Wacky Jig Hook problem

[smalljaw]

I'm not sure  if anyone else has had this problem but I'll explain. When I got my wacky jig mold 2 years ago I was concerned about Matzuo making the hooks because I had to stop using their sickle hooks because of the amount of bad ones I was getting. It was normal to have 75 to 120 bad hooks per 1000 and it was time consuming sending them back, so that is why I was concerned. Anyway, to my surprise I've been using the 785 wacky jig hook with no bad ones for the 2 years that I've had the mold and I've gone through more than a thousand and today it all changed. I just sent back 200 to Lure Parts Online, I got 2 100 count packs of the size 2 and on 1 pack I had 35 that had a 45 degree bend with a long leg to the hook eye, on the second pack it was 52 that weren't even close. Now I'm wondering if Matzuo is back to the same poor or non existent QC as it was when I first had problems with their sickle hooks or is it an anomaly? I contacted LPO and was told it was the first time they have encountered it and to be honest, this is the worst I ever saw, literally 52 percent of a single pack, more than half, were totally unusable so I want to know if anyone here has had a problem with getting bad hooks in a pack of them. The other thing is I never purchased them at LPO before, I normally get them from Barlows tackle and in 2 years not a single bad one and that is why I'm asking you guys if anyone else ever had the issue because to go from zero bad hooks to more than half is just insane, so let me know if anyone has ever had any issues, thanks.

[ctom]

I've always do my hooks with Captain Hooks Warehouse and had excellent service. Twice I have gotten into orders of 1000 Matzuo suckle hooks where the quality was outrageous. These were replaced at no charge. No return of the crap hooks.

The Wacky hooks I use in my wacky conversion mold are from Do-It directly and I  have no idea who makes them...but they work every time.

I've switched over to the Little Nasty Eagle Claw hooks for all of my Sickle Hook needs and the poor qc issues went right out the window.

[Mike J]

I've got a couple thousand matzuo sickle hooks and although I like the hook when they are right. I'll likely not buy them again or any of there other hooks. Like you stated a lot of bad ones. Ide say 10% unusable and another 10% that need tweeked to work. 
Got mine from captain hooks to all though I don't think it matters where you get them from.

[Fatman]

SJ

I went through the problems with #4 black chrome sickles a couple years ago, and they replaced them and I spent weeks checking them, and I've switched over to the EC Lil Nastys.  Haven't bought the the Matzou's since.  I get my hooks from Capt Hooks also. 

[smalljaw]

I too use the Lil' Nasty EC hooks but I need some wacky hooks. I never encountered the problem with the wacky hook until now so I must have just been lucky. LPO sells a Mustad  wacky jig hook but at $26 per 100 versus $9 makes me want to use the Matzuo, especially since the Matzuo version does work well, at least when they aren't bad but I never had so many bad ones in so few hooks. So that is why I was asking if anyone uses that hook, if they had issues in quality from one supplier to the next.

[ctom]

I think at best Matzuo goes in streaks with the quality control. I've had lots of 1000 that were near flawless in the whole lot, but the next batch, same quantity and size and finish is near 50% junk. Its never been a constant even from supplier to supplier. When the  hooks work out, they're sharp as heck and are good to work with but the gamble comes from not knowing what the order is going to hand you.