Trailer Hook Tip/technique

[Christian M]

I'm sure that with all the tinkering and experimenting that most of us do with our tackle, this has been done before, but here goes anyway. 

 

I fish a lot of shallow lakes (3'-10'), and in some of these lakes, the spinnerbait is key, one of the most productive lures you can possibly use. I use a trailer hook with some sort of trailer worm (usually a twist tail worm/grub) on my spinnerbaits religiously. I cant count the number of Hawgs I've skin hooked with a good sharp trailer hook with teeth marks on the trailer worm.

 

However, If you fish shallow lakes, you know how difficult it can be trying to fish through heavy cover (patches of pads, hydrillas, etc...). A lot of the time, If I can manage to get the blades and the head of the bait through the cover, my trailer hook comes back with grass on it, ruining my presentation. Its frustrating because most of the time, that heavy growth is where the monsters lurk. Especially on lakes that don't have many docks or much structure for them to hide under & hold in.

 

Over the winter I was playing around with some spinnerbaits, and I came up with a small tweak that has been working like gangbusters for me so far. I'll explain and include a rough sketch. 

 

1. Start off by putting a twist tail worm on the main hook of your spinnerbait, I like to cut off the tophalf of a Powerbait.

 

2. Put the trailer hook on and secure it with a piece of plastic or rubber tubing. Your trailer hook should move freely, so don't use the trailer hooks that come with a molded keeper over the eye.

 

(If all you have is this type of trailer hook, you can just pull the plastic cover off of the eye, then use that piece of plastic as a keeper on the main hook).

 

Now you have your twist tail on the main hook, and your trailer hook moving freely with a hook keeper in front of it.

 

3. Take a screw lock and pass it through the eye of the trailer hook.

 

4. Take a twist tail grub and secure it to the screw lock, then push the point of the trailer hook into the grub but not all the way through.

 

Now you have a spinner bait with a weedless trailer hook, also you have 2 trailers that give the spinnerbait a whole new look and action. Another thing I've found by doing this is that the extra trailer creates more drag, so you can slow the bait down to a crawl and not worry about the trailer hook snagging. Experiment with the types and colors of your trailers. I have a sunfish pattern spinnerbait with 2 painted blades, a chartreuse grub on the main hook, and a dark green grub on the trailer. I can't stop catching all types of fish on it. I have a sketch that I will include also.

 

 

 

I hope this info was helpful & tight lines!

[jherm87]

So simple, but easy to overlook. Thanks for the idea

[PABASS]

I like the drawling, this is what I love about fishing it can be as simple as a worm on a hook or a strange as stitching a 15inch black worm.  I have thought about all kinds of trailer hooks but rarely do I use them, I have thought about what you are doing for spinners and buzzbaits, its awesome that its producing for you as well, I just cant buy a bite on spinnerbaits thus far this year.  Look up stinger hooks on you-tube, really depending on the water you can put trailer hooks on almost everything, but you might remove or change the action in a way, which may be a good thing.

[jhoffman]

If you freehanded that you should look at art school

[Christian M]

If you freehanded that you should look at art school

Thank you very much. I did freehand it at work today. I have a BS in Graphic Design, I would love to post up some of my art but I don't want to seem like I'm soliciting myself on this site. I figured a sketch would help to realize all the different ways this technique can be used.

[Christian M]

I like the drawling, this is what I love about fishing it can be as simple as a worm on a hook or a strange as stitching a 15inch black worm. I have thought about all kinds of trailer hooks but rarely do I use them, I have thought about what you are doing for spinners and buzzbaits, its awesome that its producing for you as well, I just cant buy a bite on spinnerbaits thus far this year. Look up stinger hooks on you-tube, really depending on the water you can put trailer hooks on almost everything, but you might remove or change the action in a way, which may be a good thing.

Spinnerbaits can be tricky, it can get confusing with all the choices out there. Also there are lakes where they just don't produce. My advice for early in the season would be to go with small, single bladed spinners. Indiana blades are hard to beat year round. Remember, the fish are just spawning, so the bait & forage is still small, you want to imitate those little baitfish. Also take the water color/clarity into consideration when choosing your spinnerbait. However, the bass might not be ready to strike a spinnerbait just yet. I've been using a lot of soft plastics and finesse techniques so far, and with success.

I've checked out stinger hooks & I wanna give them a shot. This little trick can be used on lots of lures like jigs and chatterbaits, I even put a trailer hook on hollow body frogs sometimes, & this keeps everything weedless.

[annexation]

This is really clever - and the sketch totally did it for me. 9 times out of 10 I won't put a trailer hook on because I'm not in the mood for salad, but this looks like it would solve that dilemma. I'm fond of twin tail grubs, so maybe I'll try those on something like this. Thanks for sharing!

[BassAddict1911]

great idea, and you rocked that sketch bro! I wonder if the art section at Harvard will accept fishermen ... ?