Does anyone anywhere make tungsten ballhead jigs?

[RealtreeByGod]

A ballhead jig small enough to catch panfish on, yet heavy enough to be thrown more than 20 feet by a UL, is intriguing to me and I'm sure I'm not the first person to ever think of it. 

[RoLo]

 

A 1/16oz to 3/16oz lead-head jig are plenty small enough for bluegills, redears, crappies, perch ~ ~

 

Roger 

[A-Jay]

On 7/11/2020 at 11:25 AM, RealtreeByGod said:

A ballhead jig small enough to catch panfish on, yet heavy enough to be thrown more than 20 feet by a UL, is intriguing to me and I'm sure I'm not the first person to ever think of it. 

These may fit the bill ~ 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Keitech_Super_Round_Tungsten_Jig_Head/descpage-KSR.html

 

A-Jay

[WRB]

Jackell makes tungsten ball heads.

Turner Jones made his micro jigs in 1/128, 1/64, 1/32 oz tiny sizes and may still be availble at Ozark Angleres Tackle. Phenominal jgs.

Tom

[RealtreeByGod]

1 hour ago, RoLo said:

 

A 1/16oz to 3/16oz lead-head jig are plenty small enough for bluegills, redears, crappies, perch ~ ~

 

Roger 

But they're often too light to cast very well. I was thinking something like 1/8-3/8oz but with small panfish hooks. 

[WRB]

Look at tungsten Crappie jigs.

You can also use a casting bubble or slip bobber to cast light weight jig/flies.

Tom

[RoLo]

6 minutes ago, RealtreeByGod said:

But they're often too light to cast very well. I was thinking something like 1/8-3/8oz but with small panfish hooks. 

 

Yes, that might be a different story.

[fishwizzard]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

These may fit the bill ~ 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Keitech_Super_Round_Tungsten_Jig_Head/descpage-KSR.html

 

A-Jay

All the little Keitech tungsten jigheads are great, fine-wire hooks that seem as strong as most thicker ones.  They are very painful to lose however, it's a very sad feeling when you have one snagged deep and know that your 6lb mono isn't going to get it back for you.  

[A-Jay]

11 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

All the little Keitech tungsten jigheads are great, fine-wire hooks that seem as strong as most thicker ones.  They are very painful to lose however, it's a very sad feeling when you have one snagged deep and know that your 6lb mono isn't going to get it back for you.  

I know the feeling well.

Seems whenever I fish Old Ned, he enjoys snuggling up under the wood I fish around  . . . .

#houdinitungsten

A-Jay

[Nibbles]

On 7/11/2020 at 4:47 PM, fishwizzard said:

All the little Keitech tungsten jigheads are great, fine-wire hooks that seem as strong as most thicker ones.  They are very painful to lose however, it's a very sad feeling when you have one snagged deep and know that your 6lb mono isn't going to get it back for you.  

Yep they're great for the most part, but I've a few observations after several outings where I used them nearly exclusively.

 

One thing to note is that they're made from a tungsten-resin compound, not pure tungsten.

 

So the ball heads themselves are not actually noticeably more compact than lead heads.

 

Furthermore the bait keepers are made from the same composite material. While relatively resistant to abrasion and impacts, it does not seem very resistant to torsion (twisting force perpendicular to the base of where the hook meets the jig head).

 

This means if your jig is smacked hard by a big bass (or mangled by a pike), a crack may form around the base of the the bait keeper from the torsion, and it will eventually fall off (the rest of the jig head seems to stay intact and appears to be resistant to chipping/flaking)

 

Minor annoyances, but at ~$1.30 apiece it does get annoying.

 

On the other hand, it really says something about the hook quality when I'm able to horse 26"+ pike into the boat on several occasions using these tiny jigs with light wire #2 or #3 hooks. 

 

I like them in 3/32 oz weight with the #2 Katsuiichi sickle hooks, seem to have a better hookup ratio than their #1 and 1/0 round bend ones. Definitely heavy enough to throw on ML/M spinning setups, or a L/ML casting setup.

[fishwizzard]

58 minutes ago, Nibbles said:

 

This means if your jig is smacked hard by a big bass (or mangled by a pike), a crack may form around the base of the the bait keeper from the torsion, and it will eventually fall off (the rest of the jig head seems to stay intact and appears to be resistant to chipping/flaking)

 

Interesting, I don't think I have ever had that happen, but I also tend to use them for smaller creeks/streams so a "big bass" is maybe 14" and the only pike are smaller pickerel.  I mostly use their tiny football shakeyhead jigs, they are ideal for a thin 4-5" worm or small/thin paddletails.  The hooks really are amazingly strong for their size and they seem to stay quite sharp even after a day of river fishing.  I don't know if I have ever seen the ones with Daiichi sickle hooks, I will have to look for some.  

 

I bought most of mine in lots via ebay.  There were a few sellers who would have them every so often and the savings on a 5-10 pack lot got the price down to under a buck, which takes some of the sting out.  

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, Nibbles said:

Yep they're great for the most part, but I've a few observations after several outings where I used them nearly exclusively.

 

One thing to note is that they're made from a tungsten-resin compound, not pure tungsten.

 

So the ball heads themselves are not actually noticeably more compact than lead heads.

 

Furthermore the bait keepers are made from the same composite material. While relatively resistant to abrasion and impacts, it does not seem very resistant to torsion (twisting force perpendicular to the base of where the hook meets the jig head).

 

This means if your jig is smacked hard by a big bass (or mangled by a pike), a crack may form around the base of the the bait keeper from the torsion, and it will eventually fall off (the rest of the jig head seems to stay intact and appears to be resistant to chipping/flaking)

 

Minor annoyances, but at ~$1.30 apiece it does get annoying.

 

On the other hand, it really says something about the hook quality when I'm able to horse 26"+ pike into the boat on several occasions using these tiny jigs with light wire #2 or #3 hooks. 

 

I like them in 3/32 oz weight with the #2 Daiichi sickle hooks, seem to have a better hookup ratio than their #1 and 1/0 round bend ones. Definitely heavy enough to throw on ML/M spinning setups, or a L/ML casting setup.

I have only positive experiences with these heads the 2 or 3 seasons I've been fishing them.

Had a few decent brown bass smack them with no ill effects.

But I'll keep an eye out for trouble.

Thanks for the heads up.

A-Jay

 

[Nibbles]

I mean I still keep buying more so... ?