Ok, I've got some good hardware in hand, now let's see what everyone can suggest on putting a nice selection of jigs together for hitting the river. I've never used jigs except for crappie, so this is all new to me. I already know everyone has their personal favorites, and some it is just preference. But if you were to purchase about 10 to start with, what would you pull together? Here's what I hope you can answer:

How many do you typically carry on the river? (I'm on the coast, winter float fishing for steelhead)
What colors and sizes?
Knowing that the world's best (!) are UV vibra jigs, which ones would you start out with?
What other brands - styles would give a well rounded selection?
How do you pack your jigs around?

Any other advice you can think of will be great!

Only ten jigs, hmmm, I would go with 4 pink vibra uv's , 4 black vibra uv's and 2 olive woolybuggers. I carry mine in my vest in a small fly box that has foam in it so you can stick them in place.

2 chartruese vibra jigs too!!! Also need some mice!!!

greg wrote:2 chartruese vibra jigs too!!! Also need some mice!!!

You guys are gonna have to help with the mice. Can you describe what that is? I've seen that reference in these forums but didn't know what it meant.

archer wrote:Only ten jigs, hmmm, I would go with 4 pink vibra uv's , 4 black vibra uv's and 2 olive woolybuggers. I carry mine in my vest in a small fly box that has foam in it so you can stick them in place.

Thanks Archer - I know, 10 isn't very many but I gotta start somehow! What sizes would you go with for winter steelhead? How many do you usually carry when you are on the river?

I always have a ton of jigs with me, but realistically, I never use more than 3 or 4 jigs in a day. Some day's I will fish the same jig all day. As far as size goes, I would fish the #1's in high water and the #8's in low clear water.

If you are looking at our jigs I would say:

2 Vibra Jigs = Pink
2 Vibra Jigs = Nightmare (I have not used it a whole lot but I get reports of people catching a lot of steelhead on our nightmare jigs)
2 Vibra Micro Jigs = Pink
1 Hybrid Micro Jig = Black
1 Hybrid Micro Jig = Purple
2 Hybrid Micro Jigs = Olive

Like Daniel said higher water (less vis) use the larger Vibra Jigs, low clear water use any of the micro's. I just heard that one guy hooked four steelhead yesterday on our pink stinger micro jig. I normally save that one for really low clear water but he was hooking those fish in green regular color steelhead water. Good luck!

Coastal wrote:How do you pack your jigs around?

Well most of us pack em around in our shirt pockets. Reeltech on the other hand packs his around in a 53 foot moving van.

klamathsteel wrote:

Coastal wrote:How do you pack your jigs around?

Well most of us pack em around in our shirt pockets. Reeltech on the other hand packs his around in a 53 foot moving van.

I'm guessing that reeltech might be a good one to put up some suggestions on my post - I mean he's got 50+ feet to choose from. On the other hand, it might be just about impossible for him to narrow it down to a top 10 list! What? did I just hear a challenge?

I think it will be pretty easy for him to narrow it down for you!! He has one or two faves.

Nice one Barry.......you know you love me for it Just because I have 4 or 5 boxes crammed full of em
When Chad says I have one or two favorites for winters, he is right.
Pink/white is a staple and so is pink/orange for me. Done lots of damage with those.
The others that I use alot is variations of the above, some with chenille, some tied on hooks with barbell eyes.
Chad gave my jigs the nickname "mouse jigs" because he said they look like pink mice in the water, because compared to his, they are giant. Most often, they are 1/8 oz with #1 or #1/0 Gamakatsu xx strong jig hooks. Pretty standard I think. My 1/4 oz jigs are like pink rats.......huh Chad
To me, they are perfect and put alot of fish in the boat.
My version of the "micro jig" dwarfs Chad's model.
For summer jigs, Chad's suggestions are right on. Blacks, purples, olives get the job done
Because of Chad, I expanded my collection, and have done quite well on my version of the micro's in clear water.
I am a firm believer in a bright jig with lots of marabou for winter fishing.

Bright colors says Reeltech... I think he wanted to tell me off for not throwing the Shrimp pink jigs I have in my box.

Thanks guys, these are some pretty good ideas. I thought if I started out with a few basics that people know catch fish, then I could build up later with my own experience. You look online and at the stores and there are tons of choices - too many for a novice like me . Mostly what I see at the store are those 1/4 and 1/8 jigs, so I can imagine chad's versions are pretty tiny. Never seen any that small, but if they work, that's what I'm after! Almost seems like the size of typical fly. If anyone is brave enough to post a picture of their COLLECTION I'd love to see what you like to have on the river!

I have a couple of those bigger ones with me two weekends ago and lost them to underwater brush . What surprised me was that when I floated eggs in those places, the hook seemed to drift right around the obstructions, but the jig was like a magnet. And once it got snagged, fo-get-a-bout-it. I couldn't really see the branches, so the snags were a surprise, but I had been in that stretch before with no problems.

These are some that I tie that have put alot of Chrome in the boat, and on the bank Like I said....bright, big and fluffy!!!









Just to show that my big, bulky, lots of marabou jigs (Mice) are my favorite, heres a photo of an Umpqua fish with the "MOUSE" hanging from its lip



Rogue River fish LOVE em too!!



Heres an Upper Rogue fish with my version of the black "'Micro" stuck in his mouth



So many variations......fish with confidence, no matter what you choose......and the fishies will come

Those are big 'un's, reeltech! That first fish looks like it has a big wad of pink gum stuck in it's mouth. I can imagine it really looks like a mouse of sorts in the water, with all that marabou flowing around. You made a good point that you catch fish on whatever you have confidence with. I liked that line about your version of a "Micro" . Compared to the others you displayed, it shows some real restraint!

Thanks for posting those so I can get a picture of what a successful jig looks like. Maybe if I get my tax refund I can put a little box of jigs together. Someday, I hope to have as many great pics of chromers as you!

Anyone else? Just flip open your jig box (or whatever you use to carry them) and snap a pic - help a guy out!

Shrimp pink is my favorite jig color for winters, I fish glaciated rivers in the spring/summer and they run off color most of the time, when they are off color I switch to black jigs and those have worked very well for me. Also don't forget about threading a pink worm onto a bare jig head, this works very well too just pop the head section off and thread the rest of it on the hook, you can also drift fish with the pink worms so they are a good thing to have around if you don't already have some.
Ryan