dtrs5kprs

Sounds right. They for sure do it with tubes, Ned, sometimes shakey heads. Makes sense it would happen with a fluke too.

Thx. In wondered if they'd be running because of the marine side. They're on eBay too.

A Matzuo cost me one that would have gone 7+ out of Whites Branch in 2012. That was it for me. Lots of flex. The gammies are the ones that really bug me. Good solid pick ups, pound them, and it just never penetrates. Over and over. As much as he drives me nuts to watch, Zona did a good segment on setting the hook on brown fish last year. He happened to be fishing tubes, might have been with Zaldain. But he made a point of explaining why he just hammered each fish multiple times. His explanation was brownies will clamp so hard on a soft bait the first set may just move it, and they'll stay clamped, but not hooked. Made a ton of sense based on what I've seen, and talked to folks about.

On that line... I've heard of guys using a press to do it too. But I also lack that option. Apparently a long gone KC company called Ament made a lot of molds using steel protos, and pressing them into the aluminum blanks. I've seen a few, but don't own any.

Works if you have one. Mine is too small for it. I use an old ball peen. For years I just used a Dremel, but hammering or pressing it is definitely faster. Maybe a little cleaner, too.

Better look at that VMC. Offhand, I think it's 0.058in diameter, comparable Mustad is 0.060. Heavy on the offhand. If VMC made a hook suitable for Ned heads, I'd sure give it a spin, but so far they don't.

Not at all. I would say Mustad is generally "beefier" than Gamakatsu, about the same as Owner. Gammies run a full size small (2/0 Mustad is more or less the same as a 3/0 gammie). Owners and gammies may start sharper, but the Mustad will usually hold a point better...jigs, spinnerbaits. The cutting point Owners are a different animal altogether. VMC is becoming more and more available in heavier jig hooks. And their quality is excellent. Sharp, strong, good finish. Their flip jig hooks are amazing. I put a bunch of vmc hooks in heads for little brown jigs and tubes this winter. They run pretty close to the Mustad in terms of dimensions, once in a while one or the other will surprise you. That's a newer VMC in a bug jig. Similar version is available in a standard 60 degree eye. And the most heavily modified mold I use. Barlow's is a great place to get a guess on wire diameter. They usually have caliper measurements of diameter for one size of every hook in the catalog. Most Do-It molds have a little wiggle room on hooks. Some have quite a bit. Can often modify a mold to use multiple hooks, even different eye orientations. Some mods yield a head with a little more flash, easy enough to trim if it does the job. Takes a hammer, a Dremel, some patience, and sometimes a little JB Weld. If you're just needing to jump from say #1 to 2/0, you my just need the hammer. Put the bigger hook in the mold, close it, start gently tapping the frame, beginning at that cavity, but working up and down the frame. Especially in the middle. Might have to use a small piece of masking tape to hold the bigger hook in place. We have somewhere north of 40-50 molds. Solid 2/3 are modded out in some way.

Yep. And eventually they'll have to fill TR back up a bit because of Bull. Or more precisely the lower White and the Mississippi. You can feel it coming, again.

😐

Heh.

Surprised me too, Mitch. It was one of the first hooks I put in a Ned head, after the horrible Gamakatsu 114s. I'll stick with the little Mustad. And occasionally, to it 😁.

Thanks Bill. Hope you, and everyone else, had a blessed, if unconventional, Easter.

She's an absolute clown. Also won't let stores sell infant car seats. Insanity.

The corrosion issue with the Owner isn't so much in the box, as rigged. I was seeing rust in them after one day of use. Doesn't hold up to the salt.

I don't run anything bigger than the #2 heavy Mustad in a Ned head. Defeats the purpose, and hangs up more. We've poured a couple three of them that way 😉.

The 5318 is super sharp, but bends out, and corrodes badly. Had high hopes for it. Think that mold is also cut to take a 604 Gamakatsu in #1. We used that one, but had trouble with points rolling. Corrosion resistance is good. Good hook, if you don't mind chucking out some heads every day. Stopped putting it in our jigs about 4 years ago. Sickles never worked for me, in any size under 3/0. Probably just me. The eagle claw version seems less sharp than the old Matzuo, which apparently went bye bye. The Mustad 32883, size #2 rocks. Same size as the Gamakatsu (they run a full size small). 2x heavy wire. It's made for salmon and steelhead, basically looks like a little bitty shakey head hook. Points hold up. Good corrosion resistance...I just pulled some cut sticks off that had been on rods since 2018, no rust. That's my choice. The shank to eye leg length is designed to be shorter. This gives it a larger effective gap to listed size, bit does mean most molds have to be tweaked to take it. That's pretty much the range. I've seen references to Mustad version of the sickle, but haven't actually seen one yet.

Tips for Loctite (including the gel)... Work quickly. Get the lid off, and back on ASAP. If you're using a wire guard bait, run the guard down the nozzle. Help keep it open. As soon as you start to see that congealed looking goop at the tip, break it off with pliers, and run something down the nozzle. Wire guard, old spinnerbait wire, whatever. If that goop sets up, it kills the bottle. Don't over squeeze. That can cause the glue to run down the outside of the nozzle. Bad juju. It's like brylcreem, a little dab will do ya'. I'll go through about 5-8 bottles on a two and a half week trip. And we run it on almost everything plastic, plus braid knots. Spinnerbait trailers are about the only thing we don't glue. Even use it on mojo and Carolina rigs to keep the bait on the hook bend.

Went to the Loctite bottles years ago, because I was using the tubes on grubs. Had a tube blow up in the pocket of a fish shirt. Good times.

I'd much rather swim a grub.

😏

Yep. That's the new wrinkle, on top of the old wrinkle. As for Barlow's, they're generally pretty quick, at least if it's big enough to go out priority. Ordered 3 molds and had them in 2 days this week. Haven't shipped to Kim City from Barlow's though. Have the feeling that's the hang up. Waited on a part from Mercury in 06. Overnight was 3 days then, too. 😀

The weekend makes sense. And here in KC, I can get 2 day or overnight on schedule. At the lake...nope. Jann's Netcraft? Yep. It gets there on schedule.

Only takes 3 days to Kimberling City. Please, please don't ask how I know. Or why I have 27 Schooner Creek Road as an alternate PayPal address. 😂😂

Throwback to the old Willow Z.

Like an imported bowfin.