Weedless jig heads

[crappiejack fisher mikey]

I fish a lot of laydowns with jigs, and get hung up quite a bit. I've seen some weedless jig heads at Wal Mart, are they pretty reliable?

[pb crappie]

I have missed fish on these.

[CrappiePappy]

I fish a lot of laydowns with jigs, and get hung up quite a bit. I've seen some weedless jig heads at Wal Mart, are they pretty reliable?

You'd be best served by getting the weedless jigheads that have a "brush" type guard, if you're getting Wally World stuff. (I wouldn't even bother with the single wire type) Even then, you may have to trim the guards down a hair, as many of them seem to have longer "brush" bristles than necessary. You would still want to leave the length of the bristles slightly above the hook point ... so as to keep them weedless.

I use the "brush" style jigheads, and a custom job that has a V-wing guard ... both made by "Grousefly" (site member - Paul Mullins) of P&S Custom Tackle. I've rarely, if ever, missed geting the hook into a fish with weedless jigheads. Like you, I fish blowdowns a lot ... along with standing & submerged timber. I'm usually casting or Vertical Casting a single jig ... most often a weedless jighead with a tube/grub/Panfish Assassin/or minner on it. I mostly use 1/32oz & 1/16oz jigheads. One reason I prefer the custom made versions, is because I can get a bigger hook in these jighead weights. A lot of the Wally World weedless jigheads, in these weights, have a very small hook ... and that could be the reason why fish are missed on them. I don't really know, as I've never used any of these "generic" weedless jigheads ... but, it could be a factor. I just know that, using weedless jigheads has produced for me, and with a lot less hanging up & breaking off.
Here's a picture of the "brush" and V-wing style custom made weedless jigheads that I use :




Even weedless jigheads can/do get hung-up, occasionally. Here's a method I learned, that can keep you from hanging up and/or freeing your weedless jighead from a snag (before it hangs into it):

(copied from a previous reply)
"One thing that I haven't mentioned lately, that goes along with casting over submerged wood, even with a weedless jighead, is what I call "taking a bow" to avoid getting hung on a branch. Even weedless jigheads can & will get hung, sometimes. This can be avoided, to an extent. When retrieving the jig, usually the line will swing back to you ... and you will notice it at the point where it enters the water (it will continue to get closer to you, as you reel in). When it stays in one spot, as you reel in, that indicates that the line is draped over something submerged in the path of your retrieve. As you continue to reel, eventually the jig will come in contact with that obstacle. As it does, and when the rod tip starts to bend down, a lot of people tend to try and "jerk" the jig over it. That works, sometimes, but quite often - they get hung. I try and avoid getting hung in the cover I'm fishing, so as not to have to break off - disturbing the cover, losing the bait, or alerting the fish to any unnatural conditions. I do this by "taking a bow" - with the rod tip.
In essence - I wait until the jig comes in contact, and the rod tip starts to bend ... then I drop the rod tip about 6" towards the jig, and in one fluid motion raise the rod tip up towards me about 12". This is not done fast, like a jerking motion ... but, more of a slow drop and lift motion. What this does (or seems to do) is allow the bait to fall away from the obstacle - then when you lift it back (twice as far as you let it fall away) the head of the jig "bumps" the obstacle, and "hops" up overtop of it. Well, most of the time, anyway. The reason I don't drop it down 6" and then lift it up more than 12" - is that I want the jig to clear the obstacle, but remain in the general area. I will work a tree top over, with this method, bumping and bowing and hopping the jig over multiple branches. Another reason I don't pull the jig back more than 12", or reel it back in (once I've cleared the branch) ... is because I've had numerous occasions where I've had a fish hit the jig, once it cleared the obstacle and started coming back towards me. In fact, it's happened often enough that I almost "expect" to get a hit, when "taking a bow" over a branch."

Hope this helps ......... luck2ya ... cp

[dave f]

I,ll have to give the bow a try , i usually just give a sharp yank resulting in a hang up . lol
Just placed an order with paul, i went with the v guard , used to be able to get the oldhams in 1/32 but now they only make them in 1/16. Good jigs you just have to keep checking to make sure the little wire is set .

[skiptomylu]

Hanging up is something that is just one of the things that happens to jigs, however since I started using Power Pro 10# braid I get the jig back most of the time and just bend the hook back and go on.

I have some people that like larger hooks and some that like smaller hooks for the same reason, LOL! I tend to believe the guy that like the smaller hooks since he fished pretty much every day and he likes 1/16 oz & 1/8oz. jigs with #6 and #8 hooks and claims to not get hung up as much with them.

[greatthosu]

Hanging up is something that is just one of the things that happens to jigs, however since I started using Power Pro 10# braid I get the jig back most of the time and just bend the hook back and go on.

I have some people that like larger hooks and some that like smaller hooks for the same reason, LOL! I tend to believe the guy that like the smaller hooks since he fished pretty much every day and he likes 1/16 oz & 1/8oz. jigs with #6 and #8 hooks and claims to not get hung up as much with them.

That's hitting the nail on the head.

[Cliff]

I use the Renegade weedless jig heads all the time from Walmart for my plastic tube and solid body jigs. What I like about it is they have 2 prongs instead of one to hold the squirts up. Most of the time I remove the weedguard from the jig head with my pliers. For some reason the Renegade heads without the weedguard only has 1 prong as do most other jig heads. If I leave the guard on I nip off just a little of the wire not making it so long.

[deathb4disco]

Charlie Brewer's crappie sliders are very good and very weedless.

[robbor]

I keep wondering the same thing. I have used timerrock jigheads and always missed more fish than I though was humanly possible:p . I lost about 30 heads the last trip out, Id really like to come up with a great weedless head to use. I was thinking of trying to get a do-it weedless head mold and take 2-3 strands off the guard, they seem very thick for for a crappie jig. Very often I use really small hooked jig that are about an 8 or smaller and still get hung.
Wheres Grousefly, someone PM him and get him in on this thread. To me this is a very important topic to crappie fishing and Id like to hear more opinions from those who have really fished weedless heads often. Thanks in advance!!!

[GRIZZ]

I'd rather lose a few jigs and be able to set the hook on more fish. I never use weedless jigs.