White Bucktail Fly

Here is a hair jig inspired by the old school doll fly.  I really like some of the color schemes they use to use.  Particularly the yellow head with white hair and the white head with yellow hair.  The latter combination is still a well-known wintertime favorite on Dale Hollow tied on an aspirin head with craft fur.  The flies pictured below are tied with white bucktail.  I have tried to maintain the original doll fly's simplicity in this version.  A small, highly visible bait fish imitation is the goal with this one.  

I started by pouring a 1/8 oz walleye head jig with recessed eyes poured on a size 1 Matzuo sickle bend hook. I really like this hook because it is a cheap nickel-plated hook with a very thin diameter and sharp point that bends open easily for snags.  

I then powder painted the jig heads fluorescent yellow and baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  I find on the lighter jigs (1/8 oz and below), I can powder paint reasonably well without using my fluid bed.

This jig is tied with a sparse amount of white bucktail.  I wanted the length of the bucktail to be slightly less than twice the length of the hook shank.

For eyes, I decided against holographic stick on eyes for this jig.  Instead I opted for white and black acrylic paint which I feel gives the jig a more classy look.  The jigs then got a coat of devcon 2-ton epoxy to seal both the head and the wrap.

By the next morning, the epoxy had dried to a glassy finish.  Again, the finished fly is very simple.  A small, highly visible minnow imitation that smallmouth can track down from a far.