HAIR JIG TACTICS
W
by Curtis Niedermier
MAKE THIS CLASSIC JIG WORK FOR OFFSHORE BASS
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MATT PACE
hether you call them bucktails or hair jigs, a
lead-head jig with a skirt of fur and feathers is
an old-school lure that’s undergoing a big-
time resurgence in offshore ledge fishing. Walmart FLW
Tour pro Michael Neal of Dayton, Tenn., is among the
elite when it comes to ledge fishing, and he’s devised
three productive techniques for getting bites with a
hair jig.
ON FEATHERS AND FUR
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Neal’s go-to jig maker won’t tie hair
jigs with feathers, so he’s only recently
started experimenting with feathers in
his jigs. Previously, he’s relied on
other means of adding bulk and
attraction.
“I’ve got two that I’ll throw that
don’t have feathers,” Neal says. “On
one, I’ll put a 5-inch Big Bite Baits Jerk
Minnow in pearl. The other has real
bucktail, as long as I can find, and it
has some synthetic hair in with it
that’s 7 inches long that takes the
place of feathers.
“The longer hair acts like feathers.
It kind of floats around behind it
more. That Jerk Minnow doesn’t move;
it just stays still. The feathers or a
substitute are a little more aggressive.
They help more when hopping it or
doing something with the rod tip to
make it pulsate.”
THE JIGS
1-OUNCE HOMEMADE JIG WITH
BUCKTAIL AND 7-INCH-LONG
SYNTHETIC HAIR
1/2-OUNCE WHITE HOMEMADE
JIG WITH 5-INCH BIG BITE BAITS
JERK MINNOW TRAILER
FLWFISHING.COM I AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2016