I want to highlight my absolute favorite and essential piece of terminal tackle that I fish with. You won’t find me on the water without a variety of weights and styles of the renowned Powerlock made by 2K Jigs.
The original Powerlock jig has been a staple for me since I first discovered it. It’s just a round ball jighead with a 60 degree flat eye 3/0 medium wire Mustad hook. Simple right? Well, the real magic and calling card of the jighead is the screwlock keeper. It’s hard to quantify how much money and time that small feature has saved me. It is definitely something I never want to be without anymore. Once you secure your plastic on there, your bait stays up on the head and lasts way longer. No more having to superglue your bait on or wasting time digging for another one after each bite. Speaking of plastics, the list of them you can use on it are about endless. The finesse swimbait between 3-4 inches is the hallmark bait for me used on it with spinning gear. The round ball head works well in harmony with a number of swimbaits that give the jig a unique body roll critical to trigger extra bites. Followed closely by darters, hula grubs, small craws and creatures, menace grubs, and other finesse baits I fish on the bottom. Available in 1/8, 3/16, ¼, and 5/16 sizes both 4 packs and 15 packs.
For longer than he probably cared to hear it, I clamored to the owner of 2K Jigs to make a beefed up version of the Powerlock able to be thrown on baitcasting gear. My fantasy became reality last year and Dan introduced the Powerlock HD. It too boasts a screwlock bait keeper, but the hook is a much beefier 4/0 60 degree heavy wire Mustad hook. Strong enough to be thrown on heavy fluorocarbon or even braid and not lose its integrity. Molded 3D eyes were also added in the redesigned flat sides with eye cavities. This is a feature I really love! Designed and tested for swimbaits, the round face and flat sides keep the jig and swimbait unstable by not cutting water. Therefore, it will body roll and wobble with
most high quality swimbaits; something I find very important in swimbait fishing. Just like the OG Powerlock, it also thrives on the bottom. Any number of craws and creatures work well on it and can essentially be fished like a jig without a skirt to give the fish a different look when pressured or the water is colder. I have also found it to be useful for bed fishing. A lot of times it’s nice to have that
heavy exposed hook you can pitch on a stout rod and do a little swinging when they are really biting. It can be a more efficient way to get an already tired bed guarder in the boat quickly and not exhaust the fish. We put the HD version of the Powerlock through the ringer in 2019 and now it has become an extremely important tool for me. Available in 3/8 and ½ oz sizes both painted (shad and ayu) or unpainted. Painted options available in 2 packs. Unpainted options available in 3, 12, or 24 packs.
If the Powerlock HD is the best swimbait head we have ever used, naturally it would make the best underspin too! And in typical 2K fashion, corners were not cut. All the same features of the Powerlock HD plus literally the highest quality components we could find were gathered and tested and now we have the Powerlock HD Spin available. Spro swivels and Hildebrandt blades were ultimately settled on because they are top of the line in both durability and longevity. I can’t say enough about how pleased I am with the way it came out! I was fortunate enough to test it before its release and I was thrilled with the results. We ran it through the smallmouth torture chamber in Michigan and it handled its business remarkably. You won’t find a nicer one with better components out there. Available in 3 hand painted colors in both 3/8 and ½ oz.
Why stop there? Well, 2K didn’t. They turned both the Powerlock HD and HD Spin into a bladed jig, a swim jig, and everything in between! Basically, you have a skirted option in 8 skirt colors handtied with copper wire built on the same platform as the other two HD’s with or without a blade on the front. Any variation of a Powerlock HD with an underspin, blade, or skirt or a mix of all 3 (appropriately named the Chaos) is available on the 2K Jigs website.
The versatility, money savings, time savings, and ridiculous amount of options available make the Powerlock family of jigs hands down the greatest piece of terminal tackle I have ever used and one I will never be without again. It has been an integral part of our tournament game plan and we have been fortunate to win a lot of money using the Powerlock. Give some a try and I bet you’ll quickly find the same confidence I have in them!
https://www.2kjigs.com/collections/new-powerlock-hd-product-line
Dave Hoeker