anyone here manufacture hooks for crappie jigs?
I have an idea for a hook I would like made..
basically a sickle style hook, with the eye oriented horizontal to the shank.

THE STICKEL HOOK .. STICKEL ..... the STAY LEVEL SICKLE HOOK.... TM

I have had jigheads like that before, can't remember if they were sickles or not.

MO

I think your best bet is going to be contacting a wire company (Western Wire may be able to help) and give them your idea. Probably looking at a couple hundred thousand piece minimum order, based on business I've done with them in the past.

I dont think sickles were around yet when the horizontal eye jig heads were made, the ones I have, have a bait keeper pin that comes down alongside of the shank, its in the jig in the pic, so u cant see it. I dont care for the keeper pin, but u cant remove it without destroying the lead head.

thanks Lane, im going to do some research. im also thinking abt a slight modification of the sickle shape of the gap.
instead of a vee in the bottom of the hook, it will have a small flat area giving it more gap . \
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Bass Pro Shops sold a jig head called a "stinger" that fits your description.

thanks I will check it out.

I like the idea of a horizontal eye... but I'm through with sickle hooks.

the shape of the hook, be it sickle or round bend, is not the issue, the issue is the inconsistency of the manufacture ring process of the hooks.
its kind of like electric fillet knives, many get a bad rep because the blades are inconsistent in thier sharpness.
They get a brand knife that has very sharp blades, and think, wow, what a great fillet knife., cuts good, doesnt get too hot, ect.
but in reality, the real difference is the blades.. ive bought sets of blades from the same manufacturer, that cut great, then the next set no so good.
anything that is mass produced, especially in china, with little or no quality control, will have varying quality.

I am currently working with a manufacturer to get the STICKLE TM hooks made.. {stay level sickle hooks).
if they can be made the way I want them made, with consistency, I will have a run made. I will get a strong round bend hook made and a strong sickle shape hook made. in the sickle hook shape, the weakness is in the vee at the bottom gap of the hook.
I believe this hook design will make most of the hooks with the vertically oriented eye obsolete.

I found a hook, but not a jighead, and the hook has a straight shank, to be added onto the back of another jig hook., could not be used to make a jighead.

I would like to see one

this is the way it will look, notice the eye is opposite in direction of basically all other jigheads. I tried bending the eye cold, and they snap. I heated this one up, but it weakens the metal.
with this design, no more gluing the line to the eye, no more pulling the line to the middle of the eye so it will sit level, no more missed fish when you set the hook, because the line is pulling the eye out of the fishes mouth.
No more knicked line because the point of the hook scrapes the line when u tie a loop knot. a loop knot will make the vertical style hook eyes sit level, but when u set the hook, it pulls the loop outward, instead of upward, like the horizontal eye does.

Have you thought about pouring some jigs with a Mustad 32900 hook just for testing purposes? It's a 60 degree bend hook, but it is made in crappie hook sizes, and looks like it would fit a 90 degree hook mold easily enough, if you deepened the mold hook eye a bit. Here is one overlaid over a Victory hook.



The 32900 has the Ultra point, so it's likely the same metal as the Mustad 32746 hooks I use, which are super strong.

thanks Bud, I have seen those, but I want a 90 degree angle for the balancing factor as well as hookset action. with the eye angled at 45 degrees, the hook will want to pull more outward than upward when you set the hook, when fishing vertically. the position of the eye also affects how the jig undulates up and down in the water when jigged. at a 90. the back of the jig drops instantly, as the top rises. when fished vertically.
what ive discovered with the 90 degree bend and a horizontal eye set up, the only thing that would need to be done is a slight modification of the mold.. where the eye sits, will need to be drilled out just a tad deeper, maybe 2 MM so the hook can have clearance for the mold to close. it would not affect the mold being able to be used with vertically mounted eyes either. No need to have a custom mold made. you can use up all of the old style hooks and pour jigs with the new style as well.
I am currently in negotiations to have the hooks made. so BOLO for the STICKLE HOOK. "The Stay Level Sickle Hook". TM
After I get the hooks, I will likely pour some myself, and get them out to folks.