Why Flippin Hooks?

[mikey5string]

I currently use 4/0 EWG worm hooks on a pegged texas rig when flippin and pitching around grass/trees etc. I have seen "flipping hooks" advertised and I wanted to know the benefits of using these vs offset worm hooks.

Without the offset shank, I cant see how you could get the bait in line. Also, I see there is a "keeper" on a lot of these but the bend on the shank of a worm hook holds the bait in place reasonably well for me. They seem to be heavier gauge than a standard hook but I dont use light wire hooks and have never had any issues with straightening a hook.

Who uses flipping hooks as opposed to EWG worm hooks and why?

Thanks

[ChrisAW]

One reason I use the straight shank hooks is because of this rig here:

Ever since I started using that rig for texas rigging, I hardly miss any fish. One difference you'll find in rigging with a straight shank flippin hook VS a EWG, is the fact that not many EWG's on the market have a welded eyelet. Without that, the small gap will allow your snell to slip into the eyelet and ruin the knot, or just plain cut your line.

Another reason is because many are made with thicker diameter wire for when you're fishing stuff like this:

http://youtu.be/PTrAKeurr6g?t=4m

Catt made a good point about them as well on this forum.

It’s simple geometry

Wide gap hooks have the hook point directly in line with the eye of the hook or slightly above the line eye on "extra wide gap" hooks. When you set the hook, the sinker and the front of the lure clear a path for the hook point to escape a bass’s mouth without imbedding. On straight shank hooks the point rides substantially above the eye of the hook and aims for the roof of the bass’s mouth, resulting in a more hook-ups. The extra wide gap hooks do an excellent job of holding fish if you manage to get the hook through the bass’s mouth on the hook set. There are plenty of times when a bass completely takes the bait and even on a short pitch with braided line, the hook flies cleanly out of the bass’s mouth on the hook set. Missing an extra fish every once in a while doesn’t sound like a big deal, but if that fish is the Lunker of a lifetime, losing it is a huge deal.

I have personally watched this happen myself multiple times, and not even with the point buried!

But its just personal preference really. Give that rig I posted above a shot and see if you like it. I use it with just about everything now, short of tubes or other thick body baits. Even without using the snell, the hook point is going to be out in the open much more than an EWG. And they don't all have to be straight shank either. Just regular round bend offset hooks have a better hookup for me than EWG.

[mikey5string]

Thanks, that makes sense. I miss a lot of fish with my current setup. I have always attributed if to not being good enough at setting the hook at the exact right time. I am definitely going to try this rig out. Thanks again.

[mikey5string]

I bought some hooks and tied this rig. Cant wait to try it out, hopefully I can put more of those hits into the boat.

The only thing I dont like is that you cant really make the bait look good AND have it weedless.

[clayton86]

I had a reply to one of my threads similar to this just on punching and flipping in general and I was suggested to try octopus hooks with a snell knot so it cams the point out when the weight hits the eye. I rigged it up and caught a bunch of #1'ers on it and a beaver style bait.

[ww2farmer]

I use Gamakatsu EWG super line hooks for most all my general flipping and pitching, tied with a palomar or trilene knot and have ZERO issues with hooksets, missed bites, fish jumping off, or any of this other nonsense people claim to have troubles with that "magicly" goes away when they start using straight shank hooks or snell knots. The only times I use a straight shank hook is punching grass mats, or dropping baits in and out of cover with big tungsten sinkers looking for a reaction bite. Why??,because the big barb keeper does hold the bait in place better while punching, and the big 1oz + tungsten sinkers I use tend to blow or pop the fishes mouth open on a hookset, and the extra bite of the straigh shank hook grabs more meat than an EWG offset hook in this situation.

[papajoe222]

The key to rigging with this type of hook is the way you initially instert the hook (on an angle) and how you burry the hook point into the plastic to make it weedless (also on an angle) Before 'worm' hooks with offset eyes were the norm, this was the style hook used on plastic worms. The offset was designed to address the problem of the worm's head sliding down the shank and balling up at the bend. Different types of 'keepers' were used prior to the offset, but most failed with regularity.

I still run a toothpick through the worm's head and eyelet on some of the softer Gulp baits and others as a precaution, especially after the first time the worm slides off the keeper as the channel the hook shank put in the worm has become enlarged.

[ChrisAW]

I use Gamakatsu EWG super line hooks for most all my general flipping and pitching, tied with a palomar or trilene knot and have ZERO issues with hooksets, missed bites, fish jumping off, or any of this other nonsense people claim to have troubles with that "magicly" goes away when they start using straight shank hooks or snell knots. The only times I use a straight shank hook is punching grass mats, or dropping baits in and out of cover with big tungsten sinkers looking for a reaction bite. Why??,because the big barb keeper does hold the bait in place better while punching, and the big 1oz + tungsten sinkers I use tend to blow or pop the fishes mouth open on a hookset, and the extra bite of the straigh shank hook grabs more meat than an EWG offset hook in this situation.

Calling it non-sense and claiming its magic doesn't make it any less of an opinion that in my experience, is truth. Why do you have to talk down about what has worked for ME?

I'm not saying I was MISSING a lot of fish with EWG's, but I have seen the bait and hook entirely just come pop out of a fish's mouth without so much as my bait sliding down the hook. I can't say the same for straight shanks. Even when I miss a fish, the bait slides down and the point is fully exposed, EVERY time. I've seen an improvement in hooksets. Not so much as just a few less missed fish here and there, but more hooks buried in the roof of the mouth that take some effort to remove. I like my hooks to "pop" when I remove them.

I didn't claim that EWG's don't still work, but MY PERSONAL experience has seen improvement with straight shanks.

[ww2farmer]

I didn't claim that EWG's don't still work, but MY PERSONAL experience has seen improvement with straight shanks.

Good for you. I guess I don't know how lucky I am to catch and land so many bass on sub-par hooks.

[ChrisAW]

Nice to see that you have so much free time to waste trying to start crap on an internet forum about someones opinion, that NEVER said anything about sub-par