Hair Jigs You Need

The first time I saw this hair jig in use, I was mind-blown. It out-fished every other hair jig I had in my boat.

The breathing, living, pulsating action of the marabou jig has always made it popular for bass fishing. It’s one of the oldest jigging lures out there, made popular during the 1950’s and 60’s, then reborn and made popular again in modern times by notable Canadian bass tournament anglers. The success of hair jigs on Canadian and Great Lakes smallmouth fisheries has translated into success on my inland waters of Wisconsin.

While popular during bass fishing’s formative years, the hair jig is still mostly unknown to today’s generation of smallmouths in our lakes.

The hair jig is something different for the fish, and grabs their interest. The ultra light-weight and extreme slow fall of the hair jig makes it possible to drag the bait across rough hard bottom terrain. The slow glide also enables it to hang in range of a smallmouth’s strike zone.

On a spring trip in May 2022, my customer Roger Praefke jumped aboard in excitement with his new hair jig setup. His St. Croix Legend Tournament Bass LBTS710MLXF Hair Jig rod was beautiful, obviously. But the handful of hair jigs he brought along with him captivated not only me but our smallmouths even further.

Roger slung his new rod with the gorgeous hair jigs all day, catching some 30+ fish by himself – smallmouths to 21 inches, and walleyes of similar size too. His partner Rick, and I, had zero shot of ever catching up to him on this day. We were both done.

While on our trip, Roger couldn’t remember the name of them, until emailing their specs to me a few days later.

“Hey, just letting you know where I got the hair jigs from. The name is jimmydsriverbugs.com. He has some good stuff but will take a while for you to get them, per his website.”

Jim DeZurik, owner of Jimmy D’s River Bugs, is creator of these jigs, and has been tying and selling them since age-10.

The River Bug is medium-density bucktail tied on a painted ballhead jig. It features two neck feathers, which is the jig’s greatest attribute. DeZurik says it creates a minnow profile, and the light tail feathers almost move by themselves when it’s on bottom. In the retrieve, both tail feathers collapse. And on the fall, the tail feathers open slowly. Smallmouths are dumbfound and vulnerably cast into a spell by it, and won’t ever know for themselves that it’s fake. 

Our our trip with Roger, we burned through spot on spot locations that included rock piles and other high percentile fish holding areas. Roger kept catching fish in a flurry on his black/blue color. Rick and I struggled with other presentations, and were unable to keep up with the hair jigs we were using ourselves.

For most hair jigs, my preference is an 1/8 oz. size. Jimmy ties them in 16 standard colors available in 8 sizes.

And yes, Roger’s Legend Tournament Bass Hair Jig rod was just as beautiful as Jimmy D’s jigs too.

The other week, Jimmy himself shot over an e-mail with the following:
 

HI ANDREW,

 THANK YOU FOR THE NICE EMAIL. AS YOU MIGHT GUESS THIS IS FUN FOR ME TO READ HOW MY ” BUGS ” GET AROUND. ANDREW I HAVE BEEN MAKING THESE A LONG LONG TIME. THOUSANDS & THOUSANDS OF FISH HAVE BEEN FOOLED. COLD WATER IS KEY TO THE BEST TIMES. IF YOU LOOK AT MY BLOG SECTION THERE IS A NICE PIECE TITLED ” RIVER BUGS TIPS “. IT WAS WRITTEN BY A GUIDE OUT OF PA. JEFF KNAPP. HE HAS BEEN A FRIEND FOR MANY YEARS. HE NOW TIES HIS OWN BUT PAYS ME BACK BY TELLING HIS CLIENTS ABOUT ME. I WILL INCLUDE EXTRAS IN YOUR ORDER. BLACK IS MY FAVORITE.

I HOPE THEY HELP YOU OUT WITH YOUR GUIDE SERVICE. AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW ALLOW JIGS TO FULLY DRY BEFORE STORING.

GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

JIMMY D