All Around Angler

Mista Koenig drops another Triple A contribution #AAAProStaff

Making Jigs Part 3: Materials

Now that you have your painted jig heads – whether you painted them yourself or went the easy route and bought them, it’s time to talk about the types of materials. I stick to about three materials when tying jigs but I have a variety of colors in those three materials. As you read on in my article I explain why I like these materials.


This Steelhead found a pink Marabou jig to be too much to resist

Things you will need:


Left to right: Scissors, Hackle Pliers, Bobbin, and Top: a basic fly tying vise.

The tools pictured above are all you need to start tying flies and jigs. Unless you really want to go all out and get the most expensive gear, the basic and cheapest material will do. You can purchase all of these tools at your nearest tackle or fly shop. One thing not skimp on is good scissors because they need to be able to trim very fine fibers in some cases. As for thread, you can purchase any type of thread you want but I use Kevlar thread on my jigs. I love making high quality and very strong jigs as it gives me the highest confidence in fishing them. With using Kevlar thread I eliminate having to use fly head cement after doing the whip finish.

Feathers and Fur:



I like to keep things extremely basic. I have a variety of rabbit fur, Schlappen and Marabou feathers that I use to tie my jigs. I really like rabbit fur because of the action and the body it has when it is in the water. Rabbit fur is one of my go to materials when tying jigs. It’s very easy to work with and it comes in a variety of colors (even two-toned colors). It comes in regular and crosscut and the crosscut is a little easier to tie with than the regular. My number two material is Marabou. For some strange reason the salmon I target in my home waters prefer Marabou over anything else. I never really ask questions as to why but let’s just say there is plenty of Marabou on the menu when I am targeting my home river. Marabou loses it body in the water compared to rabbit fur but comes in a variety of colors and is one of the most heavily used materials for jigs. I also use Schlappen from time to time. I really only use Schlappen when I’m tying a few out of the ordinary jigs and something for a different look or possibly using it as a tail on a jig. Experiment with what materials you like and what works for you. Stay tuned for part 4 where I will show you how to tie jigs.

Tight Lines,

Eric Koenig