| Enhancing a Jig and Pork |
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| Written by Rich Thiel | |
| Wednesday, 30 March 2005 | |
 In this article Im going to explain to you ways of enhancing a "Jig & Pork" combination, their are many ways to do this. With the many companies on the market today, its hard to say which company puts out the best head design combined with the best material money can buy. All companies favor a certain head design or material over the other, they themselve's have confidence in their own products. This article is not about that.
I'll start off by saying it doesn't matter which head you are using, this can be done with most head designs on the market today. Im leaving this up to you in which head you prefer and have, quote "confidence in" unquote. Material here is the main concern. There are many material's on the market today. Im using your standard rubber and also your synthetic rubber has material coupled with standard pork. What Im going to try and explain is in the ways of cutting the material's to enhance the appearance of the jig & pork combination to the bass. There is only one tool that is required and that is a pair of scissors that is 4 to 6 inches long that is narrow in appearance. The Jig Most companies today make and package their jig with a excessive amount in length of material. Usually when hanging a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch below the bend in the hook. Sometimes this endures the action of the jig depending on how much material is incorporated into the jig. Most fisherman will cut the material a 1/8th to a 1/16th below the hook hanging dry. By doing this, it allows the pork to function properly. This procedure right here most experienced jig fisherman will do. To enhance the jig appearance more, take the jig and lay it out on a flat surface and spread the material out in a fan position facing the head towards you. Take the scissors an place it anywhere from 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches on the outside edge of the material above the head (should be a 33 to 45 degree angle to the back of the hook) an cut it. Repeat the step's on the other side. Note: with live rubber I can cut it leaving an inch or a little more, more so than if it was synthetic material, reason here is the limpness of the material, if you cut the synthetic material to short it will kill the action of the outside material. Another appearance to the jig is if your using a two color combination is to cut the main color shorter than your secondary color and this will overlap into your pork, but will not kill the action of the pork in most cases. A fourth way is to cut it to your desired length and thin the material out of the head to obtain the more streamed line look. This is seldom done because the manufacture has the amount of material down pat in obtaining opt performance in appeal. The Pork Here again, their are many companies on the market that solely manufacture and sell pork. But, they have one thing in common, the material is the same "Pork". It just comes in different sizes and shapes. Another thing in common is that they all have a "fat" section. This is what Im going to talk about. Here, you will need a regular pocket knife or a razor. I prefer a pocket knife myself because of the thickness at the top of the blade that will spread the fat apart. Being they come in many sizes, you can cut them from 1 slice to has many has 5 slices. On a standard size among the companies 3 slices is adequate. Here are some of them. Take a standard size piece of pork and lay it flat. Take your knife or razor and make your first cut just behind where the hook will come out. The rest of the cuts there after will depend on the length and size of the fat. You should at least get two cuts to obtain performance with the smalliest of pork so it will bend or that wavy like action at the top of your lift-fall. On your cuts, cut only down to the skin of the pork. Above is one way, to even get more performance from your pork slice it 1 or 2 length wise cuts. This will even enhance it more so. Anotherway is to cut a section of pork completely off just behind the hook, not normally done, but fisherman are known to do this. A way of making a enlarge pork look more streamlined to your jig is to cut a little off the sides of the pork, you may say its downsizing the appearance of the jig to obtain a faster fall than if you left the enlarge section as is, you would have that slow fall. The above is just some of the ways of obtaining opt performance from your "Jig & Pork combination. There are many ways, but here are some of them for the weekend fisherman to mentally and physically play with. I must WARN you that experimenting with new jigs can be hazardous with your pocket book. I'd advice first to use older jigs for experimental purposes until you have achieved what you desire in quote "Confidence In " unquote. Good Luck with the Jig & Pork Richard H. Thiel |
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