Crappie Fishing Jigheads – Choose the Right Tool for the Task

A jighead, at its core, is a simple item. A fishhook that’s weighted at the line-tie end to get an offering down to the fish. That said, not all jigheads are created equal, with distinctions extending well beyond weight and hook size. The shape of the head, placement and angle of the line tie, finish on the head, style and sharpness of the hook, and type of keeper for plastic baits are just some of the distinctions among typical jigheads, and some specialized heads have added features like weed guards or spinner blades.

Bobby Garland Crappie Baits makes six different styles of jighead, all designed primarily for targeting crappie with soft plastic baits but each distinctive in what it offers anglers. Add size and color options, and you end up with a lot of jigheads to choose from. With that in mind, we’ll break down each Garland Jighead, looking at features and fishing applications.

The Bobby Garland Mo’ Glo Jighead fits the broadest range of applications. It is a premium jighead that comes in the most popular sizes for crappie jig fishing (1/8 ounce, No. 1 hook; 1/16 ounce, No. 2 hook; 1/24 ounce, No. 4 hook), each in five glow-in-the-dark colors. These heads fit well with all except the smallest Bobby Garland Crappie Baits and are configured to work well whether fished vertically, retrieved or trolled horizontally, or swung through the water column.

Built with a 90-degree line tie, the Mo’ Glo Jighead is balanced to hang horizontally at rest. Features include bright, durable glow-in-the-dark finishes with black painted eyes, a keeper to hold baits firmly in place, and a sharp hook.

Overbite Sickle Jigheads come into play anytime you want to present smaller crappie baits but don’t want a tiny hook. The unique sickle-style hook has a short shank and matches well with smaller baits like the Live Roam’R and Hyper Grub and even the four models of Bobby Garland Itty Bit baits, but with a larger hook bend than otherwise fits such small baits. The 1/16-ouce Overbite has a No. 2 hook and the 1/32- and 1/48-ounce versions are built with No. 6 hooks.

The Overbite Sickle head uses the same general shape and line tie positioning as the Mo’ Glo head and hangs horizontally in the water, even when attached with a loop knot, and is painted with the same bright and durable Mo’ Glo finishes and black eyes.

The Head Turn’R, which is a newcomer to the Bobby Garland jighead lineup, adds flash to crappie jig presentations with a pair of small, silver willow blades. Unlike other jighead spinners, the twin blades run parallel to the bait, and the design allows the blades to spin whether the offering is moving forward, rising, or falling through the water column.

The Head Turn’R was originally developed with long-line trolling in mind, but it didn’t take long for crappie anglers who fish other ways to figure out that it also works well for casting, pitching and vertical jigging because the blades turn with such little bait movement. Anglers using forward facing sonar quickly figured out that the Head Turn’R is a great tool for coaxing strikes from fish they are watching.

The Head Turn’R comes in 1/8- and 1/16-ouce sizes and in Pink, Ghost and Chartreuse. It’s equipped with an ultra-sharp #1 hook and a multi barbed keeper to hold soft-plastic crappie baits firmly in place.

Another new addition to the Bobby Garland line of jigheads, the BrushOff Jighead was specifically designed for presenting crappie baits in and around brush and other snaggy cover. If you’ve fished for crappie much, you know that they like hiding in tough-to-reach places, and there probably have been spots you wanted to fish but where you dared not put your jig because of snags. The BrushOff has two thin-wire weed guards positioned to keep the hook point from finding the cover.

The dual-guard design provides snag protection from different angles, but the wire guards are flexible enough to not inhibit hooksets. The light wire also can be adjusted because various kinds of cover call for different weed guard angles for the best balance of snag resistance and hookset efficiency.

The BrushOff has a double bait keeper to prevent crappie baits from getting pulled down as they come through cover and a sharp hook for effective hooksets. It comes in 1/16-, 1/32- and 1/50-ouce sizes and in Pink, Ghost and Chartreuse.

While a Head Dockt’R Jighead certainly can be used for other purposes, it was designed specifically for dock shooting and excels for that application. It’s small, made in 1/24- and 1/32-ouncs sizes with a #4 hook to match small baits commonly used for this technique and to allow for slow sink rates, and its unique design facilities effective shooting.

The small round head and the distribution of weight onto the keepers on the hook shank serve a few purposes. First, the diminutive head allows the bait to skip well, which is important for shooting well up under docks. Second, spreading the weight allows the bait to remain horizontal, like a minnow, as it falls through the water column. Third, the double or triple (depending on weight) keeper barbs hold the bait in place despite the rigors of repeated shooting and skipping.

Finally, Itty Bits Jigheads are the go-to when you want to go extra tiny with head and hook. They match wonderfully with all the Itty Bit baits (Slab Slay’R, Slab Hunt’R, Swim’R and Mayfly) and allow for ultimate finesse presentations. The Itty Bits Jighead has a round, unpainted head, a small keeper and a No. 8 hook. It comes in 1/48- and 1/64-ounce sizes.