Jika Rig Sinker Choices?

[snake95]

Have been intrigued by jika rigs and looking to put a few together.  I have some pre-made versions from Mustad, haven't fished them yet.

 

Planning to do it simply by attaching a dipsy sinker to an EWG hook with a split ring.

 

(I think dipsey and bass casting sinkers are the same?)

 

Any reason why this won't work?  (yes I am going to try it anyway and will report back)

 

Just curious if anyone can say they've used this type of sinker before, and if there are any pros/cons to different sinker options.

[MN Fisher]

18 minutes ago, snake95 said:

Just curious if anyone can say they've used this type of sinker before, and if there are any pros/cons to different sinker options.

I haven't used a Jika rig, but I think using a Dipsy would change the action as the water flow around the wider width would be different. Personally I think a slim Drop-shot sinker would be better...less turbulence behind it.

[Fishes in trees]

I've been making my own for a few years now.  Every construction choice is a compromise. 

Let me explain:   Yeah - dipsey/bass casting sinkers will work.  One of the earliest home made versions of this that I saw in print was one made by a Stacy King with a bass casting sinker.  My experiences is that they get stuck/pick up more vegetation than other options.  Stacy wrote (Ned Kedhe wrote for Stacy in the In-Fisherman Midwest Finesse section of that website)  that the pear shape of the bass casting sinker worked good in the deeper rocks found in Table Rock Lake & didn't get stuck as often as narrower sinkers did - in his opinion.  My experiences differ, but I generally fish waters that have much more vegetation than Table Rock Lake does.

 

The VM Tokyo rig is a solid wire - where you thread weight of choice on to the wire, then bend it so that it don't slip off.  In my mind there are a few things wrong with this rig.   The place where you bend the wire will catch on any available vegetation when you lift the rig.   I experimented with stiff wires & flexible wires quite a bit.  Biggest issue was after a few bites, the stiff wire just bent and flexible wire got kind of squiggly.  Neither one dropped straight after that ( which was my primary reason for going jika rig rather than tx rig.  Currently I make my droppers out of 80 lb fluorocarbon leader, I put little loops at either end to stop the weights from falling off and to connect to the split ring.

I started out using tungsten worm weights on my droppers, rigged  back to back, then I put a glass bead between them for kind of a noise maker.   They worked great, but it got kind of expensive in the experimenting process. losing 5 or 6 bucks worth of sinkers every time an experiment didn't work.

 I tried making lighter weight jika rigs - 3/8 & lighter didn't have the feel I was looking for and I wanted to rig to work on the bottom, so might was well get to the bottom ASAP.  Most of my home made ones are around a half ounce to 3/4 oz.

 

This winter, I plan to drop a c-note or so on more tungsten sinkers, so as to get just as heavy, but smaller package.   I still like the idea of a small noise maker between the back to back worm sinkers, jury is still out what size bead to use, but I've gotten bit on several different sizes of glass beads and never got bit when I tried to use rigs with a plastic bead between the back to back sinkers.

 

Don't know about bead color.  I tried a few shiny beads, the idea being that they might work as some sort of attractor, but I had better luck with camo colored olive/tan/black beads than anything else.

A "tiger eye" bead looked cooler, IMO and got nearly as many bites.

 

One of these days I need to learn how to post pictures and then I'll be able to shop pictures of the various iterations of jika rigs that I've come up with.  I fish them quite a bit and I believe that they are just as good or better than tx rigs for many situations.   When it comes to fishing deep weed lines at the end of main lake points, this is my initial go to presentation.

 

 

[Michigander]

I've been using these and they work great. They're longer than most weights. https://hitenausa.com/products/tungsten-stick-sinker.html

[snake95]

@Fishes in trees thank you, this is pure BassResource gold.  You've saved me and probably a bunch of others a ton of experimentation time.  Plus, I was going to buy some VMC rigs.  Now I won't!  I have wire leader I might try.

 

@Michigander also gold.  Those make a lot of sense.

 

 

[EzyEric]

On 12/27/2020 at 12:23 PM, Michigander said:

I've been using these and they work great. They're longer than most weights. https://hitenausa.com/products/tungsten-stick-sinker.html

These are interesting but only go up to 7 grams (1/4 oz) so wouldn't work that great for pinching. What application do you use them for?

[Michigander]

1 hour ago, EzyEric said:

These are interesting but only go up to 7 grams (1/4 oz) so wouldn't work that great for pinching. What application do you use them for?

They actually go into heavy cover far better than their weight would imply because they are long and thin. I'd say the 1/4oz had the same penetration performance as a 1/2-3/4 oz bullet weight.

 

I'm usually pitching these into vegetation and wood.

[bx.versatile]

I have the Gamakatsu Gika Rig in 3/8 it's thin, but a lot longer then expected. It's still great for quick clip on and a little cheaper then tungsten.

 

I've tried the tied on tungsten pencil weight, but find it to break especially with Pikes.