Jimmy D’s River Bugs Rabbit
Swim Jig
Jimmy D’s River Bugs Minnesota’s
Traditional Black Bear Jig
RABBIT FUR – According to Jim DeZurik, who owns Jimmy D’s River Bugs in
Sartell, Minn., rabbit fur has several positive features.
“It’s strong. It really takes a beating,” says DeZurik, who’s been tying and selling
flies and hair jigs for more than 50 years. “I like to use it as a trailer. It wraps nice-
ly on a hook, too, so it gives a nice body material.”
The rabbit hide is similar to soft leather. It does dry out between uses, but
DeZurik says it softens up again once it gets wet and makes a great jig trailer, like
on the jig shown here.
“That rabbit strip just becomes alive,” he says. “It’s very attractive to the fish.”
Finally, rabbit fur is dyed many colors, which provides a lot of options for jig
makers.
BEAR HAIR – Here’s a traditional material used by Northern multi-species
anglers to tie small, simple jigs. DeZurik says it feels softer than bucktail, but is
much more durable – enough so that one jig can catch dozens of fish.
Bear hair also lies differently on the hook.
“They used to use horse hair. Horse hair is like human hair. When you put a
thread on it, it doesn’t spring out. It’s flat,” DeZurik says. “Bear is a little bit like that.
Bucktail, because it’s hollow, it springs out quite a bit. It’s a different application.”
Unlike bucktail, which is usually white and can be dyed, bear hair is whatever
color nature creates.
“I use cinnamon and black, and there are all kinds of variations between them,”
DeZurik says. “I’m playing with spring bear. It’s a bear that just came out of the
den. In Canada they have some places you can hunt them, and the hair is about 4
inches long.”
FOX FUR – Still used to tie jigs these days, fox fur (and also coyote) makes a
nice skirt but is somewhat fragile.
“You never can put a lot of material in it,” says DeZurik. “You have to leave
room for it to breathe. Because it’s so fragile, it’s like plastic almost.
“It has a nice glint in the water,” he adds. “It has a natural shine that’s lacking
in bear and bucktail.”
Anglers in DeZurik’s region like to tip small fox jigs with live bait to fish for
walleyes, but it probably has applications for bass as well.
Jimmy D’s River Bugs Furry
Critter (fox)
CRAFT HAIR – This synthetic fiber is very soft and fluffy. It’s commonly used
on float-n-fly jigs and other small hair jigs. According to Stephen Headrick, owner
of Punisher Lures in east Tennessee, craft hair has many applications in the cool-
er months, but he often transforms his craft hair jigs into more subtle minnow
imitators for winter fishing by matting down the hair with his company’s Fish
Dope, a petroleum jelly product with other additives that he says help cover an
angler’s scent and make fish hold on longer. Mostly, Fish Dope slicks back the
hair so it doesn’t undulate in the water, causing it to look more like a stunned, still
baitfish.
Punisher Lures Float & Fly Hair Jig
58
FLWFISHING.COM I JULY 2017