Texas Rig Worm Hooks: Straight Verses Off Set.

[WRB]

The topic of hook set often comes up on bass fishing fishing forums, angler having trouble keeping bass hooked when fishing a Texas rigged soft plastic worm.

First a Texas rig, for purposes of this discussion has a bullet shape sliding sinker that is free to slide on the line, may or may not have a bead between the hook and weight. The hook is inserted into the nose of the worm a short distance than out the belly and back into the body of the worm...a traditional T- rig.

The problem various hook designs try to resolve is the worm sliding down the hook shank and filling the hook gap with the worm body, which in turn prevents the hook point penetrating the basses mouth.

The original worm hook was the sprout bend straight shank hook with a few barbs on the hook shank near the hook eye. This was the hook style that I learned to rig and fish with over 50 years ago. The 1st off set I remember was the Eagle Claw #45 and Eagle Claw also came out with the 1st wide gap hooks back in the late 60's , T-rig problems have been around a very long time. The evolution includes bent hook shafts to aid in rotation like True Turn and all kinds of worm head holding devices to help keep the worm from sliding down the hook.

Today the most popular selling worm hook are the off sets or J bends in extra wide gap designs; EWG.

I have tried most of the different designs and keep going back to the original straight shank designs like;

Gamakatsu # 011 for hand poured finesse worms and # 464 or Owner #5100 standard wire round bends.

For worms over 10" or night fishing I like the heavy wire hooks like Gamakatsu #484, Owner #5103, because I fish 20 lb line at night and tend to fish heavier cover.

To keep the worm head on the hook shaft, I like to use a 1/4" piece of Peg-it inserted through the hook eye, after tying the hook,, The rubber holds the worm head in place . I also skin hook T-rigged worms.

Hook sizes vary with worm body diameter, not length. Small finesse worm 1/4" diameter I use #011 size 1/0. Standard worms with 5/16 to 3/8 diameter, 3/0 or 4/0 # 464 and larger over 3/8 go up to 5/0.

I know I am in the minority using straight shank worm hooks today, but rarely loose a bass with a T-rigged worm.

What is your favorite T-rig worm hook and why do you like it?

Tom

[merc1997]

i use a 60 degree leg jig hook. a hitchicker is hung in the eye to secure the plastic too. here are the advantages. first, the plastic is not attached to the hook shank. it can not slide down the hook shank to block the throat of the hook. it will come through cover better because the head of the plastic is protected by the hook itself. here is the most important reason, and that is in the hooking physics. the leg of the hook is actually a lever and will always follow the direction of the pull of the line. when the hook is lying flat in the bass' mouth and you set the hook, the log of the hook will be lifted to a vertical position, and tend to hook a better percentage of bass in the roof of the mouth. i also prefer a round bend as opposed to an O'shaughnasee bend or worse yet an ewg bend. the pull line of a round bend is further away from the hook point. the pull line of an ewg bend is righ underneath the barb. what that difference means is that it is much easier for a bass to pry the hook out with as ewg bend. this most often happens when a bass is swimming away from you. because the pull line of an ewg hook is right underneath the barb the hook easily pops right out when a bass is pulling straight away from you. conversely with a round bend, the pull line is at the very bottom of the bend, and that makes it much harder to dislodge. perhaps i might do another video on the subject sometime and post it.

[merc1997]

another thing that i forgot to mention about j-bend, and sproat style hooks is that the straight faces of the j-bend can catch and prvent forward motion of the hook preventing it from burying the barb. the same thing can happen with the slices in a sproat hook shank. when the plastic is peeled from them sliding down the hook shank, those slices in the hook shank can catch and also prevent forward motion of the hook, and there again prevent the barb from burying through the bass. i have boated bass, opened their mouth, and that is all they were hanging on, was the sproat slices. the barb was not even through the worm.

bo

[WRB]

I use the hitchhiker spring or Owner CPS spring FTP attached a worm piece for a weed guard on my jigs and use a similar hook/ spring for small swimaits. I will try this out for wor my T-rigged worms. What hook make and model do you recommend?

Tom

[merc1997]

I use the hitchhiker spring or Owner CPS spring FTP attached a worm piece for a weed guard on my jigs and use a similar hook/ spring for small swimaits. I will try this out for wor my T-rigged worms. What hook make and model do you recommend?

Tom

tom

i have used gammies, eagle claw, and mustad all with good success. i can not say tht i have a preference of one over the other. eagle claw 426275 is one. mustad 32786bln is another. i can not recall gammie's number. one thing that i do prefer when i can find them is to get those same models with a horizontal eye. with a horizontal eye, you have a bit more leverage in turning the hook up, as you are pulling from the top of the eyelet ring as opposed to the front of the ring on a vertical eyelet. those few degrees make lots of difference. another good hook is an owner 5383-138. it only comes in one size, but it has more bite because the leg of the hook is a lower profile because it is a compound bend. with it you are not losing much bite room over your straight shanked hook, but have the advantage of having a lever to help stand the hook upright. hope that makes sense.

bo

[Highhawk1948]

The old Tru-turn hook

[iceintheveins]

I have a such a good hook up rate on EWGs that they are basically all I use. Sometimes though a regular offset or straight shank comes through grass better, but since I can't use a parasite clip with them, the plastics get damaged and are harder to keep rigged straight.

[Arv]

I have a such a good hook up rate on EWGs that they are basically all I use. Sometimes though a regular offset or straight shank comes through grass better, but since I can't use a parasite clip with them, the plastics get damaged and are harder to keep rigged straight.

I've honestly rarely missed any fish on EWG hooks as well. I'll occasionally use offset worm hooks for the same reason but I like having a EWG hook on for the ease of switching out soft plastics as well. I can T-Rig just about anything on a 3/0 - 4/0 EWG hook so I can switch from a worm to a craw, etc. if I feel like I need to.

[tomustang]

I don't have a problem with EWGs and hooksets, when there is an issue it's a smaller fish tugging on the plastic and its mouth is not wrapped around the shank

[Arv]

I don't have a problem with EWGs and hooksets, when there is an issue it's a smaller fish tugging on the plastic and its mouth is not wrapped around the shank

Isn't that annoying! I think they do that on purpose to tease us

[papajoe222]

I've found myself going back to the good ole round bend worm hooks like the Gammy 48114, mainly because I throw a lot of big worms and this hook has a longer shaft than most EWG hooks. My second choice is a regular offset for the same reason. I do like EWGs for tubes and smaller worms. Just personal preference though. I've caught fish on a 10in. worm and a 4/0 EWG and getting the hook into the fish or keeping it there was never an issue for me.

[fishking247]

I use all gamakatsu's I use ewg when tex posing and te standard old school worm hooks when burying the hook in the bait

[Alpster]

I got on the EWG bandwagon a few years ago because it seemed like a good idea, but I didn't seen my bite to hook up ratio improve and I like the smaller profile of a straight worm hook. I find the narrower hooks get snagged less and pick up less crap, etc. I find myself rarely using EWG hooks anymore. I do still like them on some BIG disc tubes and Fat Ikas. I am using the screw point Mustatds more because they just come loose on the hookset rather than balling up on the hook. The jury is still out on whether this will become my habit. That's my $0.02.

Here's a pic of the screw lock hook in case I'm using the wrong term for them.....

http://www.crockogatorbaitcompany.com/i//tn_crockogator_pics_226.jpg

Ronnie

[OkobojiEagle]

My preference is as Bo suggests... 60 degree eye, but all of my worm hooks have lead molded to them.

oe

[WRB]

My preference is as Bo suggests... 60 degree eye, but all of my worm hooks have lead molded to them.

oe

Not really T-rigged, keel weight rigged. The difference is how the rig falls down through the water, nose first for a T-rig with the weight sliding away from the worm verses a weighted hook that tends fall slower and glide more, then the worm lays on the bottom. The T-rig the worm can float off the bottom.

The CPS or spring attaching the worm head to the hook does eliminate the problem with worm sliding down the hook shank!

Tom

[hookset on 3]

tom

i have used gammies, eagle claw, and mustad all with good success. i can not say tht i have a preference of one over the other. eagle claw 426275 is one. mustad 32786bln is another. i can not recall gammie's number. one thing that i do prefer when i can find them is to get those same models with a horizontal eye. with a horizontal eye, you have a bit more leverage in turning the hook up, as you are pulling from the top of the eyelet ring as opposed to the front of the ring on a vertical eyelet. those few degrees make lots of difference. another good hook is an owner 5383-138. it only comes in one size, but it has more bite because the leg of the hook is a lower profile because it is a compound bend. with it you are not losing much bite room over your straight shanked hook, but have the advantage of having a lever to help stand the hook upright. hope that makes sense.

bo

Bo, that Owner 5383 is a XX strong weapon!

I use a similar Owner with a vertical eye and CPS spring.

It really sticks 'em, too.

[Chattahoochee]

I use Round Bend Offset for Smaller Worms like zoom finesse worms, and ewg for larger profile like brush hogs.

[scaleface]

I simply use the smallest barrel swivel I can. Slide one end on the line between the sinker and the hook. Your plastic will never slide down the shank again. Heres are pics on how its done.