I know this post won't mean much to a lot of readers, but I thought I'd share anyway. Everybody knows I like to throw small jigs, especially hair, but really all kinds for a variety of species. I recently acquired a couple new ones to try this coming season, but the coolest thing is that they were created about 35 years apart. The first jig on the left says it's a Bill Binkelman Jig from Gapen, but in reality it is an original Jack Crawford hair jig from the mid 70s I just got my hands on. Gapen purchased the Jack Crawford Tackle Co. somewhere about that time and apparently changed the name of the baits shortly thereafter. Binkelman had already left Fishing Facts by then, so I'm sure there is a story to be told in there somewhere.
Another interesting thing is that even though the package is labeled as "red tailed chub," a look back at older Fishing Facts ads for the Crawford Jigs show that it was most likely the "Incredible Minnow" pattern. The only difference from the original pattern being the red head instead of pearl white. Everything else about the tie is identical, including the numerous mylar strands tied into the bait, something of a first from what I can gather for the time, Mylar film being patented back in 1952 by the DuPont Co. It otherwise has the red, white and blue hair, along with the mallard flank feathers. Despite the $7 I had to give for the jig and it's rarity still in package, I fully plan on fishing this bait come spring.
Back to the pic, the other jigs I picked up this weekend are on the right, the Northland Buck-A-Roo jig, a very modern version of the traditional hair-style jig, actually designed after the famous C.J. "Cap" Kennedy "Rock-A-Roo," and introduced in 2010. From the Northland website, the 2010 press release states:
"Long before soft plastics ever dressed a jig hook, lure artisans fashioned some of the deadliest lures ever using all natural fibers. Foremost among them was deer hair, better known as “bucktail.” It’s doubtful that even today a better material exists for precisely matching the baitfish hatch than natural swimming bucktail. Bass love it, walleye eat it, and panfish munch it! That is precisely why the jig czars at Northland have crafted the new BUCK-A-ROO™ JIG—the most natural, lifelike minnow imitating bucktail jig on the planet!
Never before have so many select lure features come together in one perfect hair jig. The BUCK-A-ROO™ JIG features a sculpted minnow jig head, premium Mustad® Ultra-Point™ jig hook and hand-tied Baitfish-Image™ minnow patterns that mimic prey species—live shiners, perch, chubs, sunfish and even crayfish. These minnow jigs are a time-tested combination of fish-catching characteristics that pulsate and breathe with incredible undulating action; superior for vertical jigging, casting or dragging over the bottom."
Needless to say, I can't wait to get both of these baits out on the water. It will be an interesting, if not nostalgic happening, and catching a fish on them, especially the Binkelman jig, is going to be priceless.
Brian,
I have a pretty good supply of Flashabou (Mylar) and feathers that I can use to tie Binkelman-style jigs like this one. Have done the Crawford style in the past, but never with much Flashabou. Your article provides some pretty good inspiration for my wintertime jig designing. Combine it with skills I acquired at FlyMasters over the summer and the wheels are turning now... :)
Posted by: Pup | December 16, 2013 at 09:32 PM
Don - If you need/want them, I have a lot of old Crawford jig ads I could send you, many depicting good pics of the old ties, and others with the basic color & style components used for each pattern. Let me know.
One of the details I picked up on was why mylar was so little used until the Crawford ties (beside being a new material). This was because it was a pain to tie into a jig for some reason (slipped/pulled out easily perhaps?). Some of the later style of CRawford jigs were labeled as having "New Mylar" added to them, I assume an improvement that meant easier to tie.
Posted by: Big Indiana Bass | December 17, 2013 at 10:58 AM
Very interesting read on hair jigs. I was the last person that C.J. "Cap" Kennedy taught to tie his Rock-a-Roos. In fact I tied him that last that he fished out on the fan one of his favorite places to fish on West lake Okoboji. I was also taught how to make molds by Jim Stone. Jim made all of Caps molds. I have the only complete set of molds of Rock-a-Roos that exist. Jim would never give Cap the 1/24 or 1/50 oz jig molds but would cast them up when Cap needed them. One day after Caps death Jim call me up and ask me to help him move some things out of his house. When I arrived he gave me the molds along with a 5 Strip bamboo spinning rod that he had made for Cap and never given him for some reason. I donated this to the Iowa Maritime Museum at Arnolds Park, Iowa and is on display along with other fishing equipment that Cap had owned. They also have a complete set of his jigs in all sizes along with the killer rigs that he made. here is a link to Jigcraft.com where I have placed a lot of the history of C.J. "Cap" Kennedy The teachings of Jim Stone. The link has the patterns of Cap and How he tied them back when he was running Caps bait and Tackle in Arnolds Park, Iowa and selling Rock-a-Roos at sport shows and bait shops all over the midwest. http://www.jigcraft.com/jigcraft/showthread.php?tid=2756&highlight=iowa+walleye+jigs
Redman
Caddo Lake
Uncertain,Texas
Posted by: Steve Redman Stanford | December 17, 2013 at 10:46 PM
Very cool history Redman! Thanks for sharing. I know the "Roos" were popular in the plains and upper Midwest, but they never seemed to catch on further south around these parts, likely because of our overall poor walleye populations in the state. I imiagine there might have been some use on the northern glacial lakes at the time. Very hard to find any of the old original jigs left these days. Great to know the knowledge and craft have been handed down and preserved. Certainly an underappreciated art these days.
Posted by: Big Indiana Bass | December 18, 2013 at 11:30 AM
One of the big reasons that they didn't catch on in Indiana, Ohio, or Missouri is that Cap didn't travel in that direction to sell his goods. At its height Cap had his wife Kathy, and two other girls that worked part time on piece work for Wapsi Fly tying for him. Kathy and the two girls would tie the tails and bodies on the jigs and Cap would tie the " Hackle and Wings" which were all bucktail except on the 0 and 00 size they were hackle the 1/24 and 1/50 would have been 000 and 0000. 0 was pronounced Aught like in 30.06. Aught, double aught, triple aught, and Cap call the smallest one 4 times aught or the little one. He tied a small bluegill bug that he called woolies they were in Yellow, Black, and White. I tied thousands for him they were a # 10 aberdeen jig hook on a 1/100 oz. head. Fall and Springs were a nightmare as this was the busy selling seasons. We would bend and cast up the heads and then have to tie them up. Cap used a 4x long shank streamer hook by Mustad. They all had to be hand bent to fit the mold. As Cap got older I would do the bending on the #4 and smaller hooks.Saturdays and Sundays I would bend thousands of hooks until my hands hurt. My pay was to be able to hang around with Cap and a slice or two of Kathy's Dutch Apple pie and a BIG Mug of Coffee. I would help Cap clip the jigs and clean any flash if they had any. Then we would sort them in to boxes and some would be sent off to the girls and some would go to Kathy to tie the rest were back up stock. Cap dyed his own bucktails and Necks. We did this out in his garage on a little old hot plate and hang them on the clothes line to dry. The necks and Tail he bought from Wapsi fly and it was a big deal when they came in. It would be a couple of days to sort and wash everything getting it ready to dye.
This is bringing back a lot of good memories to me in my advanced old age. As now many of the fellows that I fished with and were friends have all past over. I carried a many of them to there grave. We were a tight bunch May they all rest in peace. Part of the trouble with being the last man standing. I moved to Texas to get out of the cold and snow. Living in the backwoods next to the lake with the wife three dogs a cat and very few neighbors to bother me. For me it is the ideal life.
Redman
Caddo Lake
Uncertain, Texas
Posted by: Steve Redman Stanford | December 18, 2013 at 04:38 PM
Redman - The story sounds very much like Spoonplugging, Buck traveling all over the country to promote the technique more so than the plugs, but they came along with the package. I'm guessing before Internet and major fishing publications, it was either word of mouth or "the road show" to get a bait "out there". There seems to be very little appreciation for Buck and Spoonplugging now days, much like very few missing the old jig ties/tiers. Everything is profits, mass manufacturing and rubber/silicone now days. Don't think it will ever completely go away, but when the few remaining individuals who had direct experience and interaction with these great innovators pass on, the fishing world is going to be a little worse off because of it.
I'm starting to personally "dig" a lot more into spoonplugging here recently, as well as focusing on the Fishing News/Facts and In-Fisherman era from about the early 60s until the late 70s. What a fantastic time that was, a true angling revolution looking back on it. Buck Perry, Lucas, Lowrance, Gapen, Binkelman, Lindners, Pazik, Petros, Ray Scott, "Cap", Crawford...and on and on. Now have a pretty nice collection of books and magazines going from that time period, and will spend all winter here in Indiana just reading through them, checking out the old ads, and reading about the thoughts and beliefs on fish and fish catching back then. Hearing the details from someone "who lived it" such as yourself just adds to the whole experience.
My thanks to you...
Posted by: Big Indiana Bass | December 18, 2013 at 06:51 PM
Yep Old Buck Perry the man that started it all. And yes I still have a few Spoonplugs and my copy of Fishing Facts. Sure wish I would have kept all my old Fin and Feather Mags.Got to meet and know all the Giants. Ronnie and Al Linder, Spence Petros, Homer La Blanc. Remember the Swim Whizz and the dang thing worked. Berkley Bedell was a personal friend and was one of the last people to wish me well when I moved down here. He BTW was the Man behind Berkley and Company later to become Pure Fishing. At the time we didn't know what we were getting into. I remember spending a half a hour to teach Doug Stange to tie a loop knot after a Iowa Great Lakes Fishing club Meeting. At that time he was a Ag teacher now he is a big time editor of In-Fisherman Mag. Shoot pheasants with Gary Roach for several years. Fun times for sure.
]
I have a lot more stories and they are all true that I have about Fishing in and around the Iowa Great Lakes and they need to be put down and saved somewhere before ether my mind goes or they are lost to the grave. Thank you so much for letting me post these few remembrances of my youth and the best times of my life.
Redman
Posted by: Steve Redman Stanford | December 18, 2013 at 08:26 PM
You hung with the Minnesota guys - cool. Recently found the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame website. So many great anglers either came from there (MN/WI) or moved there. Reading through all the old Fishing News/Fishing Facts and In-Fishermen mags has really connected many of the dots for me, along with the old books from the time. It was such a small contingent of guys in a close circle that really was responsible for so much history...and preserving the stories and recollections somehow would be absolutely great. I know toward your old stomping grounds, Ned Kehde, who actually was an archivist for the local college, has really done a good job of getting the story out of the finesse characters from the Missouri/Ozark area, like the Hibdon's, Bill and Virgil Ward, Chuck Woods, Dwight Keefer, Drew Reese, Ray Fincke, Ted Greene and others.
I help document and write for the Bass Fishing Archives website also, but that is largely focused around the tournament scene to a good degree. You need your own blog where you can just write and post as things come to you at your leisure, or as a contributing writer to an existing website. Bass Fishing Archives has both Harold Sharp (former B.A.S.S. tourney Director) and Stan Fagerstrom (writer and trick caster) contribute regular pieces like that. Always a great read, and that way they get documented. Guessing you've also posted a lot of info over at JigCraft most likely that will be around for a while.
Posted by: Big Indiana Bass | December 18, 2013 at 09:30 PM
I love to read accounts of fishing history. These are very interesting comments.
Brian, I'm interested in your offer of the ads. I sent an e-mail to you via titled 'Old Crawford Jig Ads'. Thank you very much.
Posted by: Pup | December 18, 2013 at 10:07 PM
Got the e-mail, Don. Will take a few days to go through them and figure out which ones to cut out :) Will send you a reply e-mail when I get them gathered and sent. With this weather, we've got all winter to talk fishing :)
Posted by: Big Indiana Bass | December 18, 2013 at 10:23 PM