How to Tie a Basic Marabou Jig

In every anglers tackle box you'll have tackle that is species specific.  Then again there are those baits that you believe are species specific but the reality is they are not.  The marabou jig one of those baits thats often prejudged as being only for crappie.  When in fact marabou jigs are often used for other species like white bass, hybrid striper, walleye and smallmouth bass. Because they are so versatile i've taken the time to learn how to tie my own marabou jigs and below is a quick overview of how you can tie your own.

Tools you'll need:

Vice: Pretty much any fly tying vice will work.  You don't have to invest in anything expensive to tie jigs of any kind. You just need a vice that will hold the jig heads tight enough for you to wrap in your materials. 

Bobbin& Thread: The next tool you'll need to tie your own jigs will be a bobbin a color and thickness thread of your choosing.  A simply a tool designed to hold thread while wrapping thread onto your hooks or jigs. 

Whip Finish Tool: A whip finish tool is what you'll need to tie your finishing knots to complete your jigs.  If you don't know how to use a whip finish tool there are plenty of videos on youtube that will give you a quick tutorial. 

Once you have your tools assembled the fun begins. Because this is the point at which you pick your materials and color patterns for your marabou jigs.  In this case I used chartreuse, black and pink. Below is the list of materials I used but you're not limited to my list.

Thread:  The thread is used to tie in each of your materials on to you jigs.  I personally use 210 flatwax denier for tying jigs as its thin enough to not make small jigs too bulky and strong enough to tie larger jigs from striper and walleye.  I pick my colors solely based on what patterns I'm tying.

Jig heads: The jig head you choose is also gonna be based which pattern you're tying.  For basic marabou jig patterns a collarless round head jig sizes from 1/80oz and up will work great.  However for smaller sizes like 1/64oz and 1/80oz you'll want to use a thinner diameter thread like a 140 denier.

Chenille:

Marabou:

Flashabou:

Hard as Nails: 

1. Place jig head in the vise

2. Starting at the base of the jig head wrap thread over itself back to a point just above or before the hook point. 

3.Measure your marabou tips to match the length of the jig head. Then wrap that portion into the jig head by wrapping thread up the shank of the hook then back down in order to smooth out the body. 

4. Wrap in 3 or 4 strands of flashabou up one side of the hook shank then wrap it around the other side making a loop which will hold the flashabou in tightly along each side of the tail.

5. Pull some of the chenille fibers off of the holding thread and wrap the holding thread on to the hook shank, wrapping the thread up to the jig head. 

6. Wrap the chenille up the hook shank in the opposite direction of what the thread has been wrapped. 

7. Once the chenille is wrapped to the jig head, cut off the tag end and wrap down the chenille with about 4 wraps. 

8. Finish up your tie with 3 whip finish knots. 

9. Finally use a straightened paperclip to adhere Sally Hansen Hard As Nails to the thread knots in order to harden them and further strengthen your knots. 

This is probably the easiest jig to tie for multi-species fishing.  Comment below if you have any experience with fishing with marabou jigs for crappie or any other fish.