Could be a bad batch of hooks. Certainly not outside the realm of possibility.
With sickle hooks I find you really need to drive a solid/deep hookset. The hook needs to penetrate to the bend or at least close to it. If you succeed in doing this the hook is very unlikely to bend out, and the fish will have a harder time spitting the hook than if you were using a standard round bent hook (aka Owner jig hooks). If the hook is just tacked in place you risk bending it out.
I've noticed if floating 1/0 jig hooks (1/4oz or bead head) if I'm using my lighter rod (med power, 8-12 line rating) I'm MORE likely to straighten a hook than if I'm using my heavier rod (med-heavy, 12-20 line rating). The lighter rod just doesn't drive the hook deep enough.
I don't seem to have this issue driving #1 jig hooks with the lighter rod.
Quick funny anecdote: So last fall the wife and I are fishing the Harrison river for chum. On her rod (a bent Rod's hook, but my own tie) I tied on the chum jig that had been out fishing all other chum jigs by a mile. On my rod I tied an average, nothing special, chum jig. After a couple hours she has hooked about 8 and me 2 or 3. I didn't tell her she had the "money jig" on. Let her think she was whooping my arse fair and square. After lunch she hooked about 6 in an hour to my 1 or 2. But every one came unbuttoned after a short fight after the hookset. She is getting pissed. I'm telling her to keep her rod up and so on. She says I AM (!!). Loses another fish or two. I'm catching SFA. Finally she says my leader is getting pretty rashed up, you mind cutting it off and tying a new one on? I say ya no problem. When I go to cut her jig off I see that the hook is bent OPEN, and quite a bit! I'm like THIS is why you keep losing fish! Your damn hook point is pointing to 3-o-clock! I bent it back with pliers and she proceeded to land the next fish she hooked. Clean doe chum (back when you could retain them). B-O-N-K. Morale of the story: give you gear + leader a check after each fish. Replace leader or bent back hook if required.
Another funny anecdote to illustrate the power this jig has over chum: A couple weeks before the day mentioned about with the wife, fishing the Harrison with a buddy. We were up past the piles just HAMMERING chum all morning. I was fishing the money jig (actually I named it "cash money"). That jig got rode hard and put away wet. We decide to gear up and go fish the mouth. Roll in around 11am. Several guide boats anchored up. Many recreational boats anchored up. I manage to find a good spot to scoot up on shore. I prefer to fish from shore as I can walk up and down until I find where the fish are lying that time of day; whereas, in a boat you often get "stuck" around other boats and you have to cast to the same water, or pull anchor and move. Anyway, we don't rush to start fishing. We watch and see what is going on for about 15 minutes. No one is catching anything. Yawn....we put out rods together. I walk up a bit about 200 feet to where I was hooking chum the other day. No one is fishing/standing there - sweet! I start up a chat with a guide across from me. He says SFA for about the last 30 minutes. He's thinking of going else where. Chum are there but have lockjaw. I toss in FIRST cast...drift...drift...BOOM!! Land a huge male, yuck, release. Guide remarks how lucky I am. Couple more casts...BOOM! Land a clean doe. B-O-N-K. Now guide is quiet. Clients look a bit pissed. I landed 2 more males in the next 15 or so casts. Then said I needed to take a break as my arms were getting sore. They proceeded to fish for another 15-20 min and caught nothing. LOL! Sorry dude - it's not me it's the jig I swear it!!!
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Topic: Bent Rod jig hooks (Read 5709 times)