Hook size for 3/8 oz and 1/2 oz football jig?

[Micropterus salmoides]

Going to order some custom jigs and wonder what size Mustad hook, 4/0 or 5/0, is preferred for 3/8 oz and 1/2 oz. Which one provides better hook up ratio for largemouth. I think most of the ones I see use 4/0, but it seems small to me. Maybe because I'm so used to the larger hook on Arkie flipping jigs.

[Oldschool]

My recommendation is 5/0 Gamakatsu #114 on both the 3/8 & 1/2 oz., this hook is extremely sharp and strong, ideal for a football head.
Tom

[Doug Warren]

My recommendation is 5/0 Gamakatsu #114 on both the 3/8 & 1/2 oz., this hook is extremely sharp and strong, ideal for a football head.
Tom

+1
Forget the Mustads

[ash]

First of all if you are going to order custom football head jigs the Owner Needle Point are the hook I would choose, close second would be gamkatsu. 3/8th 3/0 1/2oz 4/0 1oz 5/0 the 3/0 football hook has plenty of bite for a Yamamoto grub or hula, the 4/0 can handle your beavers without issue.

The owner needle point hooks is think wire, very sharp and keeps its edge, the gamkatsu hook points tend to roll more, and the Mustad hooks are OK for flippin but too large in diameter for football heads IMHO.

[BassManDan]

I'll be the first one to disagree with the big @$$ hooks.

I'm a big fan of the Owner football heads with the smaller hook. For me, 95% of my football (aka "finesse") jigs are tied on these heads, and if memory serves me correct, the 1/4 and 3/8 oz jigs are only a 1/0 hook. When them fish strike a football jig, they inhale it completely and the Owner needlepoints stick'em every time!!!

For the 1/2 oz jig, I do like me a Gamakatsu head with the 2/0, still plenty of shank on the hook for rigging 5" Yamamoto DT's and sticky sharp

[Oldschool]

Owner #5318 comes in a 5/0 size and is a good hook, with one exception; the hook isn't forged and tends to spring open under pressure and bend when unhooking bass.
The Gamakatsu comes a several styles; #111, 114, 603/604 and 2894 wide gap. The #114 is a lighter wire hook; .042D black nickle, forged. This hook is also about 2x the cost of the Owner and 4x the cost of the Mustad #327468BLN 5/0 hook, also not forged.
You get what you pay for and my time in making up hair jigs and time on the water targeting giant bass is valueble to me and the reason I use the best hooks availble regardless of price.
All the hook listed above a good hooks and go with the 5/0 size.
Tom

[Micropterus salmoides]

Wow, I'm suprised Mustads didn't get more loving considering that quite a few local custom jig makers use them.

Although I thought that a smaller hook may be easier for a bass to inhale and/or notice I also didn't want a hook too small or too thin that it would bend on 5-10lb+ largemouth.

[Oldschool]

The Mustad hook #327468BLN is a premium hook and very good for the cost (.13). If you want to buy an off the shelf 3/8 & 1/2 football head jig, look at Yamamoto available with Owner and Gamakatsu hooks in 4/0 size.
You asked for advice, mine is; go over size hook and use the best availble hook. You have a wide variety of hooks to choose from when making your own jigs; Daiichi, Matzuo, Sohumi, Owner, Gamakatsu, Mustad and Eagle Claw are all good choices, depending on personal preferences, cost and performance.
A football jig is replicating a crawdad the majority of the time. Largemouth bass engulf a crawdad into the back of their mouth and crunch down to kill it. If the hook doesn't find some soft tissue in the mouth, the jig is rejected and you miss that strike. If the bass continues to eat the jig, then you have a lot of time to get a hook set.
The 5/0 hook is the ideal size for LMB over 3 lbs. One reason is the larger hook size is also longer and sets the hook point back further away from the jig head and this is very important when casting jigs, as it helps you get a hook set inside the basses mouth, behind the hard lip ridge.
Tom

[Micropterus salmoides]

My plan was to order some Berserk jigs and/or have Mark Inman make me some. Both use Mustad Ultra Point Black Nickle hooks, 4/0 on the Berserks and 4/0, 5/0 or whatever on Mark Inman's

[Guest]

what colors are you looking for as i have started powder coating multi
color jig heads and multi color skirt patterns in crawdad colors i also double bake my jig heads for a very hard finish. i use mustad black nickle hooks in all my jigs. micropterus salmoides send me and e mail i can built you just about any jig you want color combo's are endless.

[Oldschool]

MS..I don't know where you are fishing and what type of bass you fish for. I fish SoCal lakes for trophy size Florida strain LMB, very different bass the northern strain LMB. FLMB rarely aggressively strike a jig and swim off with it. The FLMB strike is more like a slight change in line tension, a rubber band type tension change, then back to the original line tension. No tick, no thump, no line jump, very little line movement and you just missed a strike. If the hook happens to get stuck into some soft mouth flesh, the line moves more and give you a chance to set the hook. When any bass is feeding actively, then they eat the jig and it's easy to detect that type of strike.
Keep the colors natural and don't get too carried away with color combinations that appeal more to the anglers than the bass.
Good luck with your jig fishing.
Tom

[ash]

I find it interesting all of the different comments from Jig Fishermen. I know that the way I fish a jig may be different then Tom and Mark and probably like them I am on a quest to find my perfect jig that suites MY STYLE of jig fishing. And the answer isnt a flat answer for all of my football head jigs, I fish some different at different times. But the one thing is a larger hook isnt always better as it leaves a larger hole for that fish to throw the jig. I want a needle sharp hook that has enough bite for the bait that I am throwing, that wont straiten out or break off on a big fish and that keeps a sharp point. On the surface this sounds like a no brainer, but find a hook that will do all of these things and your head starts to spin. For me the Owner Needle point has won a special place for my 3/8ths - 3/4oz football head jigs. And I will not throw a jig that has an EWG style hook ....but I know that is just me

I am sure Mark will tie you a great jig and wont steer you wrong in terms of the size hook for the baits your throwing

[Guest]

The 3 best brands of hooks on the market today are
gamakatsu
owners
mustad
in that order
Ive been using mustad for better than 25 years now and have never had any problem with them. Several of my customers like gamakatsu and owners hooks so if a customer want me to build there jigs with those 2 brands then its simple you buy them ill build them to your specs its very simple.