Jiggy
A great fly in a neat color - tied with stolen hair
Bornholm 2007. The conditions are perfect. The weather shows its nicest side and I am on the ferry with my friend Jens on our way to the Danish island Bornholm to meet Martin, Ken, Henning and Jorgen. It is the annual fishing week for our small group. The fantastic four have been on the island for three days - with no fish to show for it.
That is what they say and what they send us in their text messages.
It cannot be true. Not in this water. Not under this sun at this time of the year.
They must be kidding. When we arrive they will tell us the true stories. There will be slide shows that should never have been showed giving us visual evidence that they have had a great three days. And for dinner tonight? Fresh trout with crispy salad, of course.
But the truth is sad. The fishing has been a disaster so far. Henning is the only one who has had a take – for three days in the peak of the season!
Sadly it's still not a record. Some guys I know, have been fishing for a week without the slightest contact. In the end they actually didn't want to have a take as it would ruin the mystery of that week.
We set up our gear and eagerly enter the water – well, some more eagerly than others. After a few casts a kilo-fish grabs my Grey Fred and jumps immediately. Of course there are fish! It is all about skills…
The fish comes off quickly after the jump. That will be my only take for the next three days.
Thinking back. What did we do wrong or what didn’t we do right? We experimented with the flies. We found the fish. We saw them hunt for sand eels. We cast sand eel imitations at them – even the Epoxy Miracle, which was my most productive fly 2007, did not tempt these strange fish.
Two Norwegian guys were fishing from float tubes some 100 meters from the shore. Their rods bent so we prepared an ambush. We found a car with an “N” on the license plate in the parking lot and stalked it.
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 The Norwegian Martin Joergensen |
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Upon return from the dreaded trip, I wanted to tie some of these killers. I did not like the color combination but wanted a more natural version. I could not find the right olive color tone anywhere so I had one dyed specifically for me. For some reason I was in a hurry and did not pick it up as agreed with the shop owner.
Another fly tier entered the very same shop to pick up some hooks and some flash. He was astonished by this perfectly colored bucktail behind the desk. The owner mentioned something about a Dane, living in Sweden and not to be relied on (who me!?).
The tier said that he knew about that guy, and now that he was here he would like to buy the bucktail and the deal would be done anyway - with a different buyer of course.
Some weeks later I logged on to our internal report site saw that it was my good friend Ken who had bought my bucktail and tied my Jiggy.
It is a poisonous fly and should be in many fly boxes if you fish for large predatory fish no matter if it is in cold or warm water.
About Jiggy
| Type | Cold salt water |
| Originator | Bob Popovics |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Target species | Smallmouth bass Largemouth bass Cod Steelhead (sea run) Perch Pike perch (zander) Sea trout (sea run) Striped bass |
Materials
| Hook | Stainless streamer, size 6-2, bent to shape |
| Tying thread | Thin mono |
| Cone | Silver to fit the hook |
| Wing | White, olive and black bucktail with a few straws of flash |
| Eyes | Stick on |
| Head | Epoxy |
Tying instructions
See the images for the tying sequence
The flies are tied by Ken Bonde Larsen.
Prepare the hook. It's a good idea to make several hooks ready at once before tying the flies. And after having tied the fly and added the eyes, set the fly aside, tie some more and epoxy a bunch at a time.
After having prepared the hook, you are ready to tie the fly itself.
When the fly is done, it's ready for epoxy. Set it aside and epoxy several flies at a time. It's easier and is far more economic with the epoxy.
 Step 16 - ready for epoxy Martin Joergensen |
 Step 17 - epoxy Martin Joergensen |
 Step 18 - smooth epoxy Martin Joergensen |
Those of you who can digest Norwegian can read Runar Kabbe's story from the Norwegian trip. The rest of you can enjoy the pictures on Runar's page here.
Submitted February 7th 2009
this fly is easier to tie with an eagle claw bendback hook. I fish for striped bass on the new england coast and have had good success with it. For some reason, pink bucktail is particularly effective. Get Bob Popovic's book - Pop Flyes. It is terrific and will save you a good deal of money in tying your own. Much more satisfying when you catch fish with your own flies? Glad to hear they work on salmon.