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Mustad Jig Hook Quality

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Has anyone tried to confirm the rumor that Mustad hooks are now Asian mfg.? I've been a fan of the light wire 60* Ultra Point 32729 for a coupla years and today got my first bad box of 2/0s. One box was OK though more shiny nickel than BLN but another box batch code 396246 had serious quality control issues most noticeably off angle leg bends and off center point alignment sufficient to restrict full mold closure. Anyone else had Mustad problems lately?

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Mustad has moved their mfg plant to China, but I was told that Mustad owns the plant and has control over quality. The newer hooks of Black Nickle (BLN) should be more black. The older ones were more silver looking.

Mustad is wanting the hooks to be more black.

I like the 32756 better than the 570, but I'm not sure there is much difference.

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A hook tester would indeed be useful - I manually tested one of the blacker mis-shapen 32729s and it started to bend out with what appeared to be less pressure than normal. If Ultra Points are going bad, many of us are in trouble, as its a big price jump to Gamakatsu or Owner and they don't offer the variety. I would suggest an alternative to M32756 & EC570 as being VMC9147, although all 3 appear to be now made in China.

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lilcraw, absolutely right, Gamakatsu is top of the line for product quality, customer service, and price. Unfortunately, Gami doesn't offer 60* jig hooks with lighter wire, longer shanks, or smaller sizes black finish. Or smaller size 90*, so Ultra Point seems the best choice by default for those.

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For most purposes I found most Mustad hooks more than satisfactory, if the point is protected with a weedguard I will switch to owner or gammie, but if its not protected its Mustad all the way, Gammie and Owners points roll way to easy for my liking and cant be sharpened afterwards, Mustads ultra point is not near as sharp as the others but will not roll, for most situations though it is sharp enough. (swim jigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits is where I will definetely switch out to Owner or Gammie tough)

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Just got an answer through Shorty's from a Mustad rep regarding 32729 quality:

"I did take a box of hooks to see if I found many rejects and I found 1 that had a mis-shaped bend and one that had an offset to it."

So, I took a random 25 pieces from the bad box and although NONE appeared to be previous Ultra Point quality standard 14 of them did fit the mold OK. However, the other 11 didn't allow full mold closure and required pliers surgery to fit properly. I'd like to mention that the wire appeared to be much easier to bend than previous Ultra Point temper. Unfortunately, since the mold is custom for 32729 with no other choice I'll be sorting out and repairing 400 or so bad hooks out of the box. So, I would suggest if you're gonna do a custom hand pour choose a hook that multiple mfgs. offer.

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