Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Was looking for some help with a puffball Jig setup rod length , action, power. Also any good puffball jig makers to look at? Thanks for the help.

I'm am the best at building the puffball jig since I'm the original creator of the jigs. There nobody better not bragging it just a fact I can teach how to build them as well as Cliff Pace I'm sure he will be selling them in the future. I fish them on:6'6" spinning and casting rods both med heavy 4,6,8,10 Maxima green mono. In heavy cover Great finesse wintertime baits

Are you primarily throwing 1/4 ounce jigs. And what head style do you like to tie with?

Yes I like Arkie head 1/4 and 3/8 oz finesse jigs they are a good choices I like to use Light wire mustard hooks.
Light fiber guards 9 or 11 fibers .018 material
I use 4,6,8,10 lb Maxima green mono for my wintertime fishing both spinning and casting rods and everything in both spinning and casting rods are 6'6" med heavy rods.
i use the same line year around and fish finesse jigs from 1/64 to 3/4 oz year around.
I like to target heavy cover in the wintertime Rock Trees Brush piles Deep water bushes Long rocky points Steep walls Isolate deep structure
I like fishing in 15 to 60 feet of water in the cold winter months that when fishing finesse jigs is the best.

Puffball jig company's
Cadman jigs Great customer sevrice Cliff Pace Fishing Great customer service
Skinny bear jigs
Mr Bs
Frugal lures

Lefty's Lure Company
Building & Fishing Custom Jigs
Since 1977
Retired

Thank you for the recommendations.

When fishing these type of jigs it take both patience and some skill pick your structured targets you want to fish. For me I like deep water in the winter. And heavy cover. Another really good structure fisherman that on the site is WRB he has great insight in structure jig fishing. He has some really good articles to read up on.

Here are three wintertime finesse jigs I like to use

Do you use them with and without weed guards ?
That mini looks killer

I fish both with weed guard or without weed guard
I carry a lot of jigs in my boat I carry several design and style of jig heads. I use Yamamoto twin tail and single tail grubs in 4" & 5" in a variety of colors.
The mini 1/32 oz mini puffball I use them for spotted bass and Smallmouth bass they kill them I use a 1" curly tail grub as a trailer.
On a spinning rod with 4 or 6 lb test line they drop slow but when you get into a targeted area where the fish are holding its lights out when you start catching them.

Finesse puffball jigs three types

Three ways to use puffball jig

1 Use the puffball jig for your drop shot fishing I use 6" drop shot worm on a rig you'll be surprised how many bigger bass will pass up the worm for the jig

2 Dead sticking the jig bass will eat it.

3 Vertical jigging in deep water overland around structure great way to catch wintertime bass

I fish these three ways in the winter a lot

Are you still tying jigs for people?

No that why I've showing other anglers and lure manufactures how to tie the jigs in both Lions collar and Puffball jig
Cliff Pace Fishing website
Cadman jigs has website catalog

Who do you recommend for jig tying materials and equipment?

Vises
Jann's netcraft or Barlow's
Skirt Material
Skirtsplus.com
Fishingskirts.com
Lurepartsonline.com
Livingrubber.com
Hooks
Shorty'shooks.com
Weedguards
Kayser lure corp.
Powder paint
CS Coatings Inc.

Here are some really good jig fisherman if your looking for anglers that are good at jig fishing and maybe help you with question you need answered.
There always room for learning I'm still doing it there always something new out there.
Caleb Smith
Bass Union
Kent Brown
WRB
Gary Dobyons
Ken Mah
Greg Gutierrez
To read up on some great articles
Andy cooch cuccia
Dee Thomas

Awesome thank for the help.

Niners if you don't want to pour your own jig heads
Fishing skirts has there own also Lure parts on line also have there own. They are very good company to get all your jigs fishing supply.

What size hook are you using for your 1/4 ounce jigs. And will the skirt tie on okay with the weed guard already in place?

On the 1/4 oz Arkie head I like 3/0 or 4/0 mustad black nickel hooks
On the 1/32 I use size 8 or 6 hooks in mustad 32570BN
Depending on jigs size I like 2/0 3/0 4/0 5/0 6/0
Light wire mustad black nickel hooks 32746NPBN
For tying my silicone or round rubber skirt material
I use Coats and Clark upholstery thread I buy mine from the company but you can get it from Walmart in the sewing section there. It come in several colors
There several company online that sell upholstery thread but Coats & Clark's is the best upholstery thread very strong won't cut the skirt material when you wrap it and tie it down with half hatch knots.

Also Fishingskirts.com has come out with new fine cut silicone material the action of the skirt material is great key for wintertime fishing it can be tied in several patterns on any style jig head.

Do you add your weed guard after the skirt material?

I glue all my weedguards in before I tie my jigs save time I think most people who tie there own jigs with weedguard glued in turn the guard down in the vise
I don't do that. I always tie with the guard up I hold the guard against my right index finger with very little pressure and let the thread flow down my finger between the guard and my finger against the guard wrap 3 time then 3 half hitch knots. Trim your done with it.
The fast way to ruin a jig skirt is use GLUE on the thread you just tie I've been tying jigs for over 40 years I've never used glue to sucure any knots that include tying buck tail jig fastest way to ruin a good hand tied buck tail jig is glue the thread.
You don't need 10 wrap to sucure the material in place. 3 wraps 3 half hitch knots be done it will never fall apart no matter what jig head you use
And I've tied thousands and thousands of jigs in all styles. When I glue my guards I let them set for a day to cure then get busy.
I buy every thing in bulk so when I tie I tie large amounts of jigs some time several hundred in and 8 hour day. I have my material what I'm going to tie for the day laid out on 5 tables in several color on each one I have 5 vises so when I'm done with one table I move to the next table. My wife lays the color out I'm tying that day I have the colors up on my color chart I have up on the wall for that day tying and they get laid out before I start the next day. I don't build any lures and let them set everything I tie are sold before I start. I have minimum orders on all my jigs buzzbaits spinnerbaits and blade baits.
But I'm not at this time taking on new customers
I have enough to work with now.
That way Cliff Pace is building the puffball jigs now I'm hoping he adds them to his jig line. Black label jigs
Cadman jigs has the puffball jigs in his catalog now
And he is very customer sevrice friendly.
If you use Coats and Clark upholstery thread you won't have skirt failure on your jigs no matter what type of jigs your tying.
That includes tying Bucktail jigs
No glue to secure the thread knots NOOOOO

When i was fishing tournaments at and trying to figure out the jig bite i would run an arkie jig and a puffball side by side. the puffball on a 7' MH rod with a nice parabolic action. Sometimes the puffball would get bit 3:1 over an arkie or football head. my favorite trailers were the robo-zipper grubs, small beavers or small paddle tail worm. Most of the bites would come on the deadstick as the jig came through a transition point - as Jigs mentioned its not a great search bait but its an excellent target bait. So search with a nice big ole 1/2 - 3/4oz football, feel something interesting where you "should get bit" fire that puffball out there and let it shake n bake

Also when it come time when big bass are starting to bed take 3/4 oz Arkie head Puffball jig with a 5/0 light wire hook light weedguard and add your favorite trailer make it as compact as you can with jig and trailer. It work the same if there tied in a Lions collar jig use skirt material more exposed hook and trailer think compact jig and trailer. The weight of the jigsmake the bass attack it even hard because it takes more to move it when it's in or around a bed. Hook up percentages is very high. Drop it in a bed dead stick it then shack the top of your pole the skirt fibers will pulatate and the bass don't like it they well slam it. Anglers ask don't you think 3/4 oz is bit to much I tell not at all. Just try it and judge for yourself.