I recently picked up a few of the Origional Heddon Zara Spook Cigar Lures, these come with hook hangers that go through the hook eyelet, which really restricts hook movement, and makes changing hooks difficult. I started looking through my overflow of stuff and found some Owner Hyper #2 Split rings and some Eagle Claw Lazer #2 Treble Hooks, and decided to modify the Zara Spook, and make changing hooks easier. Since these use hook hangers and they go through the hook eyelet I had 2 options, cut the hookor or unscrew the screws that hold the hanger to the lure. Unscrewing them sounded easier so I grabbed a phillips head and got to it. The screws came out relatively easy, it is not necessary to remove both screws, just loosen the forward screw and remove the rear, this will allow you to slide the hooks off the hanger. Then I installed the hooks on the split ring, slid the split ring onto the hanger and tightend down the screws, be carful not to cross thread or overtighten the screws, it could dmage the lure. I would also suggest using a #3 or #4 Owner Hyper Split Ring, the #2 works fine, it just seems a little small compared to other similar lures, also with a larger split ring you might want to go with a regular shank treble hook, but its up to you on how long you want the hook to hang. I am very happy with the results, thehooks move freely, and storage is much easier. Also now if I do decide to go with bigger split rings and different hooks they can be simply removed with split ring pliers, and new hardware installed. I will post step by step pictures very soon.
