Horizontal Vs Vertical Line Ties For Jigs? 2025
Todd2 reply :
I've been using horizontal but was in a pinch on a 3 day trip last weekend and picked up some verticals (Arkies to be exact) and was very impressed. They came through rock, buck brush, mustard flowers better than my normal jigs. I fished one jig for two full days. I didn't have any problems sticking any either. I think I might be going to Arkies full time. Does anybody else fish this exclusively? Is the line tie orientation important to anybody? Thanks...
smalljaw67 reply :
I make my own jigs and pour several different head style using regular (vertical) and flay eye (horizontal) line tie and there is a reason for both. The reason you liked the Arky style jig is because the cover your fishing is exactly what it was designed for, flat eye hooks are often seen on football heads as well as other jigs designed to be used around rocks. The normal angle for flat eye hooks is around 45 to 60 degrees and what that does is it allows the jig to be dragged across the bottom and over rock and wood while keeping the knot up and away from the bottom and on football jigs it makes a great pivot point to allow the jig to be pulled into an upright position. I like an Arky jig for just about everything except thick weeds, my favorite flat eye jigs are a round head Eakins style jig, football jig, and I also like my shaky heads to incorporate a flat eye hook.
papajoe222 reply :
I like a horizontal tie for most situations for the reasons you mentioned. I prefer a vertical tie for swim jigs and when fishing weeds. I won't flip a jig into wooded cover that has a vertical tie as despite the weed guard, I get hung up a lot more.
WRB reply :
The Arkie style jig head was designed to incorporate a fiber weed guard and slide over brush, this jig is known as a bass jig today. When you say pig & jig the Arkie is what the majority of bass anglers have in mind.
The problem that a compact jig like the Arkie is getting a hook set when casting over 60 feet. Several reasons for this; the jig head is long covering most of the hook shank with lead. Adding a skirt and trailer the hook gap is reduced when compared to a football head for example.
Bass engulfs your jig after casting horizontally, you set the hook and miss. What happens; the jig is in the back of the basses mouth, not held by the lips, crunch down, the jig head with center fiber weed guard rolls over 90 degrees and the hook set pulls the jig straight out of the mouth. Same jig fished more verticle, the line pulls upward, the jig tends roll upright and hook the bass Behring the ridge in back of the lips, if the hook has enough gap clearance between the jig head and hook point.
The flat eye vs straight eye has little to do with hook sets, more to do with preventing weeds getting wrapped around the line tie.
I make my own horizontal casting jigs since '71, don't use a traditional weed guard and caught lots of giant bass because of getting good hook sets!
The Arkie design is a good jig, the *** jig maybe a better choice for all around use and very god in brush and rocks.
Tom
Catt reply :
Absolutely doesn't matter! 
merc1997 reply :
one thing to point out about using a vertical or horizontal line tie is where the line of pull is. the vertical eye, the line of pull is from the middle of the ring.
with the horizontal eye, the pull line is always from the top of the ring. what difference does this make?? it is hook turning leverage. those few degrees of height that is gained from pulling from the top of a horizontal eye will result in better hook ups because you have more leverage to turn your hook back to vertical in relation to the roof of the mouth of the bass.
bo
J Francho reply :
I'm with Catt, the difference is academic. Some jig head designs seem to look better with one or the other. It probably has more to do with what hooks are available.
Catt reply :
On 4/30/2014 at 11:44 PM, merc1997 said:one thing to point out about using a vertical or horizontal line tie is where the line of pull is. the vertical eye, the line of pull is from the middle of the ring.
with the horizontal eye, the pull line is always from the top of the ring. what difference does this make?? it is hook turning leverage. those few degrees of height that is gained from pulling from the top of a horizontal eye will result in better hook ups because you have more leverage to turn your hook back to vertical in relation to the roof of the mouth of the bass.
bo
Are you kidding me?
Ya better look at your jigs again!
Vertical eye the knot slides to the top of the bend, horizontal eye the knot can only slide left or right of center.
Horizontal: parallel or level to the ground
Vertical: up or down
WRB reply :
The hook manufacturers call the hook flat eye for horizontal jig hooks, make no distinction for the traditional vertical hook eye. Flat eye hooks the knot can only slide left, right or stay centered. Tradition hook the knot can slide up and down.
I Bo's jig has a flat eye hook.
Tom
Catt reply :
On 5/1/2014 at 4:11 AM, WRB said:The hook manufacturers call the hook flat eye for horizontal jig hooks, make no distinction for the traditional vertical hook eye. Flat eye hooks the knot can only slide left, right or stay centered. Tradition hook the knot can slide up and down.
I Bo's jig has a flat eye hook.
Tom
Kinda hard to slide down when you're pulling up!
WRB reply :
The jig mold must be designed specifically to accommodate a flat eye hook, the traditional vertical hook eye lays in a spot face on the mold parting line...easy to mold jigs, flat eye not so easy. If the jig head design has the hook eye at the nose, the flat eye hook may go through weeds a little better. Football heads and Arkie heads can't see why it would help other than to sell jigs.On 5/1/2014 at 12:11 AM, J Francho said:I'm with Catt, the difference is academic. Some jig head designs seem to look better with one or the other. It probably has more to do with what hooks are available.
Tom
WRB reply :
Not always fishing vertical! Agree, the knot issue hasn't affected my jig fishing.On 5/1/2014 at 4:16 AM, Catt said:Kinda hard to slide down when you're pulling up!
Tom
merc1997 reply :
all hooks, whether bare or in any jig will end up flat when a bass bites down. with a vertical eyelet, you are still pulling from the center of the ring on the hookset.
with a horizontal eyelet, even when the hook is flat, your line of pull is still fron the top of the ring, thereby having more leverage to stand the hook back to vertical. i have even made the same jig with each type of hook. i kept very detailed records of where bass that were caught were hooked. the flat or horizontal eye hooks, had a much bigger percentage hook up ratio in the roof of the mouth over vertical eye hooks. everyone is free to use whatever hook they have confidence in. i was only stating what i know from many hours of study on hook up ratio with different hooks. there actually is a video that is very detailed, and with easy visual demonstrations about the actual mechanics of various hooks, but i can not post it. hook mechanics is a very interesting subject.
bo
WRB reply :
Bo, I haven't fished a flat eye hook jig enough to debate this. What I do know is strike detection and getting a good hook set separates the men from the boys regardless of hook eye or jig style. If you can't detect the strike it doesn't matter and the average jig fisherman misses far more strikes than they detect.
Getting off topic.
Tom
Catt reply :
On 5/1/2014 at 4:25 AM, WRB said:Not always fishing vertical! Agree, the knot issue hasn't affected my jig fishing.
Tom
Explain how in the world you can fish horizontal?
Yes you can drag the jig horizontally along the bottom but once you set hook what direction is that line going?
I thrown both types & close to 100% of my hooks end up the roof of the mouth.
WRB reply :
I consider making a long cast and retrieving along the bottom as horizontal. When the line angle gets to be 45 degrees or less down to 90 degrees from horizontal, then it's vertical. Hooks with the line less than 45 degrees, say 15 degrees, the line pulls the jig nearly straight out of the basses mouth when the bass is facing you. If a bass strikes the jig and turns sideways or is facing way from you, very common, you get a side of the upper mouth corner hook set.On 5/1/2014 at 6:00 AM, Catt said:Explain how in the world you can fish horizontal?
Yes you can drag the jig horizontally along the bottom but once you set hook what direction is that line going?
I thrown both types & close to 100% of my hooks end up the roof of the mouth.
Tom
PS, I know anything less than 180 degrees is down.
J Francho reply :
I don't really care where in the mouth it gets hooked, so long as it stays hooked.
merc1997 reply :
you are quite right about strike detection. having one of those days that you actually get that tick is sure nice, but that is not the norm. one other obstacle to over come is the grip a big bass can have on your lure. it take lots or power to move the hook, and because a bass can grip so hard, is another reason to get a second hookset in.On 5/1/2014 at 4:50 AM, WRB said:Bo, I haven't fished a flat eye hook jig enough to debate this. What I do know is strike detection and getting a good hook set separates the men from the boys regardless of hook eye or jig style. If you can't detect the strike it doesn't matter and the average jig fisherman misses far more strikes than they detect.
Getting off topic.
Tom
bo
Todd2 reply :
Thanks for all of the responses. I didn't attempt too many long distance hooksets with the Arky because I was pitching. My hookup ratio was very good though. I struggle with all jig head hooksets with very long casts, so I try to keep my casts a little shorter.
Catt reply :
There is alot of assumptions going on here!
We are assuming we know how the jig is laying in the bass's mouth prior to hook set! Really!!!
Then we are assuming we know which way a bass is facing when they strike the jig! Really!!!
Y'all alot better anglers than me!
merc1997 reply :
take any jig and squeeze down on it between you hands, and you will see that the jig always ends up over on its side.On 5/1/2014 at 9:49 AM, Catt said:There is alot of assumptions going on here!
We are assuming we know how the jig is laying in the bass's mouth prior to hook set! Really!!!
Then we are assuming we know which way a bass is facing when they strike the jig! Really!!!
Y'all alot better anglers than me!
bo
Catt reply :
On 5/1/2014 at 10:09 AM, merc1997 said:take any jig and squeeze down on it between you hands, and you will see that the jig always ends up over on its side.
bo
Your hand aint a bass's mouth!
Do you think the roof of the mouth touches the bottom of the mouth?
If so how do they turn a perch in its mouth before swallowing it?
WRB reply :
Where the hook ends up in the basses mouth after you land it can give you some good feedback.
Jig hooked in the back crunchers on the roof of it's mouth indicates the bass wanted to eat it aggressively.
Jig hooked inside corner usually indicates the bass wasn't as aggressive could be moving or spitting it when you stuck it.
The only way anyone knows the basses position when it struck is seeing the bass strike or seeing the direction the line is moving before getting a hook set.
Flat eye or standard eye what counts is putting the bass in the boat or landing it. Flat eye jig hooks are new, maybe 10 years, compared to standard eye jig hooks that have been around before any of us started bass fishing. Time will tell which eye type prevails.
Tom
merc1997 reply :
the old standard sproat straight shank worm hooks have a horizontal eyelet. so does the standard offset, and the offset ewg. why did they not just make them with a vertical eye?? to answer catt's comment about a bass' mouth, when a bass uses the cheek muscles to shut the tongue up against the roof of the mouth, two pretty parallel surfaces are created. this is why when they crush down on your jig, it will end up laying flat.
bo
Hogsticker reply :
Good read for sure! I don't know, maybe if your doing some sort of sweeping hook set in super shallow water, but for the most part Catt is right on.
Catt reply :
Sorry all this jig talk I had to go throw one, caught 10 yesterday & 13 today.
Ya still never answer how they turn a perch!
Ya don't think they turn your jig?
WRB reply :
Jealous, the wind blowing 25-70 the past few days here...enjoy your time sticking those jig fish. We don't have perch out here, unless you mean crappie. The bass grabs them by the head, being a flat shape they lay flat and gulps them down head first.On 5/2/2014 at 2:35 AM, Catt said:Sorry all this jig talk I had to go throw one, caught 10 yesterday & 13 today.
Ya still never answer how they turn a perch!
Ya don't think they turn your jig?
Tom
PS, you know this as well as I do, enjoy yourself and catch a few big bass.
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