Happy fishing all! In pursuing the bass at my local tough clear-water lake, I've spent a lot of time thinking about finesse fishing. One place I've focused is trying to hide the hook where wary bass can't see it while improving hookup and reducing lost fish. I think this is generally a compromise: whether the hook is harder to see (and you get more initial strikes) or whether the fish gets hooked and stays on until it is landed. If one downsizes their hook, it's often more difficult to land big bass because the plastic pushes the fish off the barb. If one upsizes their hook, wary bass that can rely on vision will often turn down a lure.
One route I've taken is to try to find a way to rig a smaller hook so it isn't buried in plastic, and this rigging method is what I came up with. It's probably been done before in one way or another, but in reinventing the wheel I'm liking the initial results. I feel like it gets more bites, hooks up better, and doesn't lose fish as often as other finesse rigging options. The big downside is that it annihilates the soft plastic and takes more time to rig up than normal nose or worm hooking. By the way, by annihilate the soft plastic, I mean it slices the plastic in two pieces on every hookup.
Here's a diagram of what it looks like
Basic jist is you're making an overhand knot with the lure through the "O" and one end of the knot embedded inside the lure. I ended up with this design because it keeps tension on the hook, but not enough tension that the hook is ever brought through the plastic. When a fish bites, the overhand knot cinches instead of the hook being brought through the plastic. That prevents "squeeze-offs" ... when the plastic pushes the fish off the barb. Also I like how the hook is further back on the plastic, close to the center. Sometimes fish go for a "sideswipe" versus an "engulf" and the hook being in that spot will often hookup.
So an interesting possibility this rig presents that I haven't experimented with yet is that it could work with thick baits. So if anyone has the ability to cast a monster senko and fish it on 6 lb test with a #1 hook, that might be worth a shot. Also an interesting possibility is that it can use multiple hooks by putting some extra line through the "knot" and palomaring a couple more hooks on. I've tested that and it seems to well on long worms; it turns a short strike into a hook-up.
If anyone gives this a try and has some comments, I'm interested to hear. I personally haven't committed to this rig because it goes through the plastics a lot faster than other hooking methods, but maybe it will float someone else's boat since it did seem to work well.
Looking forward to responses and take care!
