I agree that the fish likely don't care if the head is chipped. Since I'm going to take the time to tie a nice jig, I might as well take the time to make a durable head that doesn't chip.

Some of the major brands use crap powder coat that will chip if you breath on them. Look at some of the jigs on the store shelves. They are already chipped from employees dropping them on the floor while they trying to get them on the display pegs.
Vinyl...it is final.

I'm pretty sure the diehard jig fishers will disagree, but a cigarette butt on a leadhead (unpainted) will catch about as many fish as a perfectly tied jig with the best vinyl painted head and purtiest feathers.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. I have that same opinion about steelhead worms, too...put it in front of a steelhead and they will likely eat it. Or not...but a chipped leadhead or a cheap feather will not be the deciding factor.

I guess I'll have to tie up some lead sucking leeches then....

The feathers come at the fish. Not the head.

I twitch for silvers in dead backwaters with no current. I'm pretty sure the fish see full profile, and the fish comes at the jig. A lot of times from behind, but I have watched them come from the side or from under the boat before too.

Ever see a silver turn away because the head was chipped?

Yes I fish for very refined silvers.

lol

the best plugs and other lures for myself are the ones with teeth marks and paint chipped off... same applies to my jigs.

+1 on Todd and Maraude's post... I have a jig that barely has any feather left and it still caught fish this fall. The marabou is dirty and sparse but neither coho nor steelhead seemed to care. It has also certainly has been true for me that the sparser my clousers get, the more they hook fish when shore fishing. All that to say, it's cheaper to tie your own and don't worry if they don't look as pretty as others.