How To Select The Right Jighead

Once you’ve got the color and size lure you’d like to throw picked out, the next decision you have to make is the jig head you’d like to put it on

 

In fishing, there are a lot of crucial decisions you must make correctly to be successful and although it would be difficult to declare it the most important one, the hook you decide to use is near the top, so take it seriously!

 

You want solid, quality-built hooks that you can rely on day in and day out.

 

Side note: The above can be said about basically every piece of gear you use, my next series of articles are going to touch on all the pieces of the “gear puzzle,” it’s a series I’ve wanted to put together for a while now and am excited about, so stay tuned! 

 

Anyway, 

 

So, first off, there are a lot of awesome brands out there ..and some not so awesome ones, it’s not against the rules to use more than one brand, so don’t get caught up in that line of thinking. 

 

Just try a bunch, keep using the one that works best for you, develop your confidence in it, and try interesting stuff from other brands or the one you’re already using to find other stuff that may do the job better or achieve a different result etc.

 

My personal favorite is Owner Hooks, I’ve been using them since 2019ish in the hyper saline Lower Laguna Madre catching trout, redfish, flounder, snook, snapper, ling and more. 

 

I’m notoriously hard on gear and they’ve held up phenomenally well, especially compared to many others I’ve tried in the past, 

 

Where many other hooks have corrosion resistant coatings, that are great till they get scratched, then rust through immediately, Owners won’t corrode, like ever, I’ve only ever had 2 straighten on me, both from the same pack, which I’m chalking up to a bad batch anomaly and I’ve never had one break on me. 

 

In fact, I consistently use Owner hooks for multiple trips at a time, very rarely ever having to re tie due to a worn-out hook, more often than not my leader gets worn through before the hook wears out, 

 

My favorite line of Jigheads from Owner is their Inshore Slam Series, they’re 3Xstrong, short shank, wide gap screw lock hooks with Jigheads from 1/16oz 1/0 all the way up to a 1/2oz 5/0(they pair up awesome with our lures btw) , 

 

They’ve also got the Saltwater Bullet series for your larger baits & weedless offerings such as the Beast Hooks, 

 

Which brings me to part 2 of this post, “Which one do I freakin’ use?!” 

 

The best, blanket answer I can give to that question is, it depends… Lol 

 

Don’t worry, I’ll elaborate a bit more, 

 

It depends on a combination of several factors, but the main three are the size of the lure you’re using, depth you’re trying to fish & the action/presentation you’re trying to achieve,

 

I like to keep it simple.

 

And in order to keep it simple, you need to be versatile & in my humble opinion, nothing is more versatile than a soft plastic lure on a jig head, you can literally use that to fish anytime, anywhere, for anything.

 

but that’s a whole ‘nother post, right now we’re talking about Jigheads. 

 

Here’s how I look at it, and this is by no means the end all be all, just how I do it.

 

I’m going to give a few examples of what I use in certain situations, keep in mind I like to use the smallest hook possible,

 

So for our 4” sized bait, wade fishing shallow, under 3’, I prefer the Owner Inshore Slam Series 1/16oz 1/0 hook, shown below. (this hook also fits our 3” size well)

If I’m fishing for flounder on the bottom, I like to throw Mini Red Glow or Mini Midnight Mullet 3" on a 1/4oz 3/0 so that I can work the lure quickly while keeping it near the bottom,

Now if I’m fishing shallow I’ll use that same 1/0 on our 5.5’ size, if I want to fish a bit deeper I’ll bump up to the 3/0 sized hooks with heavier weights to get the bait down further, going all the way up to 1/2oz for fishing up to 20’ deep or so.

 

When it comes to a large lure like our 7” size, the Owner 3/0 & 5/0 Inshore Slam Series work well in varying weights fishing shallow-ish, up to 10’, if you are trying to fish 10’+ I’d bump up to the Saltwater Bullet series heads that go all the way up to 1.5oz which are plenty heavy to cast off the jetties and bottom bounce in 30’ of water, or to even drop down and jig in 100’ or so with a light current.

Now when it comes to weedless, I’m personally not a fan, but there are instances where a weedless hook is necessary,

 

So for the 5.5” & 7” the only weedless hook that I actually like is the Owner BEAST hook, or any other large extra wide gap 8/0+ sized hook, rigged weightless, creates a sweet gliding/suspending action, add a belly weighted hook and it’ll give you a slow sink, add a sliding weight to the nose Texas Rig or Carolina Rig style and you’ve got a weedless bottom rig

For the 4” size any 4/0-5/0 weedless hook fits them well

So in conclusion. decide whether you want a weedless hook or not, then match the size of the hook to the size of the bait you're using and match the weight to how deep you want to fish, then adjust accordingly based on your results on the water, simple right?

Hope this helps!

Catch ya on the next one,

-M.