the eye so the disc is held firmly beneath it. I just use my thumb to do this. The tighter you can make the hole, the better it will grip the shaft below the eye. Now you have a jig head with a "flying disc" attached on top.

Thats really all there is to it.

Comment by dick tabbert on January 27, 2014 at 1:44pm: What a great idea especially for us people who like to vertical jig. David did you make these and if so how.

Comment by Leo Nguyen on January 27, 2014 at 12:06pm: Yep..touched by the stardust from the trail of the starship jig..hehehehehehe

Comment by Rick King on January 27, 2014 at 11:43am: Nice stuff McScruff..... think I will get a set of those punches from HF they look nice ........... keep up the good work. and we all know Leo is a bit touched........... haha just kidding Leo

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on December 14, 2013 at 8:25am: For those who think I should patent this or go into video production (Leo) - too late!

This is not a new idea on my part. Here is a link to it, where you can buy the things in packs of 15, with nice logo lettering, even:

http://todaystackle.com/jigdisks.html

However, you can bet your bottom dollar I aint paying to own and ship a few bits of plastic! So I made my own. I added a "refinement" in the form of a tight fitting attachment point. These commercial products have a large hole that slips over the eye, necessitating the use of a snap clip or something like it to hold the whole affair together.

Mine are a press fit over the eye of the jig, i.e, hole smaller than the eye, so no extra hardware is needed. I suppose you could make these as big as you want, too, depending on your punch size. But mine are are about 1/2" in diameter, sized for bluegill jigs - 1/32 and 1/64. If you have a magnifier and really want to take this to the nth degree, you could go smaller.

What this disc does is act like a wing - large or small, the physics of such a thing are the same. Most of the "flying" action depends on a bit of hydrodynamic drag induced by the trailer. In other words, you need something dragging behind to help the disc "hang" in the water. Jig bodies with curly tails work well and a tuft of marabou or calf tail should work for all you hair n' feather spinners. To no surprise, Im sure, I've even thought of a more complicated way to achieve this. But thats for another day. This should get you started.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on December 14, 2013 at 8:03am: my homemade punches are thin walled tubing, stainless mostly, ground to a cutting edge.

But you can also buy punch and die sets or hollow punch sets for easy money. Heres one from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece-hollow-punch-set-3838.html

You dont need machinists grade stuff for punching discs from plastic so these would do fine at $8 For five times as much you can get punch and die sets on ebay. A little more precision, perhaps and a very cool tool. Whether the cost is justified is your call.

If you want to "firm up" a trailer hook, just coat the eye with Goop or silicone RTV. When you poke the main hook through the wad of Goop covering the trailer hook's eye, it'll hold it pretty good.

Comment by John Sheehan on December 14, 2013 at 7:30am: Cool concept David ! What do you mean "home made punches" ?

In John Weiss ' book ,'Advanced Bass Fishing ' ,he talks about cutting out discs with a punch to firm up a trailor hook on Spinnerbaits.

Comment by carl hendrix on December 13, 2013 at 11:18pm: a really good idea david I might try something like it soon-- as it warms up!!! im not a eskimo!!