Wire weed guards, do you trim them

[Bdnoble84]

Havent fished with wire weedguards much but I poured some jigs with them last night. They extend pretty far past the hook point. Those of you who use wire weedguard jigs, do you trim them down/ position them a specific way?

[Jig Man]

I use 45-90# Surflon coated stainless steel leader wire.  I want the weed guard to reach past the hook point to almost the barb on the hook.  My opinion is that it needs to be long enough to actually work and limber enough to not hinder the hook set.  
 

The pic is 1/8 and 1/4 oz swim bait heads with 60# Surflon.  I fish them with 30# braid and 10-12# fluorocarbon leaders.

[heavyduty]

5 hours ago, Jig Man said:

I want the weed guard to reach past the hook point to almost the barb on the hook.  My opinion is that it needs to be long enough to actually work and limber enough to not hinder the hook set.  
 

 

Exactly. I also like to bend down the end of the guard above the hook, imagine "L" shaped, just the last 1/16" or so. What I can grab in a pair of needlenose pliers. I think it aids in the guard collapsing when the fish bites down vs sticking in the roof of the mouth. Just a personal preference. 

[Jig Man]

6 hours ago, heavyduty said:

Exactly. I also like to bend down the end of the guard above the hook, imagine "L" shaped, just the last 1/16" or so. What I can grab in a pair of needlenose pliers. I think it aids in the guard collapsing when the fish bites down vs sticking in the roof of the mouth. Just a personal preference. 

Munkin also bends the guard.  I find it gets tangled up in my leader.

[smalljaw67]

You can trim a wire weed guard but then it depends on what type. Single strand wire weed guards you simply trim the end and hit it with a little sandpaper and you are fine. With braided wire you need to seal the end or it will unravel not to mention be very sharp. I trim my wire weed guards to be just a little past the hook point. Then I heat the wire up a little and dip the end in black powder paint. Just the last 1/8" or so I dip and that will seal the end and keep the wire together and give the end a dull point so you or the fish don't get stuck.

[Bdnoble84]

4 hours ago, smalljaw67 said:

You can trim a wire weed guard but then it depends on what type. Single strand wire weed guards you simply trim the end and hit it with a little sandpaper and you are fine. With braided wire you need to seal the end or it will unravel not to mention be very sharp. I trim my wire weed guards to be just a little past the hook point. Then I heat the wire up a little and dip the end in black powder paint. Just the last 1/8" or so I dip and that will seal the end and keep the wire together and give the end a dull point so you or the fish don't get stuck.

Thank you. That makes sense. I bought braided guards from barlows. I was worried about the sharpness of the guards. That seems like an easy solution.

[osummerer23]

Not the single wire weed guards, but on jigs with multi plastic one, I cut on an angle to the barb of the hook. When I get snagged, it seems to wrap around the stick instead of the hook getting stuck. 

[Jig Man]

4 hours ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Thank you. That makes sense. I bought braided guards from barlows. I was worried about the sharpness of the guards. That seems like an easy solution.

A little super glue should do the same.

[Bdnoble84]

Does the positioning look good. It actually is inline with the hook. I put sally hansons on the weedguard when i was tying the skirt.