NOW AVAILABLE, the new Northland® Tungsten Crappie King Fly rewrites the book on hair-jigs.
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BEMIDJI, Minn. (February 1, 2024) – For ages, panfish purists have nabbed crappies on Northland Fishing Tackle’s acclaimed Gypsi Jig® and Fire-Fly Jig—their fish-catching performance making them tacklebox mainstays.
Now, years later, the new Tungsten Crappie King Fly is destined to exceed their panfish-producing prowess.
As a category, hair-jigs deliver a natural, flowing action that entices fish without the addition of live bait. And with the Tungsten Crappie King Fly, there’s a new alternative that casts farther and drops faster into the strike zone. Once there, anglers will feel more bites because of the hardness of the material, which telegraphs up the line, through the rod, and into the anglers’ hands.
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Beyond their high-performance tungsten heads, Northland’s Tungsten Crappie King Fly features a hand-tied feather/tinsel tail, which comes in eight color combos, including three Super-Glo options including Super-Glo Pinky (one of our faves). Often, fishing the right color on a particular body of water is critical. Lakes, rivers, reservoirs have personalities. On some, panfish are partial to pink, and others, it might be natural hues or strains of green. The point being that Northland has you covered.
The Tungsten Crappie King Fly is also outfitted with an ultra-sharp, perfectly-proportioned hook designed for the delicate mouths of panfish. They penetrate quickly and hold with authority. A vertical line tie keeps the bait horizonal – but the entire jig twitches at a slight angle with subtle rod movements to activate even moody slabs.
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Bro Tames New Hairy Tungsten
Renowned guide and panfish grandmaster, Brian “Bro” Brosdahl, instructs: “I’ll start by pitching the Tungsten Crappie King Fly without a bobber, let it fall naturally, always feeling for ticks and watching my line. That first drop is important. Panfish like when it first hits the water and drops. It’s natural. So be ready.”
Once in the water, if not already consumed, Bro experiments with jigging sequences to find the precise, bite-inducing cadence. And, he says, it’s the tail that does the heavy lifting.
“I love how the hand-tied hair pulses in the water like real forage. You can catch loads of crappies without any live bait at all, which makes it efficient to fish. I mean, you catch one, reel it in, unhook, release, or throw in the livewell, and pitch it right back out there. When you’re on pods or schools of crappies that are moving, this kind of quick fishing can be key. This is exactly the bait to do that without any need for live bait or soft plastic.”
Bro adds: “Get a little wind and you can still cast these jigs straight,” he continues. They throw farther than lead and you have better control and sensitivity when using light line. You maintain a straight line to the jig to feel bites better and make reactive hooksets.”
Early in the spring, when panfish range shallow to feed and ultimately spawn, floats come into play. Bro will tie a Tungsten Crappie King Fly under a Northland Lite-Bite Slip Bobber, setting the jig down halfway through the water column. So, if it’s four-feet deep, the jig rests at two. After casting, it’s a cycle of light pops and slow drags. Panfish react favorably to this mellow approach, especially in cooler water.
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Nelson’s Tungsten Tactics
Northland pro staffer, angling educator, and panfish expert, Joel Nelson, has been fishing the Crappie King Hair Jig since the bait’s prototype designs.
“My experience has been that once the water starts warming and crappies move into shallow spawning areas, you have a jig that requires zero bait at all—and fishes fast for lots of action,” offers Nelson.
In shallow, springtime spawn areas, Nelson will let the fish tell him if they want the 1/16- or 1/8-ounce size. Of course, in these skinny waters, that means employing a float, but tungsten removes the need for the split-shot used with plain hooks or lead jigs.
“I like to keep the jig moving a little bit—slowly twitching the float along—but it’s buggy enough looking that it gets bit a lot on the pauses, too.”
As the summer arrives and crappies move out onto weed flats, weed edges, brush, cribs, and mid-depth areas, Nelson says he’ll fish the 1/8-ounce Tungsten Crappie King Fly vertical with a shorter, ultra-light rod directly below the boat “almost like I’m vertically fishing for walleyes.”
Nelson describes: “If the crappies are 12- to 15-feet deep, like off the edge of a weed flat, the 1/8-ounce Tungsten Crappie King Fly is heavy enough that you can fish it straight up and down. That’s pretty nice to stay parked on schools and just pluck fish off—again, no need for running any live bait, whatsoever.”
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Wisconsin Duo: Try Some Scent!
Tyler and Sara Trampe of The Sportsman’s Journal TV are also fond of the new Northland Tungsten King Crappie King Fly Jig.
Tyler offers: “The nice thing about this jig is the tungsten does speed up the fall but the fine feathers quiver and slow it down just a touch—and move around, drawing attention. Plus, the aspirin-shaped head darts a bit with slight rod movements. For us, it’s been a great spring crappie bait.”
Sara adds: “The other thing we like about is it really holds any type of scent you want to use, which we often do because we don’t do much with live bait. Some days that can really help.
So, no matter the depth you find crappies this spring through fall, Northland’s new Tungsten Crappie King Fly offers the utility and performance to get the job done.
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Tungsten Crappie King Fly FEATURES:
- Tungsten head that is 30% more dense than lead
- Casts long and drops fast
- Eco-friendly metal
- Ultra-sharp smaller hook perfect for panfish
- 3D holographic red eyes and hand-tied tail
- Super-Glo Paint on certain colors
- COLORS: Super-Glo White, Bumble Bee, Olive, Super-Glo Pinky, Bubblegum, Sunrise, Super-Glo Moonlight, and Parakeet
MSRP $7.99 (2/Card)
NOW AVAILABLE
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ABOUT Northland® Fishing Tackle
In 1975, a young Northwoods fishing guide named John Peterson started pouring jigs and tying tackle for his clients in a small remote cabin in northern Minnesota. The lures were innovative, made with high quality components, and most importantly, were catching fish when no other baits were working! Word spread like wildfire, the phone started ringing… and the Northland Fishing Tackle® brand was in hot demand! For 40 years now, John and the Northland® team have been designing, testing and perfecting an exclusive line of products that catch fish like no other brand on the market today. Manufactured in the heart of Minnesota’s finest fishing waters, Northland® is one of the country’s leading producers of premium quality jigs, live bait rigs, spinnerbaits and spoons for crappies, bluegills, perch, walleyes, bass, trout, northern pike and muskies.
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ABOUT Bagley Bait Company
The personality of any company comes from its founder. Jim Bagley was an inventive, fun-loving, passionate fisherman who became one the most respected legends in the fishing tackle industry. In late 2010, Jarmo Rapala and a group of investors bought Bagley Bait Company. As an admirer of Jim Bagley for his attention to quality and of his product ingenuity and innovation, Jarmo initiated significant changes in operations, enhanced production processes and quality control. Now in 2020, Northland® Fishing Tackle, along with Jarmo as its Chief Lure Designer, maintain the legacy of creating premium balsa crankbaits and topwater lures, as well as jigs and spoons for both freshwater and saltwater anglers.
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