Reply With QuoteIf tipping your jigs with a minnow a long shank is better. Achieving balance is key, if the shank is to long the bait will be tail heavy and not work properly.
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long shank hooks?
Any of you guys using or tying long shank hooks? Is there an advantage when it comes to short strikes? I have tied a few jigs with the long shanks and was curious as to what I could expect.
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If tipping your jigs with a minnow a long shank is better. Achieving balance is key, if the shank is to long the bait will be tail heavy and not work properly.
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Balance is the key for sure, but around here we get an occasional bite where both the sunnies and the crappies seem to grab the tails just short of the hook bend. Personally I have better luck in that kind of situation downsizing the hook (but not the jig head). IMO I get more complete takes that way. The size of the fish doesn't seem to be the issue, but occasionally we get into fish that will not take the larger hooks into their mouths, but seem more willing to do that with the smaller ones. I normally use a size 6 on a 32nd oz head, but will go down to an 8 on the same size head or down to a size 10 ice jig if they are still biting short on the 8. You do have to careful not to bury the little hooks in the plastic tails or your hooking percentage will disappear. For walleyes and bass longer shanks or droppers work better, but for sunnies and crappies I think the smaller hooks do.
Let me add that when they are biting short like that they also tend to bite short of the jig head, which is why I tend to carry several size hooks on the same jig head; so I don't get deep hooked fish as a rule from this.
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