Thread: Matching plastic to jig head

Originally Posted by Rojo

I'm glad I waited to read what some of the crew posted before giving my . Dothan is much further south, more like our style of fishing. The further south you get the fishing needs change a bit. Florida anglers mid state will fish different from us. I pour 1/16oz heads with #6 Matzou sickle hooks to 1/32oz with #2 Aberdeen XXFine wire Mustad hooks. Sink Rate is a important factor for us. Using Southern Pro's Original Crappie Stinger (I highly recommend) with the #6 Matzou hooks is a great Micro - Hot weather jig for presenting to finicky Big Blacks but depending on depth I change the weight. Heat of summer one year I will be fishing braid at 12ft, next summer the fish are 3ft but in shade. A heavy head won't catch like the lighter one will. Ketchn posted about three years ago now fish smaller hooks in heavy cover. As usual the rest of his post was the wraparound story. I picked the gold out of his post and applied it on Ross Barnett Fall fishing in heavy cover, well it works. My confidence in small hooks after that exploded to the point I only pour #4 Matzou Sickle & #4 Eagle Claw 570's or #6 Matzou Sickle hooks for something as small as Southern Pro's Original Stinger up to Do-It's 2-1/2in Fluke. BG Scent Wigglers on a #4 Matzou Sickle and I swing everything in the boat. Haven't had a fish come off the hook in years. If I can't see the jig in the fish's mouth I swing'em in. CrappiePappy is a very skilled Crappie angler as well as Nimrod, both gave you good advice but don't underrate Ketchn's smaller hooks as my full ice chests can attest to their lethalness to Crappie. Lastly, bend your hook out enough that when passing your finger over the eye of the hook towards the point it catches your finger. If it does not stick you after opening it up a little you have your hook buried too deep in the plastic body.

Where are y’all from? The water gets so hot here that we have to downsize baits so the point, the hooks are bigger than the bait. Most all commercial jigs hooks are too big.


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Originally Posted by Auston22688

Where are y’all from? The water gets so hot here that we have to downsize baits so the point, the hooks are bigger than the bait. Most all commercial jigs hooks are too big.

I'm 4 miles north of I-10 in south MS. We have the same hot water. See those big fish I have been catching? Hot water, big shiners, 3-4ft deep this year buried inside horizontal wood structure large enough to provide shade. Micros these fish will not touch. They didn't get 16-17 inches long by accident.

Originally Posted by Rojo

I'm 4 miles north of I-10 in south MS. We have the same hot water. See those big fish I have been catching? Hot water, big shiners, 3-4ft deep this year buried inside horizontal wood structure large enough to provide shade. Micros these fish will not touch. They didn't get 16-17 inches long by accident.

All of ours have been around 15ft. I can’t keep live bait alive. I’d love to fish big baits for some big fish. I can’t seem to make it happen


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I pretty much only use jigs & plastics or hair jigs myself. I haven't been crappie fishing but a few years but for me around here where i fish in southern KY. all i use is 1/16 & 1/8 heads both round & minnow style. Depth & how active the fish are usually determine which one i use.

Originally Posted by Auston22688

Where are y’all from? The water gets so hot here that we have to downsize baits so the point, the hooks are bigger than the bait. Most all commercial jigs hooks are too big.


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Strange, water temp here hits 90 and seems to speed up metabolism . They hammer a big bait .

Originally Posted by NIMROD

Strange, water temp here hits 90 and seems to speed up metabolism . They hammer a big bait .

I say this, meaning I’ve kept going down in size to get them to bite. I’ve never had bigger baits to try honestly. You see these B.A.S.S. guys keep going smaller to get fish to bite. I reckon I assumed I needed to do the same thing. Ignorance on my part


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Originally Posted by Auston22688

Sorry, I should’ve remembered what my 6th grade English teacher told us: Proofread your work.
I screwed my question up. I meant to ask do you pair the plastic to the hook size? Or pair the plastic to the weight you want?


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In a perfect world you can have both....whatever hook size/weight combo you want to try i'm sure i can most likely make it within reason.

I always fish 16ths on 4 pound yellow line. I need to make myself throw a lighter one sometimes just to get the slower fall. Guess that would help sometimes.