[chas48]

I spent all winter making Arkie jigs,stand up jigs and shakie head jigs. Ive been fishing 4 times now and broke off 6 times !! I have not broken off 2 times in the last 3 years on a hook set. At first I thought it was bad line, but it has now happend on 3 diffrent reels w/ 3 diffrent lines. The only common factor is, the breaks are all on the jigs I made....

Now, I have gotten paint on the eyes of the hooks and have tried to clean them out. Could this be the ONLY thing it is?

[CreekMonster]

If you scrape the paint out of the eyes and scratch up the metal, it could very well be just that. any little bur or burs on the hook eye will act like little razors and cause breakage. If you get paint in the eye, try using a hook and just poke the paint out. The less you fool with it, the better. Maybe use a toothpick or piece of one in the eye before you paint to keep the paint out. I'm sure some of the guys here can help you more than I can on that subject. But remember, a rough hook eye (whether burs or rust) can and will cause breaks.

Jay

[bassn1]

My first thought was paint left in the eye, how are you getting the paint out? My second thought was, how old is your line? To get paint out I heat up a piece of spinnerbait wire or a paper clip and run it thru the eye before I bake it. Since I invested in a fluid bed I dont get paint clogging up the eyes anymore.

[chas48]

All the lines are new. At first I would get the paint out w/ an old hook or 1 of those "hole punch" type tools for jigs if it was paint or a knife blade if it was powder coat.

[gat0r]

The best remedy is to get the paint out of the eyelet while you're painting. I do this with a small piece of copper wire. Heat the jig, dip in paint, punch any paint out of the eye.

[Kevin Cochran]

You probably have a chipped or broken ceramic insert on one of your rod guides.

[JSC]

I have to suspect guides, bad line, chafed line ... could you tell if was broken on the knot ?? it should show.
My 2 cents
JSC

[chas48]

3 diffrent rods/reels, 3 new lines.

[soccerer]

I clean out the eye with a eye-buster and then scrape the outside of the eye with a knife. Paint can cause some knots to slip when tightened.

[Brian_Va]

Are you actually reeling up the broken knot? If you are then you really need to use a round smooth point to clean your jig eyes. If you use something with an edge on it, thats probably your problem. Those stainless dental picks are good at popping out paint without burring up the hook eye.