Might Be A Stupid Question, But Trailer Hook On A Crankbait?

[DaveT63]

I've been fishing the Arashi Wake Bait a lot lately.  I've caught a good number of fish on it, and like it a lot so far.  But I've probably had at least twice as many short strikes on it.  There have been many times a fish has hit at it an thrown it out of the water but not taken it.  Other times they tap at it from behind or below without taking it.  I've tried slowing it down, speeding it up, and stopping it numerous times during the retrieve, without any increase in hook-up.  Is there any kind of trailer type hook for a crank bait that might work?  Or any other suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Dave

[Catch and Grease]

I've thrown stinger treble hooks on crank baits but to get it to run good and straight you have to experiment a lot... whether it be changing hook sizes up and down or even removing the back treble all together and replacing it with a stinger.

 

That being said it doesn't work great... crankbaits are meant to be bumped, banged, and ripped off and through cover to be fully effective and having a trailer hook hanging off the back farther than a normal hook will just get you hung up that much more.

 

But one story I have is one day at a place called rays mill pond, which is a crystal clear shallow lake I fish, I was fishing KVD square bills and bass kept coming and taking a shot at my crankbait but always coming up short. So to solve the problem I took the back treble off and replaced it with a stinger treble hook and started hooking up a lot!

 

A lot of times a simple change in lure color can get them to start hitting it better, or switching from silent to rattles or vice versa.

 

This is a stinger hook if your not familiar with it, you don't have to use a wire one either, you can easily tie your own using fishing line.

 

 

Also be aware that you will foul hook more fish this way, a lot of time they will get the back treble and during the fight the front treble will swing around and hook them out of them mouth, that's from my experiences at least.

[dave]

May just be a color issue.  Sometimes fish will commit to a certain colors better than others.  If it is only occasionally,  then maybe just mood.

[flyfisher]

I'll agree with the color piece.  It may be a color they just aren't committing to so a change can be all it needs.  I was doing well on a wake bait the other day with a white belly and silver back.  I caught a bunch of fish and then a pickerel took the bait from me.  All i had left was zone in a fire tiger pattern that had a yellow belly, same size and same boat just a different color.  I caught one more that day and had a bunch of short strikes.  I almost wonder if they come up at it hard and change their mind at the last minute.

[smalljaw67]

Crankbaits don't need trailers because of the treble hooks they use, short strikers often get hung up on the back treble. What you are experiencing is fish following and then making a quick swipe and normally you feel the tail hit as it turn and sometimes you end up foul hooking the fish but most of the time it seems like we missed the fish. When this happens a change in color, size or both color and size will get the fish to hit rather than follow. This happens with topwaters a lot where the fish hits it and it goes sailing through the air, they turn at the last minute and tail slap the bait but because it is on the surface you see it, with a wakebait you see the swirl and feel the tail hit and we all assume it is a short strike and a miss when the fish isn't close to eating it. If you put a long stinger on the back hook to try and get the fish that do that, you would more than likely end up with foul hooked fish, so change the color, you don't need to run a trailer on a crankbait.

[Basspro87]

Have you tried the hooks like Rapala has on thier DT series. The ones with one hook that is longer and bigger than they others on the treble

[tcbass]

You need a Livetarget Baitball lure! lol.

 

 

 

When they side smack it you will have them hooked. Or so the commercial says.

[DaveT63]

OK, thanks for the info, everyone!  I will try a different color next time I experience this.