Best jig head style for rocky bottoms

Kdog

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I tend to bottom bounce jigs most of the season. Fish a lot of rocky points and flats.  Been experimenting with a lot of different jig head styles in search of the one that does not get hung up as often.  Although it may be a moot point, I have one head style that seems better and will withold comment until I hear what others think.  Iuse 1/32 and 1/16oz jigs and 4 to 6 pound fluoro line. Please let me know your thoughts
 

Jig Man

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Can't say I have tried them all, but everything I have tried gets hung up. Usually between rocks, I use 12 lb fireline and as hard as that stuff is to break I still loose jigs. I stay away from spinners and either use round or flat. The flat is used to imitate a crayfish...
 

AtticaFish

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I've never really found a good one for getting down and dirty in the rocks. I have settled on using mainly hooks that are unbalanced with a 60° leg to the hook eye whenever i plan on casting swimming jigs and trying to keep them as close to the bottom as possible. They seem to tick off of the bottom and keep moving a little better. Not sure if they don't roll off to the side on contact as bad as 90° does?
 

duffy

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Most of our river walleye are fairly deep at times and we use mostly 1/4-3/8 for weight on 10# fireline.  I’ve used the Erie jigs in the past but have gotten a football mold lately to try. I personally haven’t had the chance to try them but my buddy and his son that I’ve given some to feel that they get hung up less and when they do it’s easier to get unstuck. I need for my wife to try them because she can get hung up on a smooth concrete floor.  :D
 

Hawnjigs

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Don't think a magic no snag open hook jig head design exists, but I prefer a flat bottom to slow the fall and like AtticaFish a forward hook eye to lift the nose on the pull. I lose a lot less jigs since JiggerJohn taught me the "bowstring" twang to twitch a hook point backwards on the pressure release. Stuck between rocks tho is terminal if you can't reverse the direction of pull.
 

jiggerjohn

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I think Hawn is being too modest, in that his personally developed flat HU design is great among rocks! However his 1/28 roundhead jig with a no 8 hook is my go -to among boulders fishing, such as I find from Lake Erie rock piers. It's the small jig gap and light "gliding" weight that often has me steadily fishing in these rock fields,with rare hang-ups! Have actually gone entire bottom working sessions without losing a jig (tho as Hawn mentions, the "shooting" or sling--shootting a stuck jig with stretchy mono is sometimes called into play!).
 

hookup

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For smallies, the old saying is "if you're loosing them, you're fishing right"

I searched for years for a snag-resistant jig and finally found one. Guy up north modified a Doit SWM ice bait mold and started pouring some nice bass jigs. He had production molds made and added them to his soft plastic line.

I copied the design with a dremel and a little jb weld for my own fishing and use them for just about every soft plastic I throw/

I can fish rocky bottoms all day with this and only louse a couple to either wood or casting where I know I shouldn't
 

Bucho

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The only head design that had a significantly higher survival rate on rocks was the Do-It tip-up. It really stays put on top of rock surfaces rather than sliding into cracks. But they start at 1/8th.
 

Kdog

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Given my preference for lighter jigs, By preference is in order of least snag
Shad Dart
Bat Jig
minnow head
ball head

However Tje ball head seems to catch more fish or possibly because I use it the most. There are a lot of rock piles and stump fields where I fish as well as a lot of submersed foundations many of which were stone as well as a number of rock fences. Each presents a lot of challenges and all will take jigs in a heartbeat. in winter the lake level is lowered considerably and some years you can even wlak out to the features and pick up all sorts of goodies as well as modify the features many of the rocky areas are large flat rocks and small boulders along with a whole lot of dinner plate sized flat rocks at all kinds of weird configurations. Walleye lay in the cracks and crevasses and rarely come out of the cover to feed. you gotta get the bait down to them and the lighter the better. Windier days you can get by with a bit more weight but you gotta bounce it slowly in and around the features, Modern trolling motors have held a lot we can program a line and depth and speed a do pretty good. but still loose an awful lot of jigs. Ive seen a lot of days where 30 to 40 jigs lost is common. Im always happy when I only loose a couple dozen. Using the light fluorocarbon line, regular retying of jig is a must but worthwhile. One of the top fishermen on the lake says every drift and after every pickup, he reties or changes colors, he looses a ton of jigs but he fishes almost every day.

I dont think there is a perfect jig head style but do feel there has to be one less prone to snagging. Always looking for solutions. I still cast around 2000 jigs for personal use every year but the fish are so persnickety that you need around 50 colors. I have over 30 shades of orange and on certain days only one of the shades will catch fish. I think it mostly depends on what color egg sacks are floating around because often orange with little red streaks is the ticket but its gotta have the right orange color and what works this week often wont get a hit next week.
 

duffy

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Eastern WA.
I often wondered if a harder material would make a difference and had cast some jigs out of my bullet casting blend. Regular lead runs around 5 Brinell and the batch I tried was running around 20-23 Bn. They were lighter and while I did get a chance to compare I couldn't really conclude if it made any difference or not other than the weight. This was before tungsten really came along and I've always wondered if the really hard tungsten had a tendency to not dig in or hang up on rocky crevices. My train of thought is that two very hard surfaces slide more easily together VS the hard digging into the softer surface and galling it and making it stick. Or I'm just over-thinking it again. I haven't tried tungsten because I'm cheap and couldn't imagine losing a mess of them.
 

Kdog

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I dont think in my case hardness matters, most of the rock are limestone or shale very few rounded surfaces.
 

Hawnjigs

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Altho I don't use shad darts too often, with no better choice it could be my #1 go-to.  I like the stock 1/64 & 1/32 forward hook eye, so modified my 1/8 and larger sizes using the older bigger face version.

View attachment 8

I agree lighter weight smaller hook jigs are best snag resistant, like JiggerJohn's 1/28 #8 jigs, but my apps in moving water require heavier heads that best fit larger hooks.
 

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