Rigging a shaky head

[ajschn06]

I've never been much of a fan of the T-Rig with a bullet weight- I've always used the VMC rugby jighead for worms.  It has the EWG style hook and the offset worm hook.  I see a lot of straight shank hooks for flipping and most "shakey heads" are straight hooks as well.  When you rig a straight shank shaky head with say, a trick worm, to me it looks so goofy with the way the worm is rigged- crooked head and all.  When i put on a trailer or soft plastic I want it to look as natural as possible, and it just doesn't with these hooks.  Obviously the pros do it so it doesn't matter, but I would have no confidence throwing something like that.  What is the advantage?

[Tatsu Dave]

Shakey Head with EWG hook. 

[ajschn06]

1 minute ago, Tatsu Dave said:

Shakey Head with EWG hook. 

For me it's gotta have the offset neck so I can right it and make it look natural.  Why do pros use straight shank ones?

[GetFishorDieTryin]

You can rig a worm perfectly with a straight shank

[ajschn06]

2 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

You can rig a worm perfectly with a straight shank

Prove it... I've never seen it.  There's always a kink at the top of the worm...

3 minutes ago, ajschn06 said:

Prove it... I've never seen it.  There's always a kink at the top of the worm...

 

I know that kink doesn't matter, but I can't fish a worm that way.  No confidence.  Thread is less about how weird I am, and more wondering what the advantage of that style is?

[Fishes in trees]

I think that the little kink at the top of the worm is a good thing - part of the presentation.   Rigging a trick worm straight on a strait shank shakey head is pretty easy - you just line it up a little bit different.  In the end, I don't think it matters all that much.

 

What matters to me is the tail of the worm.   Straight tail ?  Bulb on end of tail (like a trick worm)?

Paddle Tail?   Ribbon tail?   Most of the time I go with a paddle tail or a trick worm, but how many bites am I missing by not throwing a ribbon tail.   I know guys in Wisconsin & Minnesota whose favorite worm to put on a jig head is a 7" Berkley Power worm.   I've never been able to make that combo work for me.  

[scaleface]

I dont fish them that much but can rig them straight . Simply hold the hook against the worm the way you want it to look . Then take note where the hook enters and exits . There wont be a lot of hook in the worm but it will be straight .

[roadwarrior]

7 hours ago, Tatsu Dave said:

Shakey Head with EWG hook. 

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Megastrike_Shake2_Shakey_Head_4pk/descpage-MSSH.html

 

https://www.megastrike.com/product-page/mega-tube-crawdad

[whitwolf]

https://siebertoutdoors.com/products/ols/products/zenith-shaky-head

[ajschn06]

50 minutes ago, whitwolf said:

https://siebertoutdoors.com/products/ols/products/zenith-shaky-head

Those look nice- I’m not sure why that wasn’t the first place I looked 

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

I dont fish them that much but can rig them straight . Simply hold the hook against the worm the way you want it to look . Then take note where the hook enters and exits . There wont be a lot of hook in the worm but it will be straight .

Hey now there’s an idea- thank you…

4 hours ago, Fishes in trees said:

 

 I know guys in Wisconsin & Minnesota whose favorite worm to put on a jig head is a 7" Berkley Power worm.   

 

Not a traditional jighead but I’m in MN and the VMC rugby head with a 7” power worm has been very successful for me 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

8 hours ago, ajschn06 said:

Prove it... I've never seen it.  There's always a kink at the top of the worm...

Prove it?

Whether its screw lock or thread on its not that hard, you just have to use the right angle.

[paulmandude]

It seems like the pros don’t use ewg anything unless they have to because the plastic is too bulky. Supposedly there is better hook up when the hook point is not inline with the eye of the hook. They like to bury the hook point in the plastic rather than skin hooking. I don’t have any problems using ewg hooks Texas rigged but only have reg shakey heads and have no problem using those. 

[ChrisD46]

*The key with straight shank and round bend offset hooks is to start the point into the top of the worm head and come out of the bottom with the right slant / angle ... That will remove the crooked shape of the worm when you insert the hook point into the worm .

[papajoe222]

21 hours ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

Whether its screw lock or thread on its not that hard, you just have to use the right angle.

Exactly. The hook point should come through the worm on an angle the same way you rig a worm on a straight shank worm.  If you scrunch up the worm, and bring the hook point through and skin hook it on top, its going to look weird.  It'll still catch them, it just looks off.

[Bass Rutten]

The kink gives the worm a more tail up attitude and a slightly more vertical drop as well as a better hookup ratio, all advantages, that’s why the pros do it. I only want a straight and more streamlined horizontal presentation when trying to slither through vegetation, aka the slider rig. 

[Team9nine]

You have to keep in mind that so much of what is done today is still a carryover from history and the way “it’s always been done.” That was the only way to rig them in the beginning. 

 

The bent worm on a SH started because the first shakey heads were all built the same way, a larger traditional bass hook on a crappie style jig head. This was intentionally designed back in the 1980s by Davis Baits and Fred “Taco” Bland concurrently, but you can find rigging examples of this going back to the 1960s. It gets popular, everyone copies the original, and the tradition is set until someone breaks the mold. The EWG hook wasn’t even introduced until the mid 1990s by Gamakatsu, and it took a lot longer than that before it got popular and was later incorporated into a fixed jig head. 

[mrpao]

On 7/27/2021 at 9:13 PM, whitwolf said:

https://siebertoutdoors.com/products/ols/products/zenith-shaky-head

These look good but it seems that my hook up ratio on these is not as good. I seem to miss more fish and once hooked they sometimes come off. Maybe it's the thicker hook, not really sure.

I seem to have better luck with regular shaky heads like the spot sticker or owner shaky head design.

I normally only use light #6 fluro or #8 to #10 braid.

[PotatoLake]

Blaukat knows best

[OkobojiEagle]

https://www.sliderfishing.com/category.sc?categoryId=74

 

https://www.sliderfishing.com/product.sc?productId=484&categoryId=25

 

https://www.jigfish.com/product/title-shot/