Lead head circle hook jig

[Barefootin]

I thought I might run this jig fishing technique by you guys who focus on this style of fishing. This is primarily a shallower water tactic (2 - 8oz jigs) and has so far been very effective on Red Snapper, Grouper, AJ and Cobia. This is meat fishing with a circle hook and described as follows:
I have spent the last few seasons experimenting with circle hooks in a jig application. The first obstacle was that a circle hook needs to be at least semi free swinging to work properly. I used the same molds and just had them modified to develope a mojo style head and inverted the head ring to accomodate a split ring to attach the circle hook.
It is now law that only circle hooks can be used when fishing for any reef fish in Gulf of Mexico waters with any natural bait, and you can bet that these restrictions will expand to other jurisdictions in the future.
This lure is designed for a verticle presentation only and has not been tested for any other applications as yet.
Jig fishing with circle hooks and bait is only remotely similiar to conventional jig fishing. A powerfull hook set and fervent jigging is counter productive with a circle hook as you will most probably just pull the hook from the fish's mouth. We are not trying to portray a fleeing / expiring prey as in conventional jigging.
The way to fish a circle hook jig rigged with bait, or at least what I have learned, is to drop slowly, hit bottom, reel a bit and gently twitch or shake the rod tip (repeat at varying depths). We want to give every indication that your lure is a squid & fish preoccupied with one another in a struggle. This is the portayal that instigates the strike reflex from the game fish.
The hook set is key. You must wait until the strike and simply maintain pressure on the line, keeping the rod tip up. Do not attempt to set the hook as you would with a J-hook. With circle hooks, the hook will set itself, usually in the corner of the fish’s mouth. This is the most difficult thing to convey to anglers, as we must train the angler to avoid the automatic reflex to pull hard and crank down on the reel, so as to “cross the fish's eyes” on a strike. So far, we have lost a few fish due to the learning curve but staying disciplined to the technique and using this constant pressure method, the circle hook is closing in on the effectiveness / hook up ratio of the J hook method.
This method is not simply a conservationist / fish mortality or a legality issue; we find that this strategy is a more relaxing technique on the water and highly effective.
A few words about circle hooks. We tested three quality hooks with the jig. The Owner 5379, and the VMC 7385 8/0 inline circles and the Eagle Claw 2004F offset 8/0 circles. Our testing and the feedback from others was that we experienced a better hook up ratio with the Eagle Claws so that is what we will rig the circle hook jig with although they can be rigged with either upon request. Rigging a jig with a circle hook is a new science; there is no testing of various models or sizes in this application that we can find.
I would appreciate any feedback from you guys on this tactic and would like to hear from you folks using the butterfly / knife style lures rigged with circles.
Thanks,

[Kimberly662]

I had given previous thought about rigging circle hooks as stingers, but haven't done so. Seeing that it has worked for you, I might follow through.

Another thing I had thought about with circle hooks is - with the hook in the corner of the mouth, and not IN the mouth. Theres not much room for cut-offs; with kings, and other toothy critters.

[Sea Draggin]

No circles for me. Not until they make me.

If I can get a hook stuck in one in the general vicinity of the mouth, thats good enough for me.

Anyway with jigs, I'll bet you could look through 100 of my pictures and the j hook would be right in the corner of the mouth in 97 of them.

[Barefootin]

Thanks for the feedback. I have lost only a few jigs to the toothy critters so far, maybe about the same loss percentage as fishing a knife style bait, but not near the cut offs you would get from fishing a natural bait free lined or knocker rigged. There is about 4" from the bend in the hook to the terminal ring. I have hooked and released some Kings, a Cuda and small sharks with the rig which kind of surpises me.
I find that although bait jigging and speed / freestyle jigging are quite differant techniques, they compliment each other in that if one is not working, the other is well worth trying before leaving a spot.