Quote Originally Posted by SLIPSHUCK1 View Post
CP, I almost never cast a jig when vertical jigging or "single poling". Do you think I could be moving the jig up and down in the water to be causing the line twist? Has anyone tried the rubber weed guard that goes from the collar to the tip of the hook?
If you are using plastic bodies on your jig .... yes, it is possible that can contribute to line twist.

If you are talking about the various different version of this type of weedguard : Soft Plastic Weed Guards ... then, yes, I have tried them. I didn't particularly like them, for a couple of different reasons. One being that the end where the hook is buried in, gets torn up relatively quickly from repeated punctures by the hook point/barb. Another problem had to do with their length ... in that if they were a bit longer than necessary to reach from the eye to the hook point, and maintain a straight line ... they tended to bow towards the hook shank, making them virtually useless as a snag prevention item. Shortening them would have helped, but then comes the problem with them getting torn from the hook point being repeatedly put in and pulled out of it.

I went from using those (very sparingly) to a jig with a thin wire loop, made by Terry Oldham (Oldham's Weedless Crappie "Sure-Lock" Jig Heads). I used them successfully for decades, but didn't really care for the thin wire loop, because it was so easy to bend out of shape or break .... plus you had to constantly check to make sure the wire was under the hook point and hadn't come open or been bent to where it wouldn't work like it should. Then, several years ago, Oldham decided to stop making the Crappie version and just make the larger weedless Bass jigs.

Luckily for me, I had already started Grousefly making the Y-guard style weedless jigheads, before Oldham stopped making the Sure-Locks. Not having to worry about re-setting the guard, checking it after every cast, and being able to have a larger hook size on the same weight jighead was reason enough for me to stick with Grousefly for all my weedless jighead needs.

... cp