Hello, thought I 'd get better responses here. As it pertains to tying a jig...Anyway's I bought some 6mm beads and am wondering how these beads can be tied over marabou. It seems they would need to go on last. Anyways ..I am scratching my head on how beads can be slid over a bushy marabou feather. Any explanation would be appreciated. thanks

The beads go on first, the marabou goes on 2nd. The solution is easier than one might think, but it has stumped many a tyer at first consideration

Sam? Chrome/22?

I'm trying to grow out of it, but sometimes, I resort to tying a jig on the end of my leader when I feel like I really need to catch a fish. Actually, twitching jigs is one of my favorite ways to fish coho, so I guess there will always be a place for jigs in my fly box.

There are a few different ways to tie in marabou, depending on the presentation you are looking for. My preferred method is to tie the tip section of a plume in perpendicular to the hook shank, wrap the feather forward several wraps, and then secure the stem back to the hook shank at the point where I want to stop the wraps. I usually tie in a stiffer neck or saddle hackle of a contrasting color in front of the marabou to give the presentation a little something extra. The resulting pattern is essentially a marabou spider (when tied as a "fly"), which offers a wider profile from the front and back when fishing, relative to securing one or more marabou stems along the hook shank, which I think is the method used when beads need to be threaded over the marabou.

I can't say which method is more effective, but if you want to use beads in your jigs, you will probably need to go with wrapping the stems along the hook shank. In order to get the beads over the top of the marabou, I imagine you would need to thread the beads onto the hook prior to tying in the marabou. It might make things easier to strip some of the marabou fibers away from the part of the stems over which you plan to work the beads. Then again, the beads might tend to stay in place better if forced over the top of more bulk, which leaving the fibers would provide.

Personally, threading beads over marabou (if that is, in fact, how tying in beads is accomplished) seems like a lot of trouble and expense to me, especially when one considers how easy it is to lose jigs. If I remember later, I'll post a picture or two of my typical jig patterns. For twitching (for coho), I like the marabou spider pattern. It's big, bulky, and undulates in a manner the coho seem to like a lot. For steelhead jigs, I tend to favor more of a woolly bugger pattern on a smaller jig hook, but I have certainly seen many caught on big, bulky patterns as well.

Is something like this your desired end result?






If so, here is the simple version.

Slide your beads onto the jig head.

Cut two to four pieces of marabou depending on the bulk of the material/thickness of the quills.

Peel some of the fluff off of the cut end of the quills.

Poke this peeled quill end under the beads, slide all junk into place, trim, superglue, go fishing.

Lots of small tips and tricks to get things just right, but I don't want to spoil all of the fun.

Good luck

You had to bring us into this conversation didn't you.

What ever Coley says, do. He's got it spot on. He gave me some tips, and they worked out well.

Oh, and his jigs do catch fish. Got first hand experience on that.

Beaded Palmered Marabou Jig:


Tie preferred palmered (wraped) marabou, flash, palmered schlappen tail just behind the jig head. Don't tie the tail too full so it can not be pulled through the jig bead with a threader.

Fold a piece of 6lb. mono. for a threader.

Wet the tail material down.

Slide the first jig bead on to the hook, pull the tail material through the jig bead with the threader and then slide the jig bead up to the jig head over the tail material.

Do the same with the second jig bead.

Let dry.

Epoxy between beads.

GG