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In the era of the ping, Tackle Warehouse has nearly 100 jigheads listed for sale. Queen Tackle only makes 2 of 'em and yet both are among TW's top 4 bestselling jigheads. Had to know why so the BB's Andy "sage" Greene got with Jeff Queen – dad of Elite pro KJ Queen – to see what's up.
What makes his L.S. (stands for LiveScope) Tungsten Jigheads so popular? What's up with that new backwards jighead? Jeff's buds nicknamed him "the Fish Engineer" and you're about to find out why. Here's 5 with him:
1. With all the jigheads coming out on the market, a lot of them tungsten, why do you think your L.S. Tungsten Jighead is a TW bestseller and is used at the top levels of the sport, even by anglers who are not sponsored by you?
> "It helps that we were one of the first in the true tungsten jighead market, and we've done a decent job at promoting it as well. But it didn't happen overnight.
> "[Elite Series pro] Cody Huff asked us for a tungsten jighead for FFS – something he could see in very deep, clear water. KJ and I worked on that, got it sourced, and brought them in. That first year, we couldn't sell them. They sat for a year without turning over.
> "What finally sent us off were the young rookies that came into the tour level. They were experts at FFS, and nearly all of them were using our heads. They understood that lead is not as good as true tungsten because they can see the tungsten [on FFS] much further away.
> "They tried to keep it a secret, but you can't. It leaked out. Most of [the rookies] didn't have hook sponsors so they just bought what they thought was best. And a lot of pros started giving us shoutouts."
2. Why is tungsten so much better than lead in your opinion?
> "When I think of lead, the first thing I think about is that lead vest the dentist makes me wear when I get an x-ray. The lead absorbs the radiation. It's no different with sonar.
> "With FFS, the further away from the boat that you get your bait, the harder a lead head is to read because the lead absorbs the sonar – it doesn't get as much of a bounce-back.
> "You won't see much of a difference between lead and tungsten at 50' or less. But fish are conditioned to the sonar ping and are easier to catch at further distances. The smarter the fish become, our equipment must get better and better.
> "Tungsten is a hard, dense surface and you can see it 80-120' from the boat. It diffuses the [sonar] wave rather than absorbing the wave. And it has a very slick surface. The slicker the surface, the better the return. We don't paint our heads because the grainier texture of the paint hinders the sonar signal.
> "Some companies are making tungsten resin jigheads. That's a mixture of epoxy and tungsten powder. You pour it like lead. It's a little smaller profile than lead but not as small as true tungsten – and the surface is not slick. It still absorbs the sonar signal and does not give as good of a return.
> "Tungsten has a 20-to-1 cost difference than lead. And the manufacturing process of tungsten is much more involved. Tungsten melts at close to 5,000 degrees at high pressure – that's why it's super dense. If you try to pour it like lead, it'll melt the hook. Our tungsten molds must include a cut-out for the hooks, and the hooks are added after the tungsten heads are made."
3. You offer 15 different versions of weights and hook sizes in that jighead. Why so many?
> "When we first designed it, we were targeting the large sizes. We quickly realized that with Scoping you need a wide range of sizes. Our customers are catching floaters just under the surface, some are catching them around timber in 50' of water, and we have guys at Dale Hollow who catch them in 100' of water. We even designed a couple for crappie fishermen.
> "We tried to build something for every situation, which led to a lot of SKUs."
4. Your L.S. Rollin Strollin Jighead has the line tie pointing toward the shank of the hook. How and why did you come up with that design?
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