Custom Baits - Forum
Jigs, Spinnerbaits and Sinkers => Crappie / Pan Fish Jigs => Topic started by: Brent on 05/28/13 16:42 UTC
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I do a lot of ultra light fishing, what is the smallest jig/sickle hook combo out there?
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The smallest I do is a 1/32, #8 hook. I'm sure those who shoot 1/64 or 1/80, 1/100 can get smaller hooks done but I've never needed anything lighter than 1/32.
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I have not gone below 1/32 and #6. Crappie.com may have someone that goes into the 1/64ths. That's where I would start anyway. Around here 1/32 - #6 is small in a jig. Number 8 hooks get throat hooked more and most folks don't like that.
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The only time I use a #8 hook is when a plastic is small and a #6 makes the presentation clumbsy.
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Smallest I've done for someone is 1/100 with a #10 sickle. You can get a #12 though. Personally I never go below an #8 and that's after some tight eyed gills!
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1/100 with a size 10..... I seen some on ebay otherday it may have been a typo but it said 1/1000.
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Ok some of my interest in this is because of all the talk about the sickle hook, Why is everyone wanting these? what is the benefit?
I look at pictures and it appears there is less gap but more bend than an Aberdeen hook :o
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Brent;
The sickle hooks are needle sharp. Also; the hookup ratio is higher and they seem to stay hooked better. I do not understand the physics, but they tend to hook deeper and in the top of the mouth as apposed to the mouth edges. This is a big advantage for crappie fishing. I know on skipjack fishing my catch ratio is much higher with sickles ( 1/0 ) than any aberdeen I have tried. They have a lot more trouble trowing the sickle.
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The hook gap is also wider than a regular aberdeen
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I got some great jigs from Crappiezilla, first night trying them and I like them, the baits sit very well on them, they are super sharp, the weights worked out perfect, the 1/80 and 1/64 oz jigs allow the FRY baits to glide, I'm using the Berkley Nanofil, which floats an Aquatek invisaswivel and a 2 foot leader of floro. This allows me to float the bait over the tops of the weeds for long distances.
So now the challenges and questions;
1)Anyone use these for gills? I was getting a lot of short hits, switched to a Cubby 1/32 ball head jig and started hooking up with the gills in the area.
2) Anyone else notice there really is no barb on these hooks??? Is this normal?
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I fish sickles down to a size 8 and have no issues with not hooking sunfish at that size so I can't imagine the hook being an issue at 1/64 or 1/80. You don't say which "fry" you are using, but the 1.75" on those small jigs may not be the best combination. The nano fry would team up just fine on the tiny jigs.
I've had nothing but problems in the past using that cubby tackle. The jigs you mention have the most brittle hooks on earth...Chinese ingenuity at the finest. I've had crappies and sunfish break off the hooks at the head as well as have had those fish snap off the eyes. The hooks snap like toothpicks if they need straightenening. I suspect that the long shanked cubby hooks allow hook-ups to flourish since they are a size 10 in a 1/32 head and are about 1/8" longer than a standard industry hook.
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1.75 and the 2.5
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If you're fishing that large of a fry and cannot seem to get hooked up on sunfish, there's the prblem, not the hook size. Even a 1.75 small fry is big for the average sunfish. Sunnies over 8 1/2" are maybe the lower end of the size range able to easily get these longer and thicker baits in the mouth consistently. And when they do the hook has to have adequate gap to grab skin or meat to hold on.
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Ctom,
have no problem on hooking sunfish or gills with the Cubby or even tube jig heads, been fishing this way for years, just wasn't going with the sickle hook,
I switched from the sickle to the Cubby last night and started bring fish into the boat, same baits nothing else was changed except jig head
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I fish only sickles anymore, but to be honest I don't target sunfish. The sunfish I catch are all incidental fish that hit on crappie, and sometimes even bass, baits. I don't see many small sunfish since most are hooked while swatting at the larger baits.
Most of the people who fish for sunfish while in my boat are using sickles and have no hooking issues with them. For them its more of a plastic size issue rather than a hook size issue.
Do you ever fish main lake suspended sunfish? A lake I fish in the summer has lots of deep water and when the thermocline dips into the depths the big sunfish suspend over the deep water, often only 5 or 6 feet from the surface. Just tossing a bait out under a float set at 5 feet and drifting is a very productive way to get them. My buddies drift the sunfish bite while I go deep and jig the crappies that like the deep water under the sunfish.
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I can see how the small gap of a standard jig head (like the Cubby) would be a benefit for bluegills...but I do a lot better with crappies and bass with the sickle hook. I catch big bluegills on the sickle hook...but I do miss most of the medium to small ones who can't get their mouth around the wider gap.
Those Cubby jigs come in some really small hooks gaps! I would guess as small as a 16 (relating it to fly hook sizes).
It seems to me that the Sickle hook is harder to throw...must be a leverage thing.
After reading these posts, I ordered some #6 and #8 sickle hooks from Zeiners and they do make a nice small package.
I still like the plain old light wire hooks...primarily because they bend when I get then stuck in the trees. But now that I make my own jigs...I'm not so worried about loosing jigs so I can see myself using the sickle hooks more.
By the way....the Beetle Bug mold has been really good for me! It's a great bait on the sickle hook for big bluegills, crappie and bass. It's not a small bluegill bait...but I'm surprised on how many small (to the point of tiny!) bluegills can eat that bait! I worried that at 2.25" it was to long...but now it's my "go to" ultra light plastic.
Andy
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This is what the water usually looks like, but Im guessing with the holiday weekend, that it was messed up, the fish from last night were all smaller, when the gills come in the fishfinder will be solid from the bottom to about 3-4 feet above bottom with fish. These are when the crappie are active.
(http://www.caneycreekmolds.net/gallery/medium_473-070912222326.jpeg)
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BTW no one has made any comments about a lack of a barb, unless I missed it, but there is barely anything there??????
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I have sickle hooks from 6/0 down to 8 and they all have adequate barbs on them.
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I just checked mine..and they have a good barb...but I pinch down the barb 90% of the time anyway.
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Over the many years I have cast jigs I've seen basically every hook brand on the market show up with varying barb quality. I think one of the worst brands I have used is Eagle Claw, especially in the smaller 570 and 575 hooks. Granted, not every batch has been bad but of all of them I have seen more crap come out of their boxes than any other brand. Mustad has a less agressive barb on some of their smaller jig hooks but I have never had issue with them. Vmc's aren't bad and what I have used of Gamis have been decent. I tried some Trokars but decided my fish weren't worth that much money so I settled back on the Sickles.
Andrew does touch on an important consideration when shopping for jig hooks and that's the strainghtening out factor should you snag one in some wood. The aberdeens will re-bend to near original shape real easy. This is especially so in the Eagle Claws. Sickles? Forget it. Those cubby products are right up there with Sickles when it comes to brittleness.
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In Feb 2013 I bought alot of the black chrome sickles. The size 2 and 6 were fine, but the #4's were the pits!!!!!
I contacted Matzuo, and truthfully wasn't expecting an answer back but the next day I had an email from the production manager and the head guy Terry Hansen, General Manager Matzuo America. Per Terry
"We had a problem with one style size of our Sickle Hooks weeks ago. If you have a question or concern please contact Matzuo and we will replace all your hooks in question..
I have one question where did you purchase your 2,500 hooks and what size?"
Again if you find a problem with our Sickle Hooks please contact our company.
Terry Hansen
General Manager Matzuo America
402-494-3009
Terry.Hansen@matzuo.com
Got them through Capt Hooks and it was 1000 -2s, 1000-4's and 500-6's. The fours were the only bad ones.
It took being a major PITA - but they did replace them and even sent me an extra box of 1000. Trust me I spent hours testing them - put them in the vise and with 10lb powerbraid yanked up and yanked down, not a single one snapped. They told me to trash the bad ones.
The original box from Capt hooks were snapping all over the place and truthfully when you're tying a jig with 210 flat waxed thread and snap a hook you know somethings wrong.
Anyone with bad ones the man above is the one to contact.
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I ordered a couple thousand #4's a short time ago and haven't had any issues with them. They came from the same source.