Jig head weight can make all the difference in summer !

[Spoonminnow]

Note: I never thought I would order 1/64 oz jig heads, but as soon as I try them out, I'll report how and where they worked.

[Jiggah]

Of course you know all 1/16 Oz heads that have a collar and barb will weigh closer to 1/12 than 1/16? Also usually a 1/16 with no collar is just a tad under 1/16.

Here is how it goes on Round jig heads that don't have a collar. Jigs that are 1/32 Oz no collar are the closest to accurate. Jig heads less than 1/32 will actually weigh more than stated weight on mold and jig heads over 1/32 will generally weigh less than stated weight.
Then with a collar they weigh more than stated weight. Note I have no 1/8 with a collar to weigh. Also note minnow heads without a collar are very close to their stated weight on both 1/16 and 1/8 minnow heads. I do have a 1/16 with collar and that one is about 1/12.

Just food for thought!

Skip

Welp, it is now official! When I get home, I am cutting off all the "extra" weight on my 1/32 oz jig heads. Also, I saw a video where this guy took some dental floss and wrapped it like 4 times around the hook base and then one drop of super glue and put his bait on, and the bait never comes off!

[skiptomylu]

Welp, it is now official! When I get home, I am cutting off all the "extra" weight on my 1/32 oz jig heads. Also, I saw a video where this guy took some dental floss and wrapped it like 4 times around the hook base and then one drop of super glue and put his bait on, and the bait never comes off!

Abaolutely will keep the soft plastic from coming off, but also hard to clean off to put on a new one so just be careful how much you use. Thread will work just as well and a nice whip finish it will not come off even without the glue!

Skip

[Spoonminnow]

Fished today and conditions were perfect as was the cooperation of the fish - 67 boated. Here is what I attribute to the successful outing:
At first I cast lures that were 2" rigged on 1/16 oz jigheads. Fish bit - four species (crappie, yp, sunfish and bass), but most hits were light. The day was calm and cloudy and the fish were scattered within a 40 yd. stretch parallel to shore in 5' or less. The water had that bright green algae color which may not have been too deep.

The lures used were my new 1.5" Leland Crappie Magnate grubs in different colors. They caught the most fish along with a 2" spade tail grub I poured a few days ago and dyed a bright pink body/ chartreuse tail, and some 1.5" prong-tail Bass Assassin grubs*.

*Note about the BA grubs: I never liked the fat body and instead used scissors to cut it flat and thinner lengthwise - triangle shaped in cross section.

I found the fish to be biting mid depth and sometimes when the lure was stopped and jigged off bottom. Downsizing lures meant downsizing jig wt and hook size. 1/32 oz. with a #6 hook was perfect! The bites were more frequent, more powerful and constant all afternoon. Why did downsizing make a difference? No idea except that the lures moved very slowly through the water and when jigged off bottom. (What was cool was seeing a group of fish on the sonar in 5' just beneath the transducer. I jigged below it and caught 3-4 perch - something I've only done in deeper water and ice fishing.)

Lure design had a lot to do with the phenomenal bite and I doubt curl tails would have done as well. The subtle tail actions of the different design as well as overall shape were complemented by a slow irregular retrieve. It's possible this combination could work in many situations, but today was one for the record books.

[Ttexastom]

Thanks for the info, this is one thing that i won't forget. The different weight sizes need to be in every tackle box....!!!

[etexbasser]

Good report. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

[Spoonminnow]

A 1/32 oz jig head with a #2 hook made all the difference in the number of fish caught today using a Gary Yamamoto Kut Tail Worm !



The Kut Tail is a phenomenal worm in both the 5" and 4" sizes. Today the bite was slow using my usual grubs rigged on a 1/16 oz jig and so I decided to work a weedy area with soft top water flukes and 5" Kut Tails - both Texas rigged / no weight. I cast them long distance over submerged weeds in water 4-6' deep and they SLAMMED from around 2 pm - 3 pm. A cold front with high winds and bright sky moved through the area starting this morning, so I thought fish may be deeper. Nope - most were caught in water less than 5'.

Once I left the north end, I worked the west shoreline that had over hanging bush limbs and dropped fast into 8' of water off a flat. I figured, 'why not use the 4" Kut Tail rigged on a 1/32 oz jig head with a large #2 hook?'

I caught over 8 small bass and a large sunfish along the rip rap dam at the south end. It was just too easy! Again, the wind was 20 mph and I had to use the trolling motor to keep from being blown into the rocks, but the strikes were fast and hard for at least 15 fish.

Note: Yamamoto plastics use a heavier sinking plastic infused with fine salt that is still soft and that has great action when twitched using the rod tip. Crappie, sunfish and bass slammed the lure and jig combo! If I had used a heavier jig (1/8 oz), I don't believe I would had done nearly as well.

The moral of the story is that a jighead of a certain weight when used with a particular soft plastic lure design, can make all the difference in catch rate.

[Potatoe]

I bought a few of the Leland jig heads and bodies after reading some of your posts. The jig heads I bought do not look like what you are using. Bass Pro had gold jig heads made by Leland but they are longer. Not sure if that makes a difference.

[Spoonminnow]

Check out EBAY and do a search for jigheads in 1/32, 1/16 oz, unpainted, no barb. Hook sizes usually depend on the length of your lure but #4, #6 and #8 should be ordered in each jig weight. 1/8 oz is okay for deeper, larger fish, but I usually go smaller.

I know that's a lot of jigs, but you'll lose quite a bit to snags.

Shipping is usually free and it pays to buy 50 or 100 at a time - the quantity offered for less than .20 each.

[Crestliner08]

Excellent information.