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Over my roughly 30 years of fishing, I have used many brands and styles of jigheads ranging from 1/16-oz to 1.5-oz. For many of those years, I bought whatever was cheapest. Most of the time the low- and mid-grade hooks and jighead styles caught fish. Occasionally, a weak hook would break off at the shank or get bent out of shape if I needed to use pliers.
As my passion for fishing and frequency of fishing have increased during the past few years, I looked to find higher quality jigheads that were more dependable. In our own region, we have several small businesses that make quality jigheads (Hardhead Custom Baits, G-Eye Jigs, Coach Jigheads) using good designs and top-notch hooks. These tend to be pricey and often are not made in the light weights I generally use (1/8-oz or 3/16-oz) for the shallow water fishing I favor. I often cast close to the shoreline where there are plenty of opportunities to snag a lure on submerged wood or other objects. Most of the time, I can paddle over and retrieve my lures, but I seem to lose about 1 jighead every trip or so. Over time, the costs do add up. I kept looking for other options.
I first learned of Eye Strike Fishing, a South Carolina company, through my Tampa kayak guide Neil Taylor. For several years, they supplied Neil with jigheads to use on his charters. Once I started using them, I was hooked (figuratively and literally). Eye Strike makes several lines of jigheads for different types of fishing. The ones that I liked the best are called Trout Eye jigheads. These come with a 2/0 hook and are available in 1/8-oz, 3/16-oz, and 1/4-oz sizes (I use the 3/16-oz).
Here is what I like about their jigheads.
- They have a high quality and strong Mustad hook (I have never bent one, even with hard twisting with pliers or on a strong fish). I will crimp the hook barb before using these -- the ones shown are fresh out of the package and have not been crimped yet.
- They have a double tail-holder barb on the shank to keep plastic tails more securely on the hook (I know that some Snaggedline members use superglue to attach tails -- I do not do that and like the double barb)
- They have huge eyes that really sparkle in the sunlight as I wind them through the water (the eyes are available in 5 colors -- all catch fish for me).
PXL_20201208_151329651.jpg
They are fairly expensive when bought at retail in 3-packs (note that Eye Strike jigheads are licensed to Z-Man and are often sold in retail 3-packs with that label). But if you order through the Eye Strike website, you can purchase larger numbers at a good discount.
My current stock of these jigheads was starting to run low. Last week, I went to the Eye Strike website with the intention of buying 100 Trout Eye 2/0 jigheads. I learned that these were out of stock. I wrote to the Eye Strike sales department and was advised that like many things during this pandemic year, their hook supplier was way behind and could not send them those 2/0 hooks until 2021. The sales manager suggested that I try a similar line of jigheads called the Trout Eye Finesse. These have the same heads but use slightly smaller 1/0 hooks.
2020-08-11-001 (2).jpg
My order of the Finesse jigheads arrived yesterday. Both the original Trout Eye (top) and the Finesse (bottom) shown in the photo are 3/16-oz. The 1/0 hook has a slightly smaller gap and is not as long as the 2/0, but the size difference does not look significant. I plan to try these out while pickerel fishing this winter to see how they compare to the standard Trout Eye ones.
PXL_20201208_151446196.jpg
Although I generally stick with the 3/16-oz size, I ordered a mix of 1/8-oz (bottom) 3/16-oz (2nd from top), and 1/4-oz (3rd from top) sizes of the Finesse jighead. The Trout Eye with 2/0 hook is shown at the top for comparison.
2020-08-11-001.jpg
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have no financial stake in Eye Strike. This review is purely a product review.
As my passion for fishing and frequency of fishing have increased during the past few years, I looked to find higher quality jigheads that were more dependable. In our own region, we have several small businesses that make quality jigheads (Hardhead Custom Baits, G-Eye Jigs, Coach Jigheads) using good designs and top-notch hooks. These tend to be pricey and often are not made in the light weights I generally use (1/8-oz or 3/16-oz) for the shallow water fishing I favor. I often cast close to the shoreline where there are plenty of opportunities to snag a lure on submerged wood or other objects. Most of the time, I can paddle over and retrieve my lures, but I seem to lose about 1 jighead every trip or so. Over time, the costs do add up. I kept looking for other options.
I first learned of Eye Strike Fishing, a South Carolina company, through my Tampa kayak guide Neil Taylor. For several years, they supplied Neil with jigheads to use on his charters. Once I started using them, I was hooked (figuratively and literally). Eye Strike makes several lines of jigheads for different types of fishing. The ones that I liked the best are called Trout Eye jigheads. These come with a 2/0 hook and are available in 1/8-oz, 3/16-oz, and 1/4-oz sizes (I use the 3/16-oz).
Here is what I like about their jigheads.
- They have a high quality and strong Mustad hook (I have never bent one, even with hard twisting with pliers or on a strong fish). I will crimp the hook barb before using these -- the ones shown are fresh out of the package and have not been crimped yet.
- They have a double tail-holder barb on the shank to keep plastic tails more securely on the hook (I know that some Snaggedline members use superglue to attach tails -- I do not do that and like the double barb)
- They have huge eyes that really sparkle in the sunlight as I wind them through the water (the eyes are available in 5 colors -- all catch fish for me).
PXL_20201208_151329651.jpg
They are fairly expensive when bought at retail in 3-packs (note that Eye Strike jigheads are licensed to Z-Man and are often sold in retail 3-packs with that label). But if you order through the Eye Strike website, you can purchase larger numbers at a good discount.
My current stock of these jigheads was starting to run low. Last week, I went to the Eye Strike website with the intention of buying 100 Trout Eye 2/0 jigheads. I learned that these were out of stock. I wrote to the Eye Strike sales department and was advised that like many things during this pandemic year, their hook supplier was way behind and could not send them those 2/0 hooks until 2021. The sales manager suggested that I try a similar line of jigheads called the Trout Eye Finesse. These have the same heads but use slightly smaller 1/0 hooks.
2020-08-11-001 (2).jpg
My order of the Finesse jigheads arrived yesterday. Both the original Trout Eye (top) and the Finesse (bottom) shown in the photo are 3/16-oz. The 1/0 hook has a slightly smaller gap and is not as long as the 2/0, but the size difference does not look significant. I plan to try these out while pickerel fishing this winter to see how they compare to the standard Trout Eye ones.
PXL_20201208_151446196.jpg
Although I generally stick with the 3/16-oz size, I ordered a mix of 1/8-oz (bottom) 3/16-oz (2nd from top), and 1/4-oz (3rd from top) sizes of the Finesse jighead. The Trout Eye with 2/0 hook is shown at the top for comparison.
2020-08-11-001.jpg
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have no financial stake in Eye Strike. This review is purely a product review.
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