Keith Thompson of Wiconisco, Pennsylvania, introduced us to Hollywood Hairjigs in March when we were writing about the many virtues of marabou and hair jigs. Since then, we have crossed paths with Josh Hartman of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who is the proprietor of Hollywood Hairjigs. And we think that other Midwest finesse anglers would like to become acquainted with Hartman and his wares, too.
Thompson described himself as a jig-tying devotee, who has been interested in and intrigued by other jig tiers for a number of years. But he is only 26 years old, and most of the jig tiers with whom he has crossed paths with are considerably older than he is. And he has found that the age differentiation has been an obstacle for him to surmount, and the reason that is an obstacle is because these older gentlemen are tying old-school hair jigs, which are devoid of the creative flair that he has a hankering to create. Thompson said it was different with Hartman, who is seven years older than Thompson. “It was neat to meet someone that was close to my age who is trying to bring back a rather outdated way of fishing,” said Thompson. We enjoyed “mixing ideas and making jigs that were completely off the wall just to see if … we could be on to something new.”
When Ken Miller of Halifax, Pennsylvania, introduced Thompson to the manifold virues of hair jigs, no anglers in the Susquehanna River region were talking about them. Now, Thompson proclaims: “The secret is out.” And since Hartman began his Hollywood Hairjigs undertakings in 2014, this endeavor has helped untold numbers of anglers to catch more fish. And Thompson has caught a goodly number of those fish, and he catches them on Hollywood Hairjigs throughout the calendar year. Thompson ended his email by saying that Hartman’s jigs are so effective that they “speak for themselves.”
In a June 11 email, Hartman provided us with a brief history about his passion for catching smallmouth bass. He said that he is 33 years old, and it all began when he was seven years old and his father and brother took him fishing for smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River, which they call “The Susky.” Ultimately, he learned the many ins and outs of smallmouth bass fishing from his father and brother.
Throughout Hartman’s late teens and early 20s, he and Justin Hollis of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, became almost daily fishing buddies. Hollis’ grandfather introduced jig tying to Justin. Then Hollis introduced it to Hartman. After that introduction, Hartman purchased a Bass Pro Shops’ jig-tying kit that had a video recording about how to tie bass jigs. From that point on, Hartman said he was tying one jig at a time, trying to make a better jig than the last one. And he said: “I had a lot of failed experimental ideas. In fact, I have boxes full of them.”
Nowadays, Hartman spends his early morning hours working as a forklift operator for Costco Wholesale. He says jig tying is a nice relief from the tedium of manipulating a forklift. He relishes all the fishing interactions he gets from his Hollywood Hairjig endeavors, proclaiming that it is well “worth the time.”
On June 9, our mailman delivered a package from Hollywood Hairjigs. Enclosed in that package were two of Hartman’s newest creations. One is called the Little Miss Sungill, which is an 1/8-ounce hair jig that sports a three-tone bucktail skirt that is olive-green, tan, and gold, and its head and collar are black. The second jig is called The Susky, and Hartman said that Thompson’s hands played a significant role in creating this 1/8-ounce hair jig. The Susky possesses a black, blue, and brown bucktail skirt, and its head and collar are black. Anglers will be able to purchase them in the near future. He anticipates that the Little Miss Sungill will be for sale sometime in July.
In addition to those two hair jigs, there were four BedHead Ned rigs and three Junk Trunk Trailers. One of the BedHead Ned rigs was made around a Gamakatsu 114 Aberdeen jig hook with a 90-degree bend, and the other three were made around a VMC 9147 Aberdeen jig hook with a 90-degree bend. The Gamakatsu hook is an option for anglers who want a customized version of the original BedHead Ned.
Hartman adds a soft-plastic trailer, which he calls the Micro Bub Floating Wasp Tail, to the BedHead Ned. It is similar to the classic Sting Ray Grub, which was created in the early 1970s by the late Tom…
