Premium Hooks

[travis23]

So I started bass fishing in the spring and I had to buy a lot of tackle to get the things I needed to be successful.  I didn't pay too much attention to hooks because it my eyes they were pretty much all the same and they all felt sharp to me.  I lost a lot of fish, and especially on topwater spooks and sexy dawgs.  I bought some Mustad trebles the other day and although they were expensive I with out a doubt noticed a huge difference.  I didn't lose one fish on those two baits a couple days ago.  I think from now on since I have plenty of lures and soft plastics that I will stock my hooks with premium and I will also pay attention to the hooks on jigs because that was another one that I noticed a difference with. 

[CTGalloway21]

also a reason I buy quality lures since most of them have acceptable hooks on them.

[Raul]

One of the things I find mindboggling is fishing from a 50+ k boat , with several grand in rods and reels and trying to save a few pennies in fishing line ( the only thing connecting you and the fish ) and cheap hooks ( the only thing in direct contact with the fish ), absolutely ridiculous !

[Jrob78]

Yep, gotta use good hooks.

[KDW96]

Quality hooks like KVD TRIPLE GRIP 1X 2XSHORT, OWNER STINGERS,AND SOME OF THE GAMAGATSU 

 

can really up your game. Ive been picking up a pack or two of the kvd and stingers over the summer to replace hooks this winter.

 

Some are pricey at 8to10 dollars for six.Theres no reason for that.

 

Also,get or make a lure retriever(plug nocker) to use when you get hung up.It will save 

your lure,and those new hooks....................................

[ww2farmer]

I use Mustad, Gamakatsu, and VMC. All excellent hooks. VMC is really giving me the most bang for the buck lately. They have some great stuff at very reasonable prices.

[Hi Salenity]

I have 85 Katsuage hooks in the mail now ;-)

[roadwarrior]

I have 85 Katsuage hooks in the mail now ;-)

 

I like them, too!

[CWB]

I use Gammy short shank inline and VMC inline. Both are great hooks and good value. Wish the KVD Triple Grips would come inline. Gammy makes a similar hook (EWG Treble) which I received from TW but haven't had a chance to use them yet. These are inline.

[Bluebasser86]

I use Mustad, Gamakatsu, and VMC. All excellent hooks. VMC is really giving me the most bang for the buck lately. They have some great stuff at very reasonable prices.

VMC's are about all I use except when I find Owner's on sale. Good hooks at a good price. Really glad they started making short shanks and in odd sizes, the #3 short shanks are on a lot of my baits. 

 

As for the OP, my buddy Jon (basshunter0731 on here) didn't use to buy into the premium hook thing. Then one day he was fishing a Strike King KVD 1.5 straight out of the box. I warned him about the hooks but it wasn't until he'd lost 3 over 6 pounds and a couple more in the 4-5 pound range because his hooks keep straightening out that he became a believer. Now he's like me, a bait isn't ready to fish until I replace the hooks on it except for a select few baits. 

[smalljaw67]

One of the things I find mindboggling is fishing from a 50+ k boat , with several grand in rods and reels and trying to save a few pennies in fishing line ( the only thing connecting you and the fish ) and cheap hooks ( the only thing in direct contact with the fish ), absolutely ridiculous !

 

This is funny but so true!!!! I make custom tackle so I know the value of good hooks and when I had my business the only guys that would complain and argue about price were the guys that had $1000 dollar Evergreen or Megabass rods and exotic JDM reels along with tricked out boats, and to be fair it wasn't all of them but they were the only group I ever had complain. There is another thing with quality hooks which a lot don't understand, and it isn't the price of a hook but the design. If you are fishing a large creature bait with the hook point buried, you are going to want to use a hook like a Gamakatsu, Owner, or Trokar, those are made with cutting points that allow the hook point and barb to go through plastic and into the fish quickly with little effort, but you don't want a cutting point on a spinnerbait or a jig hook. Those baits look for a needle point such as a Mustad, Eagle Claw Laser Sharp, or VMC, the reason is these are bulky baits with weight attached, the fish moves its head back and forth and the cutting points will often end up creating a large hole and then the hook ends up falling out at the first hint of slack line. The exception to this is the Owner deep throat jig hook, they recognized this so they made a hook with a bend designed to keep the cutting point away from the fish's mouth once it penetrates. Crankbait hooks work well with cutting point hooks, the exception to this is the Mustad triple grip hooks, they realized the needle points penetrate well but they also come out the same way they came in so they created a bend that directs the point of the hook away from where it entered. The wire diameter is another place of concern, but hook manufactures make it easy for us, if you are using a worm hook in heavy cover with braid or heavy flouro or mono you will see the name "flipping hook" applied so you know the hook is correct, the same with finesse hooks. I like the post, someone who is relatively new to bass fishing has quickly noticed how important hooks are in landing and you can notice the difference, great job.

[SirSnookalot]

The only place I'm concerned my hooks quality is in saltwater, as I seldom rinse them down after I use them they rust and corrode very quick.  As rusted as they may be I don't change them until an individual hook on the treb has broken, I still get good hooksets. When I replace it's only 4x hooks, VMC perma is my choice.  I'm not fussy in freshwater and having no problem either, replacement time it's a 3x hook. 

[CPBassFishing]

Owners!

[Nibbles]

This is funny but so true!!!! I make custom tackle so I know the value of good hooks and when I had my business the only guys that would complain and argue about price were the guys that had $1000 dollar Evergreen or Megabass rods and exotic JDM reels along with tricked out boats, and to be fair it wasn't all of them but they were the only group I ever had complain. There is another thing with quality hooks which a lot don't understand, and it isn't the price of a hook but the design. If you are fishing a large creature bait with the hook point buried, you are going to want to use a hook like a Gamakatsu, Owner, or Trokar, those are made with cutting points that allow the hook point and barb to go through plastic and into the fish quickly with little effort, but you don't want a cutting point on a spinnerbait or a jig hook. Those baits look for a needle point such as a Mustad, Eagle Claw Laser Sharp, or VMC, the reason is these are bulky baits with weight attached, the fish moves its head back and forth and the cutting points will often end up creating a large hole and then the hook ends up falling out at the first hint of slack line. The exception to this is the Owner deep throat jig hook, they recognized this so they made a hook with a bend designed to keep the cutting point away from the fish's mouth once it penetrates. Crankbait hooks work well with cutting point hooks, the exception to this is the Mustad triple grip hooks, they realized the needle points penetrate well but they also come out the same way they came in so they created a bend that directs the point of the hook away from where it entered. The wire diameter is another place of concern, but hook manufactures make it easy for us, if you are using a worm hook in heavy cover with braid or heavy flouro or mono you will see the name "flipping hook" applied so you know the hook is correct, the same with finesse hooks. I like the post, someone who is relatively new to bass fishing has quickly noticed how important hooks are in landing and you can notice the difference, great job.

 

Gotta love the Owner Deepthroats!

 

Still have a few bags of 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 oz jigheads with 3/0 and 4/0 3x wire Deepthroats - stocked up on 'em from back when NSCB still carried them. 

[papajoe222]

A little tip for those of us on a budget; Purchase a pack of quality trebles in the sizes you use most often and attach split rings to them.  Keep them with your tackle and switch them out on whatever bait you're using at the time. 

This is a LOT less expensive than changing out the hooks on four, five, or more dozen baits. After a couple of seasons, the majority of your baits will have premium hooks on them and your pocket won't be anywhere near as light.

[WRB]

Here is the thing with hooks, they get dull, some start out that way.

Before the Japanese introduced premium sharp hooks, all we had was EagleClaw and Mustad hooks that needed to be sharpened out of the box. Hook sharpeners and files were standard items that bass anglers used daily and we caught lots of bass. Daiichi, Owneer, Gamakatsu changed the definition of sharp hooks to "sticky" sharpe hooks out of the box.the hook hones and files got put away and forgotten, big mistake!

Premium hooks get dull with use and can be resharpened or should be resharpened. When a "sticky" sharp needle point hits a rock, it flattens the tip...dull premium hook!

You can sharpen hooks with a simple hook hone. If the hook point does't make a line on your finger nail, sharpen or change that hook!

Premium hooks use state of the art metals, heat treated to maximum strength with forged or flattened wire at the hook bend to improve strength, all good technology. The points are extremely sharpe when new, they can and will get dull.

Tom

[xbacksideslider]

I've got several hook hones and hook files scattered in my Plano boxes; I also snap up my wife's cast off diamond nail files.

[Sam]

Travis, there are no national standards in the fishing industry.

 

You have now encountered one of the major problems when making purchases: Something as small and inexpensive as a hook can have extremely large differences in materials, sharpness, length and overall quality. Same for all other fishing products.

 

This is why we stay with a brand we like when we find what meets our needs such as going from the basic Eagle Claws up to the VMCs and private production tackle.

 

As you meet more people in the bass fishing industry you will learn what they use and you can order direct from those companies.

[DogmanRich]

wow  the japanese can make some sharp hooks lol... tough too