A Weedguard Conundrum

[AJ Hauser]

Hey all,

Happy Monday. This may be a silly question - but you know how trimming weedguards on store-bought jigs and such seems to be common advice? I find that when I trim them down, it actually makes the bristles stiffer and harder to bend or move. Have you experienced or thought this same thing when you're trimming weedguards?

 

I often find myself snipping a few of the bristles off all the way down by the head of the jig itself to reduce the number of fibers by the hook point after I shorten them. 

 

This seems to work ok, but I just want to know if I'm crazy...

 

Thanks for any thought(s) on this. Much appreciated.  

 

 

[Jar11591]

Yes the shorter you trim the weed guard, the stiffer it becomes. It’s easier to bend 8’ of aluminum than it is 4’. The shorter it gets the harder it becomes. Same concept. 
 

I may snip a few off, or spread them all out if I need to make it less stiff. 

[Mobasser]

Use a razor knife and thin them out. I cut a little at a time, then check them. I like to trim from the bottom.

[Deleted account]

Is it January already?

[ironbjorn]

Trimming also involves thinning so I think when this advice is given that the thinning part is also a given 

[WRB]

You can buy from Siebert  Outdoors (site sponsor) custom weed guard jigs with softer and smaller fiber weed guards in lieu of the standard.

Back in the day we spread the fiber weed guard out in the fan shape then separated the fan into a V shape, this is better then trimming.

Unless you are fishing in heavy cover flipping it pitching the softer weed guards work good.

If you use jigs with 90 degree standard hook eye like a ball or football style head don’t use a fiber weed guard. I fish deep rocky structure lakes with sparse cover and use a hitchhiker spring to attach a 2 1/2” length of finesse worm, screw the spring in the flat cut and skin hook the worm for a weed guard...works very good.

Tom

[AJ Hauser]

Got it - thanks guys - I was hoping I wasn't insane...

 

Have a great week!

[FrnkNsteen]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

You can buy from Siebert  Outdoors (site sponsor) custom weed guard jigs with softer and smaller fiber weed guards in lieu of the standard.

Back in the day we spread the fiber weed guard out in the fan shape then separated the fan into a V shape, this is better then trimming.

Unless you are fishing in heavy cover flipping it pitching the softer weed guards work good.

If you use jigs with 90 degree standard hook eye like a ball or football style head don’t use a fiber weed guard. I fish deep rocky structure lakes with sparse cover and use a hitchhiker spring to attach a 2 1/2” length of finesse worm, screw the spring in the flat cut and skin hook the worm for a weed guard...works very good.

Tom

I do the same thing with fanning out the weedguard. Curious about the finesse worm trick you mentioned, but having a hard time visualizing it. 

 

Would you be willing to take a picture and attach?

[detroit1]

AjH - this is not proof that you're not insane.  (lol)  (j/k) ?

[Fishingmickey]

5 hours ago, FrnkNsteen said:

I do the same thing with fanning out the weedguard. Curious about the finesse worm trick you mentioned, but having a hard time visualizing it. 

 

Would you be willing to take a picture and attach?

What WRB is saying is use a centering pin spring attached to the eye of the jig and take a piece of plastic worm. Screw one end of the plastic worm onto the center pin spring and take the other end and shove it over the hook point.

 

Hope that helps.

Fishingmickey

 

[FrnkNsteen]

18 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

What WRB is saying is use a centering pin spring attached to the eye of the jig and take a piece of plastic worm. Screw one end of the plastic worm onto the center pin spring and take the other end and shove it over the hook point.

 

Hope that helps.

Fishingmickey

 

Got it. Kind of like a combination of a swim bait/shakeyhead so the finesse worm bridges from the eye to the hook.

 

Makes sense! I will have to try that!! Thanks!

[Catt]

Oldham's & Hack Attack Fluorocarbon jigs require nothing to be done to the weedgaurd 

[PressuredFishing]

9 hours ago, AJ Hauser said:

 

Thanks for any thought(s) on this. Much appreciated.  

 

 

 I don't like weed gaurd hooks/lures, imo hookup ratio isn't good compared to worm hook. Worm hook is like 95%, jig is maybe 65%. Removing weed gaurd all together makes the hookup ratio much better even over a worm hook. The only reason I will fish a jig is for the skirted profile, and I'm already finding loopholes around that.

 

Also the one small advantage to weed gaurdjig  hooks over worm hooks is they seem to do much better around wood, often times worm hooks will come out of plastic and catch into wood, or branches pull worm down the shank of the hook and expose the point.

 

Other than that I'm fishing exposed or using loopholes like a punch skirt because I can choose the hook size and gauge amd weightI want instead of the "pros like"

[AJ Hauser]

Thanks @Catt I'll check 'em out!

[Catt]

13 hours ago, PressuredFishing said:

Worm hook is like 95%, jig is maybe 65%.

 

Weedgaurd ain't the problem, it's the angle of the hook eye.

 

Look at these two

 

 

[Columbia Craw]

I’m with Tom.  I watched a show with Lonnie Stanley in the 80’s where he showed two tips.  First was to divide the bristles in half and create a separation wedge. This creates a n open void in front of the hook point to increase hook ups. The second was to tie a half hitch over the hook eye after the jig is tied on. Stanley shared this allowed the jig to rock over limbs and branches.  I split the weed guard.  I pass on the half hitch.

[papajoe222]

Trimming definately stiffens a weed guard and there are times when that's advantageous. Wood and rock are two. Other times I'm in the same group as others; spread it out and leave a V. One thing I don't do is thin out the fibers. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

12 hours ago, WRB said:

You can buy from Siebert  Outdoors (site sponsor) custom weed guard jigs with softer and smaller fiber weed guards in lieu of the standard.

Back in the day we spread the fiber weed guard out in the fan shape then separated the fan into a V shape, this is better then trimming.

Unless you are fishing in heavy cover flipping it pitching the softer weed guards work good.

If you use jigs with 90 degree standard hook eye like a ball or football style head don’t use a fiber weed guard. I fish deep rocky structure lakes with sparse cover and use a hitchhiker spring to attach a 2 1/2” length of finesse worm, screw the spring in the flat cut and skin hook the worm for a weed guard...works very good.

Tom

Wow never heard of this before, gonna try that on Chatterbaits.    Thanks!

[PressuredFishing]

23 hours ago, Catt said:

Weedgaurd ain't the problem, it's the angle of the hook eye.

I don't know, seems as though hookup ratio improved tremendously after completely removing weed gaurd and fishing exposed, I also think that sense full size arkie style jigs have assadine heavy gauge hooks plays a role on my mh 10lb nylon setup. Eye angle may play some role, I also don't fish jigs a ton anymore compared to using a punch skirt for profile.

 

The easy solution was fishing heavier low stretch line+heavier rod but I refuse to continue to fish light submergant grass and wood cover with over 15lbs, the bass fishing industry needs to get itself under control on the overkill equiptment and tackle.

 

[Lead Head]

I have caught 100's of fish on Siebert dock rocker, brush, and swim jigs without modifying anything. Years ago I would trim or shape weed guards and the only difference I could tell was more lost jigs.

 

I'm almost always fishing some sort of cover, if I was in open water or lighter cover maybe I would have had a different experience. 

[WRB]

On 10/3/2022 at 10:36 PM, Fishingmickey said:

What WRB is saying is use a centering pin spring attached to the eye of the jig and take a piece of plastic worm. Screw one end of the plastic worm onto the center pin spring and take the other end and shove it over the hook point.

 

Hope that helps.

Fishingmickey

 

Similar but not a clip on True Turn Hicthhiker spring

CPS spring needs to be attached to the hook eye before tying the knot and screwing in the soft plastic.

Hitchhiker can be pre rigged with worm piece then simply clip onto the jig hook eye.

Tom