Hook Damage Protection
 

I'm sure I'm not the only one that loses more plugs to hook damage than anything else. I'm always looking for something that helps.

A product mentioned in another thread that might help is "Jigskinz". This company has clear sleeves of plastic in different sizes that shrink up to 75% when heated. I orderd a few to mess around with and wanted to share my thoughts on pros/cons:

• Jig Skinz are flat sleeves and have a seam where they two sides overlap; the seam goes on the bottom.
• Using a hole-punch, you can create an opening for the belly hook swivel.
• Heating can be performed with a heat gun or by dunking the lure in boiling water (I was leary of doing this, but it did not damage my E-Tex covered plugs); this method surprisingly does not trap water and allowed for a smooth, beautiful, clear finish.
• The shrinking is almost all via width, the length barely shrinks at all.
• I did cover some lures completely with a skin, but I noticed it left air pockets over the recessed eyes and gills, so complete coverage is not going to work for a lot of my cosmetic designs.
• The sleeve tops are emblazoned with the Jigskinz logo, which is pretty garish and big; on the opposite side of the sleeve along the seam is very small black print of the sleeve size, along with some numbers. Not a fan of these graphics.
• The punched hole for the belly swivel spreads out to a larger oval when shrunk (though I might be overheating this section).
• To avoid the trapped air in the eyes & gills (and to prevent the application of the graphics), I cut sections from the sleeves to use around the lure where the belly hook is. Even though this is a section, you can barely notice it is on.
• The plastic is tougher when it shrinks but it isn't extremely hard, what it should do is take the abuse of hook rash from casting and (hopefully) contain the peeling/gouging from deep hook penetration.
• The sleeves are about $2.50 each.
• If you cut the sleeves and use them around the belly hooks only, you can get at least 4/sleeve by cutting around the Jigskinz logo.
• The sleeves do not stick to the topcoat, so they can be cut off when damaged and replaced.

So far I like the idea of these to help with hook protection.

It's the end of the season and fish are getting scarce up my way, so I'm not going to get too much of a chance to see how these actually hold up to multiple fish, but I'll post what I experience.

Eric

I got into a buch of schoolies a few days ago on a small needle with screweyes (even with a split ring this set-up seems to cause a lot of gouging when landing the fish). This stuff held up pretty good. I'll post some pics in this thread at some point.

Got any pics of these on a plug Eric?

What happens when the materail shrinks between the holes. Wouldn't it be better to make the holes after the materil is applied and cooled?

The more rashed up the better Capt. Nothing worse than I shiny new plug.

It "ovals" quite a bit as it stretches -- I think you're right, it would make sense to punch the holes after shrinking (if you wire at the very end of your build process). I wire before priming, so the swivel or screw-eye is already there -- though I could re-drill and place the belly screw-eye at the very end of the process...that might be better.