Developed outside of the West, you could say the shaky head was an out-of-zip code attempt at finesse fishing. Sort of like wearing suspenders and a belt, the shaky head allowed anglers fishing cover (often brush piles under docks) to have a compact jig and worm–but do it in a weedless fashion.
Not that anyone on tour ever fished an exposed hook, but now they don’t have to. Because the shaky head is similar enough to a round head in presentation, it works with a fat, hard, straight tail plastic worm that when the head sits properly, it holds the worm diagonally up off the bottom.
Of course, it works well on a hard, gravel, shale or rock bottom–perhaps even better than a Texas rig because the weight and worm don’t separate on the fall.
Yet the standard, exposed hook pea head would appear to do all the same things as the shaky head–except for the worm angled up off the bottom. You can even get a pea head with a wire or fibre weedguard.
So will the shaky head replace the open hook jig? I’m not so sure. For one thing, if you fish around rock, (and especially shale or sandstone) your losses are going to be almost identical: zero–so why pay more?
But I see the open hook advantage making a greater difference the minute you drop down in line size, fish deeper or make presentations on longer casts. Anything in your approach that makes it harder to deliver maximum hook penetration favors the thin-wire, open hook style.
Maybe you can find a customized version that evens up the relative advantages, but I don’t see it in the products most commonly available. The basic trade-off between the exposed hook and the self-weedless, beyond driving the hook point through plastic is the diameter of the wire and distance necessary to drive the hook.
The photo shows two Owner jig heads that I use regularly. They are top of the line for both styles. Yet, fishing 6-pound line in 30 feet of water, for example, bite for bite, I hook more fish on the exposed pea head.
I’m not saying it’s a better head, but within the parameters noted, distance and non-braided line diameter, it can be a more efficient head. Just look closely at the distance between the tip of the point and the barb. These are needle points. They require force. And the fisherman is responsible to provide it.
And there’s another matter. While you might not think it possible, just the way the bait aligns on the hook affects its speed of fall. The round head goes “bombs away” straight down. The angled shaky offering causes drag in the water and slows descent. If you’re dodging limbs and snags, by all means, go shaky. But if you need to fish vertically, or need the bait to drop quickly from lip to ledge, then the guy with the pea head gets the edge.
Subtle, yes. But you really need them both.
4 Responses to “Pea heads vs. shaky heads: does it matter?”
This is a great article on the comparison between the 2 heads. I agree with Terry that the darter head should be included in another article.
I’ll 3rd it George about the Dart Head comparison. And throw in Westy Worm type rig (Arizona’s Brethren) into the equation too.
FOOT BALL, ARKY,POOP, MINNOW,WOBBLE
Great comparison of the two heads George. Why not write a treatise on when/why to use a dart head v. ball head v. shaky head v. etc?