Some early spring flies that will catch all species of freshwater fish are jigs made with strips of rabbit fur. You can make these cheap by buying some jig hooks or by buying the little 1/80 size jigs from someone who makes them. You also can buy the 1/32 jigs off the shelf anywhere crappie jigs are sold but the 1/32 are kinda difficult to cast on a 3 or 4 weight rod. I make them using the metal beads from Hobby Lobby and the rabbit pelts they sell there.

I made this little device for cutting my rabbit fur as buying the full pelt and cutting your own saves a ton of money if you're a poor boy like me.



I generally tie on some flash to extend beyond the rabbit fur at the tail; then put some super glue on the hook shank after wrapping it with thread to hold the glue, and wrap the rabbit fur forward stroking the fur rearward as I wrap. Wetting the rabbit fur with a little saliva helps keep the fibers under control.


I generally just cast, let the fly sink to the desired depth, then swim it back. You can also fish them under a strike indicator and let the waves put action on the fly. I tried to dye some green but it didn't work so black, white, gray are about all the colors available at Hobby Lobby. I dyed some red and they turned out pink. White bass, yellow bass, crappie, black bass, and all species of brim love the rabbit jigs. I even caught some stocker trout at LMF and in the winter ponds here in East Texas. Cheap to make and easy to fish. Make you some.-p-

That's cool. I love me some wabbit!

I always wondered how they cut them like that.

I got away from the glue on the hook (flies may not last as long) it seems like it was doing something to my fly...gave it a weird look in my tank, and didn't look as good action. Last 6 I tied of my sculpins have been without glue, we shall see how they hold up.

Mr. pearow, welcome back!!!!

Any new family reunion stories for us?

somewhere I have leather strip and lace making machine that I found used that has saved my fingers when making zonker strips

if you make a lot of them you might try mounting a self-healing cutting mat on a good, strong clipboard
the clamp holds the pelt, almost like having three hands

I've tried dyeing rabbit with meager success
soaking the pelt in diluted acrylic craft paint yielded the best results
glow in the dark paint actually will give a faint glow with fur
it does a better job on yarn

now to get the color on my rabbit flies I just add a nice fat webby hackle at the head

I've not tried them on a jig hook/head but yours looks good
i'll have give it a try

someone told me about dying with cool-aid but it didn't work. Funny thing it sure works when the grandkids spill it on the couch!!!
Robin, we did have another family reunion last june. After the dust settles and the jury trials are over I'll tell you about it. Justice works slow in Arkansaw.
I use a clipboard when I split the rabbit fur into strips. Still trying to completely cut up a skin without the need for mercurochrome and band-aids.

The web feather on the front is a great idea to put a little color in a drab fly. However, in the spring I think they bite it based on movement rather than color because I've broke off different colors and used another and the fish didn't seem to mind the color change. The water is usually murky in the spring so maybe they just feel the vibrations.-p-

Nicely done!

i'm reasonably sure you don't need any more suggestions but here are two anyway

when I cut smaller pieces of leather for lace or braid I use a tool from tandy
you cut a hole in the center of the skin and it cuts a spiral as you pull on the tag end

rabbit is too soft to feed through the tool

the spiral still seemed a good idea and I had the hole
so I used a pair of shears and cut a quarter inch around the ever widening hole
in about five minutes I had a fifteen foot strip

took the leftover pelt
put it flesh up on a cutting mat
used a straight edge and an olfa rotary cutter
sliced away...lots of strips, no blood

you already know that you end up with a lot of dubbing when you're done cutting strips
I just add the fur to jute string in a blender and end up with some great stuff

I also saw that someone mounts your cutter on a wooden handle

both of these methods worked better than anything I had tried before
no band aids or antiseptic either
so thanks for making me think