Need Feedback From Jig Fishermen and Women

Hey guys, Slab said to post here to help get me started. I am starting a jig pouring business and I have a few questions for you guys to help get me started.

If you had to pick between red or black nickel finish sickle hooks, which would it be? Would you still buy the other?

Do you buy regular round bend hook jigheads with sickles on the mark

Would you ever buy jigs with premium Gamakatsu or Owner hooks? Not for the faint of heart or brush jiggers at around $10-15 per 25.

How many jigheads total do you buy at once? 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000?

Other than standard round head no collar and round head with barb for plastics, what other jig head styles would you like?

What kind and weight of dropshot/bell weights do you use, if you do for spider rigging, etc.

Feel free to leave other feedback or comments. Thanks for your time!

Hook color isn't a concern of mine. I typically fish regular aberdeen hook jig heads because they don't hang up as bad and I jig brush and rocky ledges nearly 100% of the time. Regarding head style, I use a lot of bullet heads for a lot of plastics and the ocasional hand tied kip tail lure. Lately I've flirted with the idea of trying some pill heads. Regarding quantity, I buy 100 - 1/16 oz round heads at a time, although I will buy fewer if I need 3/16 oz for super ridiculous presentations that I use infrequently and only during the hot weather months.

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If you pour for tube jigs make sure the barb that holds the tube is long.

#1 Black or Red sickle.We like the Gold sickle,Have the black and Red my friends want Gold 10-1 over the other.The older seasoned crappie fisheremen what a gold hook.The gold fits our mold's better than the black nickle or red.Cannot say why.Think the tempered gold hook is not as stiff as the black nickel or red.We have had trouble with the red breaking in the bend."Stopped buying them"Just getting better results.
# 2. YES have poured thousand's of regular round jig heads.The old'r crappie fishermen will not change something that has worked well for them.
#3.We make bass lures and Jig heads The Bass guys what Gama's and owner's.The crappie/trout guys no.Lose to many jigheads to pay more for hook's.
#4.Pour and make our own.
# 5.We make and sell a lot of minnow's heads,Make and sell the inside tube "crappie/Smallmouth" jigheads sell a lot of 1/8 oz.Mostly us #4 and #2 hook's.We have the Jacob's spinner jighead molds have molded several thousand 1/16 oz and 1/8 oz have been the ticket."Roadrunner is king on our lake's"1/16 oz
#6.We purschased the Do-it Dropshot finess teardrop mold by request from some bass fishermen.Cannot keep the 1/16 and 1/8 oz dropshot's a good fishermen has been killing the crappie around stumps in the muddy water sloughs in our area.On the drop shot "keeps the jig or minnow out of the mud"Where most fish a minnow under a float.

Smooth - since I've been pouring for 43 yrs. I'll answer what I can for you

If you had to pick between red or black nickel finish sickle hooks, which would it be? Would you still buy the other? You're going to have to buy both! Sorry but some customers are going to want what they want, and as a business you gotta have em all in order to compete

Do you buy regular round bend hook jigheads with sickles on the mark Even though I pour my own I have red sickles, black chrome and gold - I also have thousands of old stock Mustad and EC round bends - again you'll have customers who may want them

Would you ever buy jigs with premium Gamakatsu or Owner hooks? Not for the faint of heart or brush jiggers at around $10-15 per 25. Me personally NO - I'd get the cheaper Mustad or EC but I know you're tired of hearing it people want what they want

How many jigheads total do you buy at once? 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000? For me NA, but I know having read some of the posts here on the boards of guys buying lots of different quantities

Other than standard round head no collar and round head with barb for plastics, what other jig head styles would you like? Tough to answer! people want what they want - there's pill, bullet, walley, chub and on and on

What kind and weight of dropshot/bell weights do you use, if you do for spider rigging, etc. NA I'm a shore fisherman

I've heard plenty of the folks not just here but other boards as well you're not going to get rich doing it, it's gonna take up YOUR fishing time and there are a whole bunch of folks doing it - you'll have to stand behind your product! Couple of folks have even upgraded to spin casting machines to pour bulk fast. Others will tell you to make sure you have all the proper paperwork and make the IRS help you so you don't have any problems!

Good Luck!!! and hope it works out for you.

I agree with Fatman. You will want to have all varieties of hooks and heads. Sizes and colors. He said it "People want what they want."
Most definitely have your IRS stuff taken care of. State sales tax and federal excise tax. I'm still sorting threw the excise tax thing. Might put me out of business, but still working threw it.
Good luck.

Black Sickles, they are cheap and super sharp so when compared to my favorite hook the Gamakatsu, they compare well on the sharpness especially when you consider the cost difference!

Smooth I will tell you one of my biggest things that I consider on heads and any style head really. I hand file any head I paint even if it's just the seam showing a little, but for sure any excess from the pour that is still on there. So how clean the heads I get will go a long way on how much I like them! Clearly the less filing I have to do the better as that all takes time! Next I love the ones I get now because he adds enough of the right stuff to make them stay shinny for a very long time. I have some that are several years old and they still look like they did when they came in. I do love that they don't get dark and oxidize fast at all!

As for type of head/hook I like, well of course the no collar Sickle hook head is vest for tying most things, but If I am tying hair, especially Kip Tail, I want a collar and no barb, but I do want either a ball or bell flair on the end of the collar to control the thread width a little for me. I guess that is about the only 2 styles I buy on a regular basis.

If I were you and wanted to jump into this I wouldn't start off trying to please everyones particular style head, just get the ones that you will use a lot to start, then add as you go on. Maybe 4 styles, but even that you need probably each in 3 or 4 sizes.

Good luck buddy!

Skip

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Originally Posted by skiptomylu

Black Sickles, they are cheap and super sharp so when compared to my favorite hook the Gamakatsu, they compare well on the sharpness especially when you consider the cost difference!

Smooth I will tell you one of my biggest things that I consider on heads and any style head really. I hand file any head I paint even if it's just the seam showing a little, but for sure any excess from the pour that is still on there. So how clean the heads I get will go a long way on how much I like them! Clearly the less filing I have to do the better as that all takes time! Next I love the ones I get now because he adds enough of the right stuff to make them stay shinny for a very long time. I have some that are several years old and they still look like they did when they came in. I do love that they don't get dark and oxidize fast at all!

As for type of head/hook I like, well of course the no collar Sickle hook head is vest for tying most things, but If I am tying hair, especially Kip Tail, I want a collar and no barb, but I do want either a ball or bell flair on the end of the collar to control the thread width a little for me. I guess that is about the only 2 styles I buy on a regular basis.

If I were you and wanted to jump into this I wouldn't start off trying to please everyones particular style head, just get the ones that you will use a lot to start, then add as you go on. Maybe 4 styles, but even that you need probably each in 3 or 4 sizes.

Good luck buddy!

Skip

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Thanks buddy. Those are my thoughts as well. For now I'm planning on going with the more specialty molds, premium components and high attention to detail; ultra minnow, walleye w/ eyes, and have my eyes on a couple more. Plenty of folks that are years ahead of me that can do the standard stuff much faster than I can.

Great input folks. I appreciate it.

Not a Pro.Just enjoy making lures/Baits "hobby"jigheads,spinnerbaits,buzzbaits,crankba its ect. Some on this site have forgotten more than we know. Purchased our first lure mold 'Hilts in 1978 Still have and use them today.Where we live making things is the way of life. We have tried selling on the internet,ebay ect . Have help start two bait co. "real Pain."Cannot get anyone to work" real pain to get your money.Make a profit.Everyone wants it for nothing.When plastic baits are selling for 30 cent each and jigheads 50 cent to a dollar "some Bass Jig's"The only way we have been able to "pay for our fishing"is to make and sell to bait shops small that are competing Against The Walmarts. Not trying to cheat but get our money worth if you can.We like selling to them because they cannot afford to buy something and it set on the shelf and gather dust.They the small bait shops need something that will catch fish cheap.But catch fish not folks money.We deliver the baits too the bait shops they pay our fee and sell for what they can make a profit.If you put the cost of your time you will never make a profit.We also take folks fishing.Most have never fished before.We take them fishing They use our equipment and our baits.Some get hooked some we never see again."not Many" They like our baits we make and send them some baits to use on their home lake and To their local bait shops. Keep it a Hobby,Keep it fun.When its not it becomes work.Have drove all night"Basspro" Warehouse"Springfield Mo sets on 80 ac." unreal " to get home to go to work LOL. Have enjoyed the ride.Ruff at times but still fun enjoy catching fish and teaching and watching other catch their first fish.Nothing,Nothing like that smile. Good fishing sorry for the long post.

Black sickle , but would take either .:juggle

I too can help add a little bit as I've been in the business for a while now myself.

I like to compile a little bit of data and I always allow my customers to request specific stuff. If I can sell it again, I'll buy in bulk and not pass off the added expense on to the customer.

For hooks, my Customers prefer the red sickle. They ask for it. That said, I've just started selling black as they are cheaper. When asked why my simple answer was, when you put a 4 inch plastic minnow on a 3/4oz jig, you cannot see the hook. Point was taken and they have zero problems with it. Like Fatman said, I still carry both on hand.

I sell a minnow jig in two different hook configurations. An O'shagneassy hook and a 60 degree sickle. Sales are about 60/40 with the heavy duty sickle taking the 60%.

I offer both sickle and standard shank hooks in my round ball jigs. Funny thing though, I've had the same 1000 hook order of standard hooks that I got three years ago while I've gone through nearly 25000 of the sickle hooks (mostly red). I still have about 300 regular hooks left.

I have customers that ask for something specific all the time. If I can make money on it, I'll buy the mold and make it up for them. Case in point, three years ago a customer wanted Erie jigs that he could custom tie. He wanted a specific hook. I knew I could sell the jig but wasn't so sure on the hook however the sale paid for all the materials. I couldn't tell you how much money I've made off from that mold since then. The hooks are gone too.

I've had customers ASK about Owner of Gama hooks. I won't talk them out of it but always ask why they are looking at them. In most cases, it is only because of something they read and have no first hand knowledge of the hook versus another. I have one pro that purchases jigs from me. He will either supply the hooks or pay the difference for me to purchase the hooks. Funny thing, I beat him in all four tournaments this year come to think about it!!! Maybe next year he won't spend all that money on hooks that didn't help him one bit.

I have customers that will purchase 10 jigs and each one is a different color. I have other customers that will purchase 400 jigs. It really just depends. I had one customer last spring that ordered 43 jigs in 43 different color combinations and sizes. These are heavy jigs for river fishing and you lose way more jigs than you catch fish. It took longer to do his order than a normal 80 jig order of 8 color combinations. I packaged each jig individually! I felt better!

On your website, advertise that you WILL do custom work. Work with the customer to get the colors and combinations right, email them pictures and so on. I do this a lot and promise my customer that I will NOT revele their personal combination for up to a year (most cases I never do). I will fish with them. Only once in a hand full of years has someone come up with one that has actually worked well. I still don't sell that on my site!

IF they want something you do not have, let them ask for it. Like I said, many of my molds came from someone asking if I had something or could make it. I've done well (money wise) on most of them.

Good luck

Love sickle hooks, red if available. I would be interested in a longer shank sickle hook 1/16oz ball head if priced reasonable. I usually buy in 100 packs but would consider 500 packs if priced right.

I am not picky on the hook color, but do like the gold when I can find them. Bend fairly easy and do not rust.

If you had to pick between red or black nickel finish sickle hooks, which would it be? RED



Would you ever buy jigs with premium Gamakatsu or Owner hooks? NO

How many jigheads total do you buy at once? 50 or 100,

Other than standard round head no collar and round head with barb for plastics, what other jig head styles would you like? FISH HEAD