No More Treble Hooks For Me, Im Getting Rid Of All Of Mine

[jason41987]

ive decided im going to get rid of all my treble hooks..there are size limits on the fish i catch and treble hooks can be pretty destructive to a fishes mouth.. something i dont want to risk on fish too small to keep, and i mostly catch and release anyway.. id rather risk losing one here or there than to risk permanently damaging a fishes mouth thats to be thrown back anyway...

 

i caught a pike a couple weeks ago, this one i was actually going to fillet and keep anyway, luckily, but all three points went into the corner of its mouth in a way they had to be cut out...

 

so for ethical reasons of catch and release, and for reasons of WAY too many weeds for trebles, ive decided to just remove them from all of my lures and install single, weedless hooks...

 

has anyone else made this decision too, or am i the only one?

[Avalonjohn44]

To give the fish a more sporting chance, I am cutting off my left arm...

 

Seriously, just mash the barbs on your trebles down, no need to do away with them completely.

[The Young Gun]

Any treble hooks you don't want ill take off your hands.

[Jrob78]

That's very noble of you but I don't think it's necessary either.  Mashing down the barbs should solve your problems.  The hooks will come out much easier and not tear up their mouths, plus, it will be easier on you should you hook yourself.  Also, single hooks can alter the performance of some baits.

[OkeechobeeAngler]

Also your hook up % is gonna drop.

[powerduster]

Try working one hook out at a time. As for switching out trebles, I actually did a little experiment with some circle hooks with pretty good results. Not only that, but it's pretty snagless too. Other then that, I still use trebles majority of the time.

[jason41987]

mashing down barbs isnt going to solve the other problem im having with trebles though, the abundance of weeds.. see the lake im fishing in is partially drained because theyre doing dam work on the river that feeds it.. because of this the top of the grass that covers the bottom is exposed on the surface of the water meaning complete ceiling to floor weeds and once you get one weed on a spoon it becomes useless, so im likely to get more bites without the treble hooks due to the lures working properly, and not dragging 2 feet of weeds behind them

[BradH]

Carry small bolt cutters, split ring pliers and extra trebles.

[lmbfisherman]

mashing down barbs isnt going to solve the other problem im having with trebles though, the abundance of weeds.. see the lake im fishing in is partially drained because theyre doing dam work on the river that feeds it.. because of this the top of the grass that covers the bottom is exposed on the surface of the water meaning complete ceiling to floor weeds and once you get one weed on a spoon it becomes useless, so im likely to get more bites without the treble hooks due to the lures working properly, and not dragging 2 feet of weeds behind them

Then don't use them in that situation...sounds like frog time or weightless flukes/plastics and definitely punching.  I'd agree with everyone else, pinch the barb! and if they choked it, cut off the hook. 

[Arv]

Not too long ago, I was about to get rid of all my treble hooks. They are very annoying to me since the like to pick up everything. My carpet, my shirt, my shorts, any pine needles or weeds in the lake, etc. But then I pumped the brakes and thought about it. They do a great job catching fish. Literally the day after I decided to take my cb rod off the fleamarket I went out and hooked up with several nice fish with the largest being around 4#. Yeah, I had to pick off pine needles more often than I liked, but it was worth it when I landed one of my bigger fish of the year.

 

Like mentioned above, they are situational and will obviously not be the #1 choice if your area is densely weeded or covered in algae. I'll also echo everyone else that said to mash down the barbs. If you do decide to go through with selling everything though I'm sure you'll be able to get rid of it.

[J Francho]

mashing down barbs isnt going to solve the other problem im having with trebles though, the abundance of weeds.. see the lake im fishing in is partially drained because theyre doing dam work on the river that feeds it.. because of this the top of the grass that covers the bottom is exposed on the surface of the water meaning complete ceiling to floor weeds and once you get one weed on a spoon it becomes useless, so im likely to get more bites without the treble hooks due to the lures working properly, and not dragging 2 feet of weeds behind them

 

This is NOT a time to use a treble.  If you want to try a spoon bait, a Heddon Moss Boss would be the appropriate choice. 

 

http://www.lurenet.com/brands/heddon-lures/heddon-moss-boss

[buzzed bait]

i might even add that a hard hook set from an EWG or other types of single hooks can be as bad as a treble since you generally aren't setting the hook hard on a treble....

as for the issue with hang ups, try a frog on the topwater.  very weedless and fun

[jason41987]

im going to start using topwaters more, but these pike LOVE those spoons, so im still removing the trebles, going to replace them with weedless singles, and probably start buying more of the weedless style spoons.. besides.. i actually destroyed the treble hook on my five of diamonds spoon, got snagged so bad, if i had anything less than 20lb test it would have broken the line as i pulled in about 15lbs of weeds.. so.. for ethical reasons for not doing too much damage to fish im likely releasing, people have suggested barbless treble hooks... what is better for holding a fish.. a barbless treble, or a barbed single?.. granted, i cant use any trebles in these weeds, but for future reference id be interested to know

[BradH]

If you are spoon fishing an open eye siwash hook between 2/0 and 4/0 seems to get the job done.  Just close up the eye around the split ring that originally held the treble hook.

[jason41987]

could i texas-rig a grub to an off-set hook trailer on a spoon, or would it mess up the action of that spoon?

[BradH]

That will work.

[jason41987]

well, single hooks are working fine, even without anything covering the hook the snags are much, much tamer and i caught a few pike today on them.. the only one i lost was the one that bit the front of the spoon, not even a treble would have done much.. i actually watched him bite it as it was about 4 feet away and near the surface when he did it... though.. i must say the single hook really wasnt much better in terms of damage to the fish.. one fish was hooked in the side, mid-length of the body under the skin, it wasnt fatal, but did some damage.. the other pike got it in the back of its throat, actually pierced the artery in its neck.. he bled out and died but he was well over the 26^ legal limit, so he became lunch

[Avalonjohn44]

I guess it's time you just went completely hookless.

[jason41987]

i think maybe i should get a bigger lure.. stop these pike from completely engulfing it.. i have about a medium size spoon i use.. this ones all scratched up anyway from them biting it.. the three i got today were all over 26"