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5 Must Have Jigheads
By Justin Willmer
Before I get into the 5 must have jigheads that you should include in your kit and how and when I fish them, I just wanted to give you a little of my own background and a little history on where my favourite jigheads were born.
I have been lucky enough to fish from an early age and work in the fishing industry my entire working life, from retail sales to training, planogramming, marketing, content, magazine editing, running comps, and product development. It has been amazing to watch the development of tackle over the years and the significant contribution of TT (Tackle Tactics) needs to be acknowledged when it comes to jigheads.
I remember catching my first fish on soft plastics about 35 years ago. Back then we were fishing with dodgy ball heads with bronze hooks that dissolved in saltwater, then stepping up to using the hook of one painted ball head jighead to pick the paint out of the eye of another so that we could tie it on. About 23 years ago along came TT, an Australian Owned & Operated Family Business that kicked off in the family garage, before moving into a small industrial shed, where, as fishos they listened to anglers needs, especially within a then infant tournament scene, and began creating innovative, professional level jigheads for sportfishing, built on the world’s best hooks.
Tackle Tactics took on the big international players and there is no doubt that TT jigheads changed the game and allowed anglers to push the boundaries of soft plastics fishing, while developing new techniques and catching more fish. For me personally, I ended up with a tray of my go-to TT jigheads and was an advocate of the brand long before I was lucky enough to join the team, an absolute dream for a keen angler. Since joining the team I have been lucky enough to be involved in the development, testing, and naming of a selection of jigheads, including AFTA award winning models.
One thing I can say from working within the company is that TT is a brand of passionate anglers, developing innovative solutions for anglers needs, and with Australia’s most comprehensive range of jigheads, almost 700 models, the brand is not just about selling product, with many jigheads designed for niche techniques and built around specific angler requests, rather than purely sales. It has never been more important to support a brand like TT, that continues to innovate and expand its offering to anglers, including those niche jigheads and ‘in between’ models that are missed by the international big players, whose range is often modelled off others and restricted by number crunches, meaning less choice for anglers. As an angler I am looking forward to continuing to support the brand and am excited to follow and contribute to the continued evolution of the humble jighead. Bring it on!
When it comes to selecting jigheads, here’s ‘5 Must Have Jigheads’ for your kit, these being based on the species and techniques outlined below. Fish on!
TT HWS (Hidden Weight System) – (Gamakatsu Fine and Heavy Wire Hooks)
The Hidden Weight System, or HWS, is named based on its design, whereby the jighead has a weight built on the shank of the jig hook, that also acts as a grub keeper to keep the plastic in place and is concealed inside your soft plastic. This creates an extremely natural looking presentation, where the eye and hook point half of the bend are all that is exposed outside the plastic. This provides the ultimate finesse presentation as your plastic has a slow, natural, and horizontal sink. Paired with a naturally buoyant ZMan soft plastic, you can hold the presentation up around structure and almost parachute it down on a super slow sink.
The HWS jighead has won countless bream tournaments when targeting fish high around structure, such as pontoons, rock walls, boat hulls, and mangroves. It is my go-to jighead when fishing the many miles of Gold Coast canals, along with other canal and rock wall systems. For this style of fishing, I will pair the HWS up with a ZMan 2” or 2.5” GrubZ, 2.5” Slim SwimZ or 2.75” TRD BugZ. The HWS is also available in larger sizes and heavier weights for applications such as flathead in the shallows, fishing the northern drains, and other scenarios where a slow sink, finesse approach is required.
You will always find a 1/20oz #1 and #1H in my kit.
TT HeadlockZ Finesse (Gamakatsu Fine Wire Hook)
This is a more traditional style jighead, with a front head weight, available in a selection of head weights and hook sizes to suit finesse plastics fishing for species such as bream, flathead, redfin, trout, bass and more. The HeadlockZ head shape was born from the original bullet head of the TT Tournament Series Jigheads, with the sides flattened to increase water flow along the sides of the plastic, while creating stability in the head of the plastic when it is fished fast or aggressively. This added stability of the head forces the tail of the plastic to work harder with the water movement as it is retrieved.
This is my go-to jighead for general light line plastics fishing, such as rolling and hopping the flats and shallow edges for bream, flathead, and other light line targets. The Gamakatsu fine wire hook is all about maximum penetration on light line and it has made this jighead a favourite for bream tournament anglers looking to pin even the most subtle bites. Covering 1/20oz to 1/2oz means you can fish finesse high around structure, right through to deep edge flathead and deep schooled bass.
You will always find 1/16oz and 1/8oz #2 / 1/8oz and 1/4oz #1/0 / 1/4oz 2/0 and 3/0 in my kit.
TT HeadlockZ HD (Heavy Wire Mustad Hook)
The first of the HeadlockZ jigheads range made and one that I am stoked to have named, this is the ultimate allround jighead, evident in the comprehensive range of sizes, from a 1/20oz #4 to a 3oz 8/0, covering bream in structure to offshore beasts. The HeadlockZ Extreme then steps this series up again to include jigheads up to a 6oz 10/0 for chasing deep water monsters on plastics.
HeadlockZ HD jigheads are built on brutally strong, Mustad black nickel, chemically sharpened hooks and I believe this gives them the perfect balance between penetration and hook strength for taking on hard hitting and hard fighting species. I carry a fair mix of these jigheads, allowing me to tighten the drag and pull bream from structure, chase flathead on the deep edges where I may encounter a snapper or mulloway and chase tailor and mackerel, where I may get connected to a large tuna or cobia.
The head shape is shared with the HeadlockZ Finesse for that stability and tracking, while increasing water flow and plastic action. Another key feature that is shared is the ‘head lock’ keeper that TT designed to lock the ZMan 10X Tough ElaZtech plastic in place on the jighead. This keeper is designed with a gap between keeper and head weight that allows the ZMan plastic to expand into the gap and lock in place. Being the first to develop this type of keeper, many options were made and tested, with the final keeper being the ultimate in terms of securing the plastic and not distorting the body shape of the plastic.
If you want to start fishing soft plastics this is the ideal starting point and you will find jighead selection guides for matching with ZMan plastics at tackletactics.com.au. The hook on this jighead has proven so popular that it has also been utilised across other models in the range, including Big EyeZ, RevlockZ and NedlockZ.
In my kit you will find a comprehensive range of HeadlockZ HD jigheads, but here’s a few favourites.
River & Estuary – 1/8oz #1, 1/4oz 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 / 3/8oz 3/0 and 1/2oz 4/0
Offshore – 1/2oz 3/0 and 5/0 / 3/4oz 6/0 / 1oz 6/0 and 7/0
Beach – All of the above covering swallowtail dart to large pelagic species.
SnakelockZ Finesse (Fine Wire Mustad Hook) / SnakelockZ (Heavy Wire Mustad Hook)
If you haven’t tried weedless rigging, then you should add it to your things to do list. Rigging a soft plastic weedless means that the hook point and barb are pulled tight against the plastic to reduce snagging and fouling, with the strike of the fish clearing the plastic and exposing the hook for penetration. TT have developed a comprehensive range of weedless rigging options because they also distribute the ultimate weedless plastic in ZMan, with its durability ensuring it isn’t destroyed easily and can be rigged weedless over and over, while its super-soft and flexible ElaZtech material clears the hook easily on the strike.
Weedless rigging allows you to fish the plastic right in amongst the weed and structure where the fish are holding, with minimal chance of snagging or fouling. Obvious target species would include mangrove jack, barramundi, and bass, however it’s also a very handle option for something as simple as chasing flathead among the broken weed beds or bream in the snags. The popularity of the standard SnakelockZ led to the addition of a finesse version in sizes right down to a #4 hook for weedless rigging finesse plastics such as the ZMan GrubZ. A premium painted version was also added to the range that features a hand painted head and large 3D eyes, called Snake EyeZ.
In my kit you will always find a 1/8oz #2 SnakelockZ Finesse that I love to rig and fish throughout estuary weed and structure with a ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ. For my go-to ZMan 3” MinnowZ it’s the SnakelockZ and Snake EyeZ in a 1/4oz 3/0 for flats and shallow edges and a 3/8oz 3/0 for deeper edges.
NedlockZ (Heavy Wire Mustad)
I am a massive fan of the Ned Rig System. I read and watched a lot about its explosion in the US, driven by ZMan Fishing Products USA, and when they asked us to make a TT Ned Rig jighead on the HeadlockZ HD hook, I couldn’t wait to fish it here. The theory is that you have a mushroom shaped jighead that when paired with the naturally buoyant ZMan plastics creates a rapid stand-up presentation. This means that the plastic is always working for you, attracting fish and triggering strikes, as it flees, rapidly stalls and stands up in a head down ‘feeding pose’ or claws up ‘defensive pose, and maintains this posture when at rest, moving naturally with the water movement.
I have had fish strike this presentation on the retrieve, the pause and when doing nothing. It is a great finesse plastic presentation and I generally fish it with the ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ or GrubZ if I want to roll the flats and then stop the retrieve and pick the sand pockets, or with a 2.5” TRD CrawZ or 2.75” TRD BugZ if I want to spend more time hopping and fishing the bottom. Pairing the orange head with a Greasy Prawn colour is deadly when hopping yabby beds and pairing the orange head with a darker colour is dynamite in muddy, mangrove lined creeks where fiddler crabs are visible on the banks.
The Ned Rig System excels when the bite is tough, when the fish are finicky or feeding on small creatures, and when focussing your efforts on set structure. It has become my go-to when I need to fish slow, when nothing else is catching and it has produced awesome results following rain. Without doubt my favourite Ned Rig plastic is the ZMan 2.75” TRD BugZ in Hot Snakes colour, which looks very much like a small squid in the water, while also imitating a crustacean. Shaking it over the top of weed beds, hopping the flats or fishing creek edges, it has produced bream, flathead, grunter, trevally, flounder, snapper, sweetlip, estuary cod and more.
In my kit you will find all weights and colours, plus the NedlockZ EWG weedless version, however for starters I would make sure that I have some 1/10oz #1 for fishing the shallow flats and mangrove edges, along with some 1/5oz #1 for fishing the deeper edges. I carry a natural colour and a fluoro so that I can mix it up and see what they want on the day.
Hopefully this gives you a starting point for fishing soft plastics or a few tricks that you can add to your arsenal for when the bite is tough. Soft plastics fishing is a favourite for many because it is affordable, effective and you can take a single plastic and rig it in a myriad of ways to suit different species and techniques. As a bonus I don’t have to worry about trebles getting stuck in everything, including myself, while fishing from a kayak.
Thanks to everyone out there that has supported the family owned and operated TT brand over the last 20+ years, it has allowed a bunch of fishos to listen to other anglers out there and design and manufacture Australia’s most comprehensive range of jigheads, including the favourites and those niche models that otherwise may not have been available. All the best with your fishing journey and we hope to share some exciting new products with you soon.
See you on the water…
Justin Willmer