A Next Level Swinghead from Gamakatsu

Introduction: The swing head has seen a recent spike in popularity to the point many will think it’s new and innovative. My first experience with a swing head was the product by the now defunct Duh! Tackle over twenty years ago. Long since I had stopped fishing that product, the swing head saw a massive revival thanks to Tommy Biffle and his win at Fort Gibsin in 2010. Now, almost every terminal tackle manufacturer offers their own take. The limitation with most of these products is the hook. Hooks are very personal to a great many anglers, present company included. Everything from the shape to the gauge to the finish to that critical hook point are keys to success or failure in each angler’s eyes.

A swinghead from the former Duh! Tackle made in the early 2000s

Some of these swing heads attach to the hook via a split ring opening up the opportunity for you to swap the hook. Most do not have this flexibility. But even with that flexibility comes the question of whether the eye on the hook is suitable for insertion of a split ring. Maybe the eye is at the wrong angle or the gauge of the hook wire is too thick, etc.. Most swing heads come with a vertical loop, so the hook eye also needs to be vertical when attached with a split ring in between. Most worm hooks have a horizontal line tie so you need to add yet another split ring. This further extends the distance between the hook and the jighead making the rig feel awkward.

Gamakatsu Tungsten Hybrid Swing Head: Recognizing the need for even more flexibility, now, rather than stick you with their option for a hook, some manufacturers are selling the swing heads by themselves leaving hook options wide open. One such product is Gamakatsu's Tungsten Hybrid Swing Head.

Gamakatsu's Tungsten Hybrid Swing Head takes it to another level

Gamakatsu's take on this hookless swinghead weight is, as its name suggests, tungsten. The hybrid description refers to a shape on the head that's a cross between a traditional football head and that of an arkie. Gamakatsu refers to it as a cobra head, but I've yet to see a jighead described in that manner. To me, this head is a cross between a football and arkie head. Of course, the arkie is supposed to be a cross between a football and swim head, but let's not digress.

Customizing swing heads can lead to this tangled mess between jighead and hook

Gamakatu's hook attachment design is quick and easy requiring no tools

The point, or lack thereof, is this weight has a unique shape that could best be described as a spherical triangle. If such a shape actually exists, the line tie for the weight is located at the tip of this spherical triangle with the hook attachement coming off the base. The line tie is horizontal in orientation, and while Gamakatsu describes it as weedless, it does protrude from the weight, but only in a half circle. Perhaps it's the fact the base of the line tie where it meets the jighead is not constricted that makes the attachment point more weedless.

The shape of Gammy's swinghead is sort of a spherical triangle

The part of this weight that will no doubt make many nervous is the fact the hook attachment is open. It's a kind of twisted figure eight so you slide the open end into the line tie of your hook of choice and work it around to the very back of the figure eight. From there, it just swings free staying in place within the loop via tension. The hook cannot work back around and out of the loop if the entire assembly is in tension.

The hook tie (right) is described as weedless. Perhaps for the fact the circle doesn't complete itself creating a pinch point for weeds at the weight like the jighead on the left

The orientation of the hook loop corresponds with the angle of your typical worm hooks, so now the difficulty I described earlier with swapping out hooks on an existing swing head does not exist. Simply pull out the hook that will best support how you intend to fish, slide it around the hook keeper on this hybrid swing head, rig your soft plastic and start fishing! I tried it with both light wire and heavy wire hooks and they all slide on just as easily as the next. It's a very simple system to use.

Rigged with a heavy guage flipping hook

Rigged with a light wire, finesse hook

The theory behind the Hybrid Swing Head's shape is it can be fished like a traditional football swing head over rocks and other flat surfaces, but also, with its pointy end at the line tie, be used in weedy areas and in light punching duty where you're pitching toward open pockets in the overgrowth.