Do you have pics of the jig standing outward from the line? This is very intriguing.

Put me in n the list I need some!

hopefully this helps, no magic tricks, photoshops, no reverse gravity emulator, just simple physics.
this is tie on with a basic reverse clinch knot.

I appreciate your interest and will be sending testing jigs out when I get them, the interest has been incredible!! thank you.!

dont deep six the sickle just yet. ive been working with hook manufacturers and was told that the sickle , made the correct way, is very strong, the problem is inconsistency. The company im speaking with uses German steel, the best in the world, and have thier machines made by japanese companies. I myself have had very strong sickle hooks, and some very weak. its like a [censored] shoot, u never know what you will get. Im trying to change that. theres alot to it, and getting a strong hook, while keeping a desirable thickness diameter is challenging, but not impossible.
I want a hook with reliable consistency, so I always know what to expect, everytime.
how many times have we stuck a hook on a big fish and the hook bent, we just dont know.
I like to set my drag so that with a spirited hookset, it gives a bit, but I fish with several people who like to lock thier drag down.

Bud those are excellent questions, my thoughts on how the jig will travel thru the water is that with the eye facing horizontal, you may get more action, due to the eye creating a bit of resistance going thru the water, causing a slower fall,, it may even cause a slight wobbling action, As we all know especially in windy conditions, when the wave action is rough, pitching a jig out from cover and letting it pendulum over brush is highly effective, when fishing vertically wont garner a strike, I believe the fish station themselves on the slack side of cover and structure, and wait for something to come swimming by to ambush. for me, most times this is the only way I can get a strike when the waves are bucking the front of my boat around,

as far as a loop knot, there is no need to ever use them with this hook, they are in my opinion the worst knot you can tie. if the eye of the hook is properly formed there should not be a gap in the eye big enough for the line to slide through, and as u mentioned the knot will naturally want to stay in the center of the eye due to its orientation... . is there any other reason whatsoever that you tie a loop knot other than to try and make the jig sit level?
I cant think of one.
knowing that the loop knot is an inferior knot, in the application being used, but knowing it helps the jig sit level is what brought me to this desire to fix this situation.

If a knot is cinched down on an eye, I don't see how a jig can be expected to always stay horizontal, with pull on the line from different directions. If you cinch the knot down with the line facing forward, the jig would be horizontal while you're retrieving it, but not as it gets more directly underneath you. If you cinch it down with the line facing straight up, the jig wouldn't be horizontal with a horizontal retrieve, would it? That's why loop knots have such favor with crappie anglers. The line might rotate easier on this new jig than it would slide on a conventional crappie jig, but it seems to me it would still interfere with keeping a jig horizontal.

If you use 10 pound braid like I do, even an inferior knot like a non-slip loop knot is more than I can break without wrapping the line around a wooden dowel so I can get a hard enough pull to break it or bend the hook. I carry a sawed-off end of a broomstick just for this purpose. Besides its strength, the thing I love about braid is its small diameter. That lets a swimming jig get deeper with the same retrieve. But you'd be amazed at how small a gap small braid can get through. Even with hooks where I can't see a gap in the eye with a magnifying glass, small braid still manages to flatten enough to get through. I've taken to using a palomar knot when I tie directly to a single jig, just to avoid this problem. And powder paint just chips out of the way, so it doesn't stop braid from escaping. I'm going to try some vinyl paint to see if that does better, but I'm also going to compare with just using palomar knots instead, on the new jig.

I'm also in experiment mode on the two jig rigs. Where I can use them, they seem to draw a lot more bites for me. But when swimming a two jig rig, 90 percent of the bites always seem to be on the bottom jig, so I'm going to try just replacing the top jig with a split shot in situations where I'm prone to hang up a lot, and see if that draws close to as many bites. I've always figured it was the action of the two jigs tied together, rather than the fish seeing two jigs. Now that I swim jigs so much more than just fishing them vertically, it seems like a good time to experiment with split shots.

I finally got my order from Barlows. It took 9 days for them to get my order from Richardson to Gun Barrel City. That's far and away longer than I've ever waited for an order from Barlows in the past. The 32900 hooks aren't as similar to the 32746 hooks as I thought. The 32746 hooks have forged wire and a needle point, where the 32900 hooks have standard Mustad wire and their classic point. The point is still plenty sharp though, and they are about the same size. Here they are, side by side.



Bending the 32900 to 90 degrees wasn't a problem. I don't know how much that may have weakened the hook, but since the weakened spot will be in the middle of the jig head, I suspect that won't be a problem. Only some testing will tell. After you bend the 32900, it is, of course, shorter than the 32746.



Here are jigs made with both. These are 1/16 oz jigs with a size 2 hook (I prefer size 2 hooks on a 1/16 oz jig, rather than the prescribed size 4 hooks). It looks like the balance will be similar. I may test them out tomorrow, if storms don't keep me off the lake.

looking forward to your results. im thinking the lead will firm the bend up a bit, but there will still be some flexing of the metal inside the head. keep in mind, hooks are tempered after they are shaped. if your going to try this route, ive heard that lead tire weights have more iron content than the softer lead used for tackle, maybe it will keep the hook from flexing more? most tire shops are happy to give buckets of old weights away.

I don't do lead. The metal in my jig heads doesn't flex. It's a bismuth/tin alloy.

I got out and tested the new jig out this morning. As expected, storms chased me off the lake early this afternoon, but the bite was good this morning. Today wasn't by any means, exhaustive testing, but it was enough to give me a first impression.

First, a little about how I fish. I'm usually shooting a jig (or two). Even if it's not dock fishing or some other shooting situation, I still shoot. After 50 years of heavy machine shop work, my shoulders are cratered. I've learned that by shooting, rather than casting, I can fish all day and not wake up with my shoulders hurting the next morning.

When I shoot, I grasp the jig head, with the hook straight out to the side. That accomplishes two purposes. (1) It keeps the hook away from my fingers, so I never get hooked as I shoot the jig, and (2) if I'm using a palomar knot, as I pull back the jig, it automatically moves the knot to the top of the hook eye, right where it belongs. I don't have to do that separately, or even think about it.

I did use this jig with a palomar knot this morning. I was swimming a jig 16 feet deep, so I used a split shot above the jig. That does do a nice job of letting a 1/16 oz jig swim really slowly at that depth, and I caught fish on it. I noticed as I was shooting the jig that the knot seemed to be close to the top of the eye even before I pulled the jig back, moreso than with other jigs, so my first impression is that this jig does do a good job of accomplishing its stated goal of keeping the knot where it belongs. I may switch to this type jig in all situations where I tie a palomar knot directly to the jig.

But I ended up re-tying to my favorite two jig rig, to give the jig some time there too, and it worked great. As much as I like that rig, I don't think that's going to change because of this jig, but it's nice to know that if I decide to just use this jig everywhere, it works fine on my two jig rig, too. My two jig rig consists of a double eye 1/24 oz jig on top, and (usually) a 1/16 oz jig on the bottom. I posted about how I make that double eye jig in the jig making section, if anyone is curious about it. I've switched to better swivels since that post, but other than that, the jig hasn't changed. I just tie palomar knots to both eyes of the jig. The rig, itself, keeps the knots where they need to be, and the jig level, so there's no messing with that, and this jig fouls less than any top jig I've ever used in a two jig rig.

If you are tying to both eyes of a double eye jig, there's no reason not to use different lines on the top and bottom, and I do. I use Seaguar Blue Label 12 lb test fluorocarbon leader between the jigs. For a between jig leader, Blue Label 12 lb really checks all the boxes. It's so stiff it keeps the jigs apart better and fouls less than regular line. It's even more abrasion resistant than braid. It's a big enough diameter that it will never escape through the eye gap of a jig hook like braid does, and it's stong enough that even a non-slip loop knot will usually hold up all day. And if you're fishing clear water and concerned about line visibility, even 12 lb test fluorocarbon disappears in the water.


I wasn't in a situation where I was hanging these jigs up, so seeing what happens when I do will have to wait for another day, but so far, I really like these Mustad 32900 hooks.




Here's the two jig rig I favor. Usually, that bottom jig is a pill head jig too.




This jig really got a workout today. That frayed plastic tells the tale. And as I suspected, bending the hook didn't keep it from holding up fine in my bismuth/tin jig.




Modifying a mold to accommodate these hooks is easy. Just find a drill bit the same diameter as the hook eye indention in the mold. Use a center punch to get the bit centered in the eye indention, then drill the indention a little deeper. The mold will accept either style of hook after that with no difference in performance.

On a related matter, I've ordered a Do-It Midwestern Finesse Jig mold. Has anyone used one of those? It's intended for Ned rigging for bass, and I'll do some of that with it, but I want to try it for crappie jigs, too. It claims to accept size 2 hooks, so it's not too big for crappie. It has a wire keeper that I'd like to try out with my plastics. Ned rigging is one of the few bass fishing rigs where the users actually tie a loop knot, so these hooks might be a good alternative in that mold, too. Most bass fishermen use size 1 or 1/0 hooks for this jig, so availability of this style hook in those sizes would be nice, too.

Bud, great report. I have a couple of the double eye jigs a friend gave me, not sure where he got them but they are fantastic for double rigs. !
why the swivel on the line going to the bottom, swivels allow jigs and lures to spin.usually not what you want, does it automatically orient to the correct position?
I like to peg a split shot in between my double rigs, it keeps it very tangle free.
Keep the reports coming, thanks!

I used a swivel because that's what I had that worked. If I'd had a simple wire form, I would have used that, but the swivel works fine. A swivel doesn't spin unless something causes it to spin.

someone makes or made that wire form you could use, I will try to find one in my tackle room that im speaking of, it has an eye on the top and bottom. works great.

as far as what could cause the jig to spin, resistance in the water could cause it to spin, as it does other lures attached to a swivel, I see folks with crankbaits attached to swivels, and wonder what are they thinking,,, A crankbait will spin in the water and twist your line.. under tension the swivel doesnt spin as well as it does when not pulled tight. all it is is wire ends crimped in a barrel... no bearing, no oil, just brass rubbing against brass. or stainless steel rubbing against itself... It would be interesting to see what happens in a swimming pool when the rig is retrieved in deep water. It may not be spinning at all, or it may spin more than your thinking,.
This is why we test these things, things are not always as they seem.