Small tungsten jig rigging

[pjstevko]

Tungsten jigs are the hot ticket right now due to there small size and heavy weight.  They've been very productive in the daytime as well as at night.  I've purchased several brands over the last few weeks and I thought I'd talk a little about them. 

Daiwa Saltiga TG is the most well known one and is hard to find.  I ordered mine off Amazon and the first order took 3 weeks to get here from Japan and I'm still waiting on the 2nd order which I placed on the same day.  I ordered the 180g which is 4 3/4" long. For terminal rigging I used owner ultra split rings in size 7 and vmc 7264cb wide gap live bait hooks in size 7/0.

Major Craft Jigpara TG is another great option but requires a little more terminal tackle. The eyelets on both ends are a little on the small side so finding a strong enough split ring that would fit was impossible. I ended up brazing/soldering a solid ring to the bottom eyelet to allow a string enough split ring to be added as an attachment point.  For terminal rigging I used owner ultra split rings in size 7 and vmc 7264cb wide gap live bait hooks in size 7/0.

The small one is a Daiwa DMTG Heavy in 150g and is 3 1/4" long.  A friend gave it to me a few years ago so I have no idea where he got it.  It's rigged exactly the same as the one above except I dropped down the hook size to a 5/0.

I'm excited to give them a try in a few weeks.

What do you guys think about them?

[Keta]

I'd bite them.

[Swami805]

Just curious, why so many rings? Couldn't you attach the hooks to the ring you brazed to the jig eye?

[pjstevko]

Just curious, why so many rings? Couldn't you attach the hooks to the ring you brazed to the jig eye?

It's just how I rigged them.....but I guees in case I wanna try rigging them up differently or if I need to store them without hooks....

[Swami805]

Ok. That makes sense,  that DTMG looks killer, nice small profile

[quang tran]

I would use 7 strands cable to tight hook on and use color heat shrink tube cover it up . Never use tungsten jig but got bite off on regular lead jigs . Tungsten jig is to expensive

[El Pescador]

PJ,

You excel at everything you do,

and to quote Lee, "I'd BITE 'UM!!!!"

Wayne

[jurelometer]

Now that Wayne has provided the positive energy, I will jump into the more technical aspects.

On the rigging, I like the 7264 hooks.  Am not a huge fan of split rings, but understand  why you went that way.  With that style of double hook assist cord rigging, I would go with the hook points facing outward.   

While the single overhand knots hold very well under tension, they also come untied easily.  I used to secure the whole knot past the hook eye with marine (adhesive core) heat shrink tube for a bit more chew protection, but now prefer to just whip the tag with heavy fly tying thread and coat the whipping with UV resin.

If you are chasing larger fish that are going to inhale the whole jig, I might consider going a tiny bit longer on the cord.

Hooks on the bottom only generally means that you expect to get bit on the lift/wind.

Caveat:  I do most of my jigging inshore/nearshore. I am not a jumbo tuna chaser, so my rigging style might not be the same as what the long rangers use.

-J

[Keta]

I leave the hooks on my smaller jigs as they do not take up much space.

[jurelometer]

A bit more on tungsten as a jig material.  I was playing with the idea of doing tungsten based jigs quite awhile ago, but decide it was not worth it.  Here is what I found:

While pure tungsten has a much higher density than pure lead (around 19 vs 11 g/cm³), they ain't making jigs about of pure tungsten. Pure tungsten melts around 6000F.

Tungsten powder is used for the tungsten based products we see on the marketplace.  For mechanical stuff, a sintering process is used.  You can buy suitable tungsten powder for around $900USD/lb in quantities under 100 lbs.  That is about $2/gram.

For stuff like sporting goods, a cheaper grade of variable mesh size tungsten powder is mixed with plastic resins and molded.  None of the mechanical  properties of tungsten, but fine if you are just interested in the density.  This can still be quite dense, but nowhere near pure tungsten. You are not getting nearly double the mass of lead for the same volume. Hopefully 50% more density if you don't need a very strong material.

I took a CAD design for one of my jigs, made two copies, changing the material from lead alloy to pure tungsten, and my ballpark guess of the max density that a lure manufacturer might use (16g/cm³). I then resized the jigs so that they all would be the same weight.  I'll attach a snapshot, so you can see the size difference.

Now, what does a denser jig do for/against you?

1.  For two jigs of the same size and shape, the denser jig will sink faster.  Or make a somewhat smaller version that sinks at the same speed.  But it is important to note that jig shape and action on the drop can have a greater impact on drop speed. 

2. It  does not swim as well.  The denser the material, the more mass behind the surface area, meaning that it will take more water pressure to  move it. Same reason that a cast aluminum surface iron swings more than a Zamac (zinc alloy) yo-yo jig of a similar shape.

So in the end, if you want to take advantage of using a denser material, you probably want a jig that is going to drop fast.  Combined with the extra density, this means that you are not going to get a jig that does very much action-wise.  A smaller jig with less wiggle  means it will be harder for the fish to find visually and with the lateral line.

From a jig design/performance standpoint, I could see a properly designed "tungsten" jig having an advantage when tuna were keying on a specific size, and you are able to be the first person out of 20 on the rail to reach them on the drop. There may also be times where current entirely prevents reaching the fish with a smaller sized lead jig, that could be reached with "tungsten",  but this seems less likely.

So possibly  helpful for daytime fishing with lots of other hooks in the water.   But a similarly shaped lead jig that sinks well (if they make them) might do as well or nearly as well.  The fish get the final vote.

Let us know how you do with them!

-J

[the rockfish ninja]

They've been very productive in the daytime as well as at night. 

I'm excited to give them a try in a few weeks.

What do you guys think about them?

First question is about the productivity, is that based on your experience or what you've read or heard?

I can see them being useful for getting to deep depths quickly to fish feeding on smaller bait, is that your application?

I've heard the rumblings about them but the shapes I see available are pretty basic for what I do and I think that's why they haven't made any waves for slow pitch jiggers.

The bottom line is how they perform for you, so let us know how it works out, we all love a good report & success story.

One thing I would suggest is vary your hook arrangement for testing, all those have large double bottom hook setups, that might affect jig movement. I'd have some with single hooks and placed at the top for variance, maybe try smaller hooks too.


*Disclaimer- As a slow jigger I almost never use bottom hooks on my jigs, it's become the tried & true method for slow pitch.

 

[pjstevko]

I haven't fished tg lures yet so all the productivity reports are second hand but from sources i trust. The application is indeed for when the fish are keyed in on smaller profile baits.

[jurelometer]

I took a CAD design for one of my jigs, made two copies, changing the material from lead alloy to pure tungsten, and my ballpark guess of the max density that a lure manufacturer might use (16g/cm³). I then resized the jigs so that they all would be the same weight.  I'll attach a snapshot, so you can see the size difference.

Here it is.  Note that the  pure tungsten jig is just a hyopthetical example.  The cost and technial challenges of making such a lure makes this opton unfeasible.

Note that since a jig is three dimensional, the change in profile size is much less than the ratio change in density.

First question is about the productivity, is that based on your experience or what you've read or heard?

I can see them being useful for getting to deep depths quickly to fish feeding on smaller bait, is that your application?

I've heard the rumblings about them but the shapes I see available are pretty basic for what I do and I think that's why they haven't made any waves for slow pitch jiggers.

The bottom line is how they perform for you, so let us know how it works out, we all love a good report & success story.

One thing I would suggest is vary your hook arrangement for testing, all those have large double bottom hook setups, that might affect jig movement. I'd have some with single hooks and placed at the top for variance, maybe try smaller hooks too.


*Disclaimer- As a slow jigger I almost never use bottom hooks on my jigs, it's become the tried & true method for slow pitch.

 

Some good points.  As noted in my previous post, the extra density already inhibits the action, and since the point of using higher density material is for faster sink times, this further  limits the options for shape.
 
Tuna are constantly moving, usually fairly fast, and never hang around to make up their mind.  Just getting the right profile in front of them is 90% of the battle.  It is a bit different than getting a bottom fish excited enough to strike.

As to why tail rigged hooks: maybe less tangles on a fast drop, definitely better on a speed wind, which is sometimes the ticket for tuna, or  maybe they just sell better tail rigged...

The real test of the value of this tungsten/resin blend would be comparing them to the exact same jig made from a lead alloy. Not hard to do if someone was inclined to clone one off with some RTV silicone.

-J