Hook Shank Length

[Micanopy]

I am learning.

I am discovering that the jig hook size and shape can provide varying results in both hooking and retaining hooked fish. Now don’t go Duhhhhhh on me here. The differences can be very subtle and even small changes can create differing experiences. I know this is true because those that catch a lot of fish have a favorite hook or two.

Let’s take a look at something here.



Top one is a great hook for my Free Style design and I really like the performance. It is a Victory sickle in size 1/0.

Under that is a hook I like for my Bat Jigs. It is a Do-It Whacky 60 degree hook in size #2.

Bottom is a new to me Eagle Claw 571 in size 1/0.


Notice that the sizing is way off ? One company’s 1/0 ain’t what the others call 1/0. In fact there is little size difference in the top two even though one is supposed to be three sizes up, Also when compared to the bottom hook in the same size, the top hooks look much larger. So sizing of jig hooks varies wildly.

One of the advantages of making your own jig heads is that you can overcome this issue and dial in a hook that works best for your style. Just like the really good fishermen did. They found a hook that works for them, which means their style of baits and fashion of presentation. Trial and error gets this done best.

VICTORY- I like this hook because it catches fish like crazy. I troll jigs out behind the boat and I almost never lose a fish once the rod bends using these hooks. Very sharp and they have a great shape that works with my style. My baits will fit on the shank in a normal fashion with not too much shank being inside the bait. The hook tip is sitting high and proud above the eye and that is said to be an important feature of any jig. No bending the tip to make the hook “work”. The issue I have is that my plastic baits are made for smaller sized hooks, and I am not very good at piercing and installing baits upon the long shank hooks. I create kinks and weird angles and such.

I have always kind of dangled the bait beside the boat as I am trolling to gain a sense of it’s swimming attitude. I did this while seated in the front of the boat. One day I swam a bait back towards the rear of the boat, with more line out, and walked back there and observed the attitude. Suddenly flaws became very noticeable. Baits that looked like they swam good up front, were actually disasters when some line was paid out. I reckon the line gives it enough freedom to show what I have done wrong. Spinning baits, wobbling, just odd looking jigs. Mind you they still caught fish, but how many fish passed because the minnow looked weird ?


WHACKY - I made some Bat Jigs up and the shorter shank of this hook made it easier to insert the hook into the bait in a straight line fashion. My baits swam better because my errors were not as pronounced. I also observed that the baits seemed to have better action. A more pronounced wobble to the paddle tails. I deduced that this was because of the point where the hook exited the bait. It was coming out near where the tail meets the body. Before with longer shanked hooks there was a section of the fat and sturdy body behind the bend and I feel that was probably inhibiting the wobble some. Keep in mind these are my observations not science.



So I wanted to use a short shank hook in my Free Style mold, so I could get these results in a 90 degree hook. I searched and read about the Matzuo hook. It however is difficult to obtain and is said to have about a 10% waste due to malformations and such. Gamakatzu has a great short shank hook, but at a steep price. I then read about the Eagle Claw 571 hook. This hook is said to be sharp and strong. I was leery but when I got my supply I was impressed. Nicer than the very sad Lil Nasties by far, and very much sharper.

I made up some Free Style heads and here they are with baits.



These are some of my better color combinations and bait styles. Slabonator brand Booty Thumpers that have been cut down in length. Their Hot Rods, again cut down. Bottom right first picture is their large Booty Thumper cut down which is a wild action bait. Makes the rod tips jiggle like crazy. Then second picture are some Crappie Magnet Curly Slabs which have not been cut in length.

I glue the baits to the jig head as that keeps them positioned nicely and the baits seem to last better. I might even experiment with crushed barbs at some point. I like to lift the fish, plop it on the deck and give him slack line as he will thrash about and pitch the jig most times. This lets me re cast quickly and then later I go back and containerize him. Little fish I bring to hand, unhook and pitch back. Glued on baits keeps me fast, which is important because when one bites…..there are others ready to bite. I land the fish and that bait is right back out there.

I plan to test test test of course. There might be some issues with these 571 hooks which I have not foreseen. So far they look to me like they will slaughter the fish. High hopes can be dashed of course, and I like the Whacky hooks in size #6 until I discovered that that was the worse hook ever. Might be good for vertical jigging, but trolling it was horrible. Fish On turned to fish gone about 3/4’s of the time. Nice devils, too. Made me mad.

So small differences in our hooks can lead to wildly differing results. One hook will outperform another, not only when it comes to retaining a hooked fish, but also when it comes to the presentation of the plastic bait. Both aspects are important obviously.

The 571 fits the larger sized heads of the Free Style mold. However, the tip rides onto the mold in the smaller sizes and I just used a hand file and removed a smidgeon of the material to get a good fit. That area is meaningless to the mold anyways so it was easy to do without damaging anything.

Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures the next trip out. Might go Wednesday but this is the time of year winds pick up and blow hard in my area. We get heavy winds for several days at a time. I like calm days as my TM isn’t that good for my boat. Add winds and things get exaggerated even further. I don’t mind the frigid cold, you know 45 degrees because I can wear long pants and regular shoes and such. However cold winds are different. Freezing cold down here already. We got down to 55 degrees last night. Brrrrrrrr cold.