A few weeks back I was at the Fred Hall show and ran across the 187 Jigs booth. The jigs hanging for sale all looked awesome. The guy manning the booth gave me a quick rundown on a few features, ran through some color combinations and the weights of the different styles. After his pitch I was impressed enough that I decided to pick up a few to try out.
187 Jigs is based in Ventura County California, I like to support local businesses and I like that they are local because I know they are using their products in the same waters I am – so they know what I need.
The colors on the flashier 187Jigs are very bright and there is a good selection of both bright and more muted colors and weight combinations depending on what the fish are biting or what you prefer to use. Most of the time I prefer to use jigs that have a little brighter and vibrant colors and 187Jigs has plenty for me to choose from as shown below.
The holes for the rings are smooth. Some jigs I have bought or used in the past have had burrs, notches or just rough holes where the rings went through the body. That is not the case with these jigs. Each hole looks like it was filed or sand blasted a bit, and it makes a difference in the jigs action when the ring can slide freely. Cranking them back to the boat to re-cast they looked great coming through the water. This shows the attention to detail from the company.
The hook ring and attachment side ring are both welded, that’s standard through the industry for the most part – but worth mentioning. The weld is smoothed out so there are no sharp edges and so it slides through the jig better. The treble hook is solid and sharp and I didn’t have any problem with any fish spitting the hook once it was set.
As for longevity of the finish, itself I had a salmon grouper that I swung over the rail and it decided to pound the jig in its mouth against the non-skid on the deck of the boat for a while. Once I managed to get ahold of the fish without hooking my hand I pulled the hook and took a look at the finish on the jig and it was still great. Smooth and no chips or dings. I like gear that can take a beating. Even after yo-yoing the jig off the rocks for a while it was still as flawless as when I bought it.The Salmon grouper loved the jig on this trip. There were only a few ling cog brought up on the over night I went on but I am confident if there were more around this jig would have caught them.
After fishing with these jigs I came home and immediately ordered a few more. They will be a permanent fixture in my tackle bag for day trips and over night trips. I will continue to use them for rock fish- they seemed to love the Mahi colored jig and were nailing it repeatedly. I can not wait for yellowtail to pick back up around Southern California – these jigs are going to slay them. I hope to get these jigs fishing in Mexico, Washington and Oregon area this year and see what else I can catch.
You wont be disappointed with these jigs, however you may end up needing to collect the whole range of colors when you see how nice the craftsmanship, finish are and the results they get.
Click the link below to pick some up –
-Review and Photos by Scott