Victory Jig Hooks

Tried fitting the 10360 1/0 into a Sparkie mold which has a center post in the hook eye socket and like JungleJim1's experience the hook eyes snapped in half from the post insert pressure into the slightly undersize hook eyes.

As posted tho hooks performance in use was acceptable if not exemplary so will continue using them as I like the narrower gap than the somewhat similar Mustad 32786. Also as posted the hooks need to be shank bent slightly to fit some molds.

Tried the VMC 9147 BN and they were more fragile than any other hooks I've fished with. Even lost a few medium sized smallies. I use to love the VMC barbarians but Barlows only sells them from 3/0 and up.

I have a theory. If I get a bad pour, I'll melt the lead off the hook and re-pour using the same hook. Wonder if this could be the cause of the weak breakage?

Dunno why but the once superb VMC 9147 BN became prone to bend outs years ago so I quit buying them.

Mr. HU, are your defective hooks bending out or breaking ?

I regularly melt off and re-pour bad castings and haven't had a problem with hook quality degradation.

A final comment on the Victory 10360 - still catching fish but the constant need to resharpen point folds even on a light hard bottom tick is annoying.

Re: Victory - I have used #1,2,4, ,molding heads with Do-It molds. I have not found any problems of any kind, hooks fit in molds. The hooks hold up well, for crappie and also walleye, got a 31" walleye, no problemo. When Matzuo went under, I understand some of the employees started up Victory. Earlier, I did try some Eagle Claw knockoffs, was disappointed with them. I'll continue use Victory, satisfied as a great hook for my purposes.

Good review comparing Victory sickles to the Eagle Claw version. 31" walleye is exceptional, where you at Bill ?

Hawnjigs said:

Mr. HU, are your defective hooks bending out or breaking ?

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Breaking

Mine were bending out, yours breaking - you'd think VMC would have better quality control considering they've been making hooks since 1910.

Last year I found it odd that new Gamakatsu worm hooks were breaking dehooking catfish & bass. Recently noticed they were "made in Thailand" when a box of Gami EWG jig hooks I just got were also "made in Thailand".

Hawnjigs said:

Mine were bending out, yours breaking - you'd think VMC would have better quality control considering they've been making hooks since 1910.

Last year I found it odd that new Gamakatsu worm hooks were breaking dehooking catfish & bass. Recently noticed they were "made in Thailand" when a box of Gami EWG jig hooks I just got were also "made in Thailand".

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Found a couple hundred jigs I poured with old Matzuo hooks. Will be fishing them until I run out

The Victory 10360 1/0 has become my go to in a 1/8 oz 60* head. The brittle hook eyes aren't an issue in use and I've gotten used to checking the points and resharpening after every hard snag release.

Altho Gamakatsu points are more sturdy their 1/0 90* hook gaps are a bit narrow and the 10360 wider gap seems to stick and hold better. The 10360 1/0 fits my 2-1/2" to 3" baits well and the heavy wire is dependably strong. Now that the big lake big fish season is done the same 1/8 jigs work just as well for smaller fish in moving water canals.

The 1/0 also is my choice upweighting to a 1/4 oz head for long casting when needed.

Due to the low waters on the mid-eastern rivers, I've been heading out to brackish water more and more. Been chasing white perch mostly with UL gear and home made beetle spin lures. The jig on the beetle spins are either matzuo or eagle claw little nasty hooks. Ran into a school or spots last week and the drags were screaming. Didn't loose one fish due to line or hook failure.

Here's the beetle spin with skirts



And without hooks. On these I used 2-3" gulp



The fish didn't care which one I used.

edit. For those that use Gulp, I've had a couple bags dry up from the liquid they provide and the baits got hard and crumbly. Found a bottle of Gulp Recharge liquid and put all my Gulp into a jar and added 1/2 the bottle. Got the tip from a buddy who fishes with us. So far so good and none of the colors are bleeding.

Hawnjigs said:

IMO tho black nickel finish is preferable to salt water tinned.

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Have you tried the nickel finish in salt yet? I'm finding the salt water doesn't really affect the hook and am having no rust issues. I rinse the rods, reels and baits I use right after the salt water trip so I'm sure that helps with corrosion

Modern quality hooks are mostly black nickel finished, old school classics might still be available shiny nickel but I prefer modern tech.

Yesterday, fishing a 2/0 Game 114 and got another flat head. Was able to land the fish with no hook problems.