Arkey Flip'n Jig Heads

The Arkey jig has proven time and again to catch bigger bass on average than most other bass lures. Who knows why, but it is true. Ask any angler who catches big bass, and chances are they use an Arkey jig much of the time. The Arkey jig is one of the most productive bass lures ever made.

L to R: 1/4 oz (3/0). 3/8 oz (4/0). 1/2 oz (5/0). 3/4 oz (5/0).

Flat Eye Jig Hook. Unlike traditional jigs, the jig hook eye is turned crosswise for perfect alignment with the flat Arkey head shape. This planar match of the head shape and hook eye results in superior hooksetting ability. The flat eye Arkey consistently hooks fish in the roof of the mouth.

Premium Mustad Ultra Point Flipping Hook. This extra heavy duty flipping hook has a needle sharp point with incredible strength and durability. The Ultra Point is designed not to bend or roll over. The Ultra Point lasts longer under tough flipping, pitching and power fishing conditions. This is a heavy gauge wire diameter hook for landing big bass with heavy line.

Double Keeper Collar. For some odd reason, many other brands of jigs have no trailer keeper barb at all, so there's no way to hold a trailer on many other jig brands. But the Arkey heads here have a significant advantage with its double collar. First, it is quite difficult for a fish to ever pull the skirt down. Second, the spiked keeper helps hold soft plastic trailers without easily slipping down the hook.

Top and bottom views. Items sold separately.

Items sold separately

Fishing Tips

Many people and in certain parts of the country, the Arkey jig is simply called a flipping jig. You ideally need to throw the Arkey Power Jig on heavy line and a stout rod. Whether flipping it in shallow water, or banging it on deep ledges, humps and points, this is a power fishing jig requiring a stout rod, strong line and it has heavy wire hook. If you use a rod, reel and line that's too light, you'll find it hard to set this heavy hook every time.

What makes it so successful is its versatility. The wide face and broad belly of an Arkey jig lets it climb up and over bulky bottom debris like it's a 4x4 SUV. Where a more streamlined jig head would get wedged in a crack or crevice, the Arkey jig goes right over it like an offroad ATV. That's why the bulbous Arkey jig head is an ideal choice around laydown logs, stumps, trees and rocks, deep or shallow.

It has a round, widened belly so it stands up, keeps the hook pointed up. The broad face and wide shoulders let it bounce and deflect off many underwater objects, and that kind of noisy, bumbling type contact is a strike trigger designed into the Arkey jig shape. At the same time, the face and shoulder shape helps turn the hook away from any obstacle it contacts, and the stand-up stability of the Arkey shape prevents the hook from rolling on its side so it doesn't snag.

• Wood is Good. Arkey style jigs were originally designed, as the name implies, in Arkansas over 45 years back by Bob Carnes when many of the bass fishing impoundments there were newly-made. With so much freshly-flooded standing timber, the Arkey jig was devised to fish through the trees without snagging. Still to this day, the Arkey jig style is about the best head shape for fishing wood, be it stumps, laydowns, knees, limbs and trunks of standing timber or whatever wood type cover, shallow or deep.
• Hitting Rock Bottom. Although originally designed for wood, Bob Carnes quickly discovered the Arkey also excels at climbing uphill on deep water ledges. Indeed, the Arkey's equally as good as a football jig on any hard or rocky bottom too. Whether gravel bars, stair-step ledges, round river rock, glacial boulder beds, the Arkey excels wherever rocky cover abounds. With some hard cases such as square chunk rock or sharp-edged broken rock slides, the Arkey performs even better (snags less) than a football jig on sharp-edged square rock.
• Vegetation. This is not the domain of the wide-faced, bulbous-nosed Arkey jig. Weeds are better fished with a pointy bullet-nosed jig.
• A Lesson in Presence: Using 3/4 oz Arkey Jigs. The average angler uses mostly 1/4, 3/8 and occasionally 1/2 ounce jigs. But bigger, heavier jigs like this 3/4 oz size have a larger presence in the water that appeals to better-than-average size bass. It seems that bigger bass go for more bulk, more bump, more mass... that's really what they want. They tend to not be as interested in lighter or smaller jigs. Conversely, small fish tend not to be as interested in heavier or bigger jigs. Some anglers equate heavy jigs with deep water, and they are right, but not entirely. You will tend to appeal to a better grade of bass on this 3/4 oz jig even in only inches of water. Bigger bass may not make the effort to whack every little minnow that saunters by, but they will do what it takes when they detect the presence and mass of this bigger (bigger = heavier) jig.

Rigging suggestions. Items not included with item for sale.

Tips for Trimming the Fiberguard

The Arkey jig style excels in very heavy cover, sparse cover or even relatively open water. It's great in rocks, brush, trees, stumps, and laydowns. Because I don't know where or how you will be using these jigs, the fiberguards are extra long and extra thick for extra heavy cover. In most cases, you will not always be fishing extra heavy cover. So you may want to thin out and trim short the fiberguard to match your fishing conditions. Think of it as purchasing a fine pair of unhemmed dress slacks. You wouldn't wear unhemmed pants without tailoring them first. So you shouldn't fish these jigs without tailoring the fiberguards first. There are three steps you may consider:

• Thinning. First, you may want to remove some of the fibers entirely. How many to remove? That depends on how thick the cover you intend to fish. You will rarely need the full 30-40 fibers the jig comes with. Rather, most cover can be fished using 12-20 fibers. How many fibers to remove also depends on the jig head weight. A 1/4 oz jig can get through worse snags with less fibers than a 3/4 oz jig. So it is all relative and depends on a knack and know-how only gained with experience.
• To Remove Fibers. Cut them at the very base of the stem, where they are glued into the jighead cavity. Do not pluck them out of the jighead with pliers. That leaves a gaping hole in the jighead, causing the remaining fibers to also loosen and fall out. You don't want that. So cut the fibers you do not want flush off with the jighead, but do not pluck the "roots" out.
• Shortening. Next, you can shorten the remaining fibers. Some anglers skip the shortening step. Up to you. If you do shorten them, never cut them shorter than above the hook point. Better to leave them a little longer instead of too short.
• Fanning. Now fan the fibers out to both sides of the hook point. Make a fan effect with the fibers to protect the hook point from snags not just in front, but from the sides as well. In fact, this side protection is more important than from the front. It's hard to imagine most jigs getting snagged from directly in front. Most get snagged when they cam (roll) onto their sides. So fan the fiberguard to gain this side deflection/protection for your hook.
  Some say the fiberguard is an unnatural-looking part of a jig, but I don't think so. Most anything a bass eats has some sort of fins or spiny rays or spindly legs or antennae or whatever, and a properly trimmed and fanned fiberguard fits right in with all that. You can even use your finger to divide the fiberguard down the center into two halves, and that's not unlike the appearance of two waving craw claws when you do that.

Note: Items in photos above not included with item for sale.

The price is for a quantity of one (1) undressed jig head.