Jonn Graham

Gammy B10-S is my #1 followed by the 8089 from tiemco.

Tom:

I will have to try your suggestion...............

Thanks to all that stopped by my booth and bought jigs or just stopped and said "hi". It was a great show.

Unbelievable.................they are going to turn our DNR into a made for TV movie

yes

I will have nearly 240 swim jigs ready for sale at the Tinley Park show this weekend. Anyone interested in purchasing some jigs should stop by the booth. I will have all six stock colors in sizes from 1/4 to 1/2 ounce. If you purchase jigs, Big Hammer swim bait tails are free........

In addition, I will have information concerning my 2014 guiding service.

Hope to see some alliance members on Saturday and Sunday.

Show hours are 9:00 to 5:00 both days and the show takes place at Tinley Park High School.

Here is a link for directions..............

http://www.tinleyparkfishingshow.com/page/directions/

Mike:

Your jig came out very nice. I wish my first swim jig looked as nice as yours.

Very nice................are those 60 degree hooks? Did you have any problem fitting the sculpin heads on the hook?

Tom:

You are right, the fish masks do crack..............found out the hard way this past fall when i hit two muskie flies against the outboard motor..................good bye fish mask. I heard that CCG coating helps so that is what I do now on all my masks.............we will see if it truly helps

Mike:

Good point about having the hook in the front..........not sure why I put the hook in the front rather than the back............habit I guess. You are right that if I put the hook in the back I would not need a loop to connect the two halves. Will have to make up a few with the hook in the back and try them out.

Rob:

Not sure about better hookups or not. In the past when I have tied articulated patterns, I have always either had two hooks or a hook in the front only. I will need to tie up a few with the hook in the back and test them out. I know a lot of guys do tie them with only the hook in the back. As I said above, I am not sure why I decided to put the hook in the front. I wonder if I put the hook in the back I might actually impede the tail action as it will be heavier with the hook??? Who knows? I guess I was thinking with the tail hookless and weightless, it would swing and twitch in the current.

Thanks guys for the advice..............definitely got me thinking a little more. Sure wish I could run to the river and test it out right now. Hard to test out a fly on my local flows as upon casting they would slide like a hockey puck.

Had some luck last season with a shad pattern I came up with. Fished it on a river with a shad population and caught a few real nice fish. Next step..................articulate the same pattern.

Last few days been playing around with adding a back section to the fly using an Articulated Fish Spine. Here is what I came up with:

Added a 6 mm fish mask to this one:

#2 Gammy B10s as my hook.............no hook in the back. Since old man winter won't stop, I have not been able to water-test these yet...........we will see how they swim come spring.........................

By the way, I bought my vise from Brad Miller at Flybass.com...............he is a good guy and easy to deal with..............

I have the standard jaws.

If anyone is interested in buying my 2014 Coosa kayak, please call me at 309-399-7055 as soon as possible.

Price is $4 each or a dozen for $44. If you order two dozen, I ship for free. Big Hammer tails also included at no charge.

I use my Peak for my muskie flies. I cannot remember if I have the standard jaws or the larger, saltwater jaws. I will have to find out. But I will say that when I do tie my big muskie flies (5/0 hooks) with my peak there is not a problem. When the hook does slip it is because I don't have the jaws adjusted correctly. When I adjust the jaws correctly, it does a great job!

Peak.

Mike G:

Thanks for the kind words concerning my jigs.................they do take longer to make than most casual folks realize.....

Of course I can make them without the weedguard.........do it all the time for some clients.

Only one type of trailer I use...............swim baits from Big Hammer. When I get back to school, I will try to post a picture of the whole package. By the way, when you buy swim jigs from me, you get Big Hammer tails for free!!! Just got a big shipment of tails in today from California.

Big Hammer is an advertiser in our newsletter.

Been burnin' the midnight oil..................read more by clicking below

http://www.heartlandoutdoors.com/streamstalker/story/production_mode/

Mike:

I can show folks how to tie the skirt on the swim jig. I will try to remember to bring a bare swim jig head and a skirt. I have a tendency to forget stuff when packing for a seminar. Even making a list sometimes does not work................age related I guess.

I will discuss cold water tactics. Included will be the fnf along with other tactics and lures I use during the cold water period. In addition, I plan to also touch on early spring tactics like the swim jig. Also, any fly fishermen that are in attendance that want me to tie a few flies, I will do that as well...................looking forward to it.

I will have fnfs and swim jigs for sale at the meeting as well................

Frank and all:

I will have a huge selection of fnf jigs for sale at the Rockford Gander meeting this coming Saturday........................

Very nice..............spring will not get here soon enough.

nice..............thanks