“You gotta set the hook before they bite” is a common way to describe the difficulty of hooking a sheepshead, one of the most desirable inshore game fish. Eye Strike Fishing®, a leading designer of fishing tackle featuring oversized eyes and high-end components, is proud to announce Jail Bait™ Reef Jigs; a new concept that aims to solve many of the challenges of catching these evasive fish.Consisting of a double hook embedded in a lead weight featuring – you guessed it – an oversized eye, the jigs feature a simple, yet innovative feature called the Bait BakPak™. The Bait BakPak™ is simply a rubber band, but how its used and where its positioned is key to its effectiveness. “Rigging fiddler crabs or other baits such as oysters or barnacles on a small hook has always been a problem – either it kills the crab or it falls off.” says David Fladd, product designer for Eye Strike. “The Bait BakPak™ allows a crab to be held firmly and keeps it alive, and when a sheepshead tries to bite, those double hooks are right there below the bait resulting in better hookups.”
Any sheepshead angler knows that there aren’t many places inside a sheepshead’s mouth for a hook to hold.Ralph Phillips, a legendary Charleston angler and Partner at Eye Strike®, agrees, “Their teeth look like a dentist’s nightmare. Because there is a direct connection to your line, and the hooks are directly below the bait, you tend to hook them in the outer lip.You can truly feel the bite better with the Jail Bait, and when you set the hook, they find the lip.”
Captain Justin Carter, former IFA Kayak National Champion & Angler of the Year, and full-time guide for Redfin Charters in Charleston, SC has been the primary field tester for Jail Baits in the prototype phase. “When I take clients sheepshead fishing, they often struggle to feel the bite. Jail Bait™ jigs have taken the hookup ratio to the next level. Because of where the hooks are positioned, the fish get hooked in the lip almost every time”.
The 2/0 black nickel VMC® hook is plenty strong and sharp, and due to its positioning, the rigged bait tends to make it semi-weedless. This is important when fishing reefs, where plenty of snags are around to grab your hook.
Since the Jail Bait™ is designed for vertical jigging, its not just for sheepshead. “We have done very well on our nearshore reefs using them, and have even caught grouper in relatively shallow water” says Phillips.
Eye Strike® Jail Bait™ Reef Jigs are available in ½- and ¾-ounce weights and pearl colored eyes.