80% of my fishing and 95% of my catching is done with jigs. I generally use plain old curly tail grubs or Gulp Swimming Shad in the 3" to 6" size. I go through a lot of jig heads and have tried many different verities. My favorite are simple unpainted 1/4oz heads with long shanks. Gamakatsu are my favorite.
I have two problems with jigs. First, they snag easily. Few things suck more than sneaking up to a perfect spot, and then spooking everything with a snag. Second, I get a lot of short and missed strikes. I am constantly looking to increase my hookup rate.
I few weeks ago I stumbled upon the
Megastrike E2 Shakey Head Jig. They claim to present the bait in such a way as to increase strikes and hookups. They also can be rigged weedless. Plus, These jig heads are designed for finesse fishing, my favorite technique.
Sounds perfect, right?
At $6 for a pack of four, they have a lot to live up too.
When I opened the package I was impressed by their quality of construction. The heads were painted very nicely and the hooks were sharp. Scary sharp. The sharpest I have ever seen. Much sharper than a sewing needle.
I also like the Pro-Shake E2's long shank.
First impression? They look promising.
On a closer look, things were not so good. Two of the four jig heads had thick paint covering the eye. The paint was so thick over the eye I had to literally drill it out with a small drill bit and my cordless drill. This is why I prefer unpainted jig heads. Clogged eyes should not happen with jigs of this price point.
Another problem came when I tried to rig them weedless. The screw that holds the soft plastic to the head was not sharp enough to easily pierce the soft plastic grubs. After a few minutes of fumbling I gave up.
On the water they performed like......normal jig heads. I caught fish, nice fish, but no more or less than I would have with cheap unpainted heads. They snagged just as easily, perhaps more so due to their large hook gap. In fact, I lost three of the four to snags on barnacle crusted rocks.
I still missed strikes with the same consistency as normal jig heads.
So, are they worth the extra cost? Nope. They are fine jigs. In some conditions they might perform slightly better than regular cheap-o's, but they are not easily made weedless and did not increase hookups for me. The fact that the eyes of half of them were clogged with paint is a deal breaker all in itself.
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