By PAUL DAVIS
Outdoors Editor
Any angler would likely admit it's always fun catching crappie, but it's even better when they can do it with a personal touch. Charles Humphrey, an avid fisherman from Poplar Bluff, is doing just that with custom, hand-tied crappie jigs he creates at home.
"I started about a month ago," Humphrey said, "because I really wanted to make my own custom jigs, and nobody had the colors I wanted."
Humphrey researched online for the materials he would need and spent time watching videos to learn the procedure he would need to tie the jigs, saying it was "fairly simple to get started.
"I bought the whole kit for $10 off eBay, and once I got a good base down, I started putting stuff together."
Colored thread, chenille, marabou feathers, painted lead jigheads and other materials all go together to make a good jig, Humphrey said.
Experimenting with different colors and materials, he said, makes his new craft a bit of an art form, plus it gives him something to do when he can't fish.
At the tying bench, or more likely his kitchen table on any given day, each jig takes about 10 minutes to complete, so quite a few can be made in short order.
Humphrey prefers the 1/24-ounce jigheads he purchases locally from Barker Jigs, using several different colors.
Once he's tied several, he usually heads to the Wappapello Lake spillway to test them out.
"I like to see what works," he said. "I like pink and green. Pink seems to work the best, but on overcast days, green works better for me."
Tying jigs with sparkle chenille also adds a bit of extra attraction for the fish, he believes, so most of his jigs use it.
"In sunlight, it really makes it pop out a little more," he said of the shiny material.
Using multiple colors on one jig also is a trick Humphrey has found to be effective.
Not only has Humphrey caught a lot of crappies on his own creations, including a 14-inch specimen in the spillway recently, he's also hauled in other species as well, including bluegills and smallmouth bass in the area's smaller creeks.
Catching several species of fish on his jigs, he said, also is spurring him to branch out and try new ideas for baits.
"There's a lot of ideas I want to try for different species," he said.
Filling his freezer with fish caught using baits he personally made also gives Humphrey a sense of pride, he said.
"It's a lot of fun catching a nice fish on something you tied yourself," he said. "I love it, and it's been a good experience."