dam0007 Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 Sup all, I know the hooks have been covered on the forums in the past anyhow want to share. So first tourney in my now secondary club yesterday.... I pre fished twice and had a solid game plan to get the staging pre spawns while my boater hit beds. However we ended up with dense fog and dark skies from 7-2 plus water temp was 8 degrees higher than it was 2 days prior. I knew I'd be throwing a jerkbait so brought my box luckily I had 1 all white RC. Only fished it a few times as I have other go to cloudy baits. They weren't hitting my confidence bait. So I tied him on for 11th cast, first cast a perch, 2nd cast rainbow trout, 3rd cast quite possibly my fish of a lifetime, on Candlewood anyways... Enormous LMB in 17ft of water. 10# FC on there so I had plenty of confidence in my line with how my drag was going. 5 ft from the boat my boater had net ready in the water she made one last shake and off she goes. Straightened out 2 hooks on the middle treble and 1 hook on the rear treble and the first treble a hook was actually bent in towards the center shanks. The only jerkbait in my box I don't have mustads on. Lesson learned!!! Just because you THINK you may never use a bait or THINK nah I'm not gonna catch a trophy today is what will cost you. Yes I'm a Mustad fan my 6# smallie was on a KVD double wide size 1 drop shot hook. I have trust in them from that point on. Anyhow the saying of "when in doubt set the hook" has changed for me to "change the hook". Lol So back to the tourney I only got 4/5 limit for the day. 3, 1.5lbers on that jerkbait and 1, 3lber off a bed on a bitsy bug. If I had that one fish I would have won lunker easily and the tourney on the first one in my new club. Bummer but learned a highly valuable lesson in bass fishing. All day on the boat my boater was saying she was a 5lber I was thinking 6-7. At weigh in the lunker was 5.2. My boater looked at me and said I think we're both wrong she was around 10. Quote
Hogsticker Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 Lesson learned. If fishing for prizes, I'd definitely change all the hooks on my hard baits prior to the tournament. Chances are you will tie it on eventually. Quote
Ozark_Basser Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 Thats no good. Those hooks aren't so great. I've had them bend out on two pounders. Quote
Super User 00 mod Posted May 11, 2015 Super User Posted May 11, 2015 Those fish are the ones that will haunt you in your dreams. I would be back in that same area after her. If she is pre-spawn, she might still be in that area feeding up before the spawn! Jeff Quote
slimshad Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 just a thought. Not trying to be an arse or anything. Maybe you were putting too much pressure on her to get it to the net. Maybe your drag was just a tad bit too strong, maybe. I see a bent hook as if you and the fish both are pulling too hard. Maybe if you would have let her go one more time and let her peter out.... I have not lost a fish due to the hooks on a jerkbait, (Lucky Strike). I got on a great bite this Feb at Guntersville and they did great. Those 5-6 pounders pull really hard there too. A bent hook comes from both sides is all I am saying. 1 Quote
basshole8190 Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Never bent a stock hook on stx but I have had them completely break Quote
Kidflex Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 The hooks on the rc stx are pretty weak, they will bend with moderate drag. I have about 10 of these baits. I attempted to change the hooks out with better hooks. "Unfortunately" they are set up to suspend perfectly out of the box with the stock hook. I've tried gamas, eagle claws and mustad. Similar sizes, 2x size in a smaller hook etc. Even changed single hooks in different locations. They would all sink. After about 2 hours of experimenting with hooks. I ended up putting the original hooks back on and will use very light drag with these baits. Quote
Super User smalljaw67 Posted May 12, 2015 Super User Posted May 12, 2015 The hooks you can use with them are VMC 8540s, they are close to, if not exact, as the hooks on the baits which are light wire VMC. If you had a Megabass Vision 110 on you would have suffered the same result, they too use light wire hooks, the reason they bend out is because you were using 10lb fluorocarbon, the hooks on the Vision 110 and the RC STX are light wire for a reason, the RC STX is a direct copy of the 110, which was designed to be used with 6lb to 8lb line max but in the states we tend to use 10lb to 12lb line. You can use Owner Stingers ST-36 for cold water but when it hits 60 degrees they will make the bait sink instead of suspend so in the warmer water you need the VMC 8540 which you can get from Lure Parts Online. 1 Quote
dam0007 Posted May 12, 2015 Author Posted May 12, 2015 The hooks on the rc stx are pretty weak, they will bend with moderate drag. I have about 10 of these baits. I attempted to change the hooks out with better hooks. "Unfortunately" they are set up to suspend perfectly out of the box with the stock hook. I've tried gamas, eagle claws and mustad. Similar sizes, 2x size in a smaller hook etc. Even changed single hooks in different locations. They would all sink. After about 2 hours of experimenting with hooks. I ended up putting the original hooks back on and will use very light drag with these baits. mustard kvd size 6 round bend. Bait still balances perfectly. Quote
dam0007 Posted May 12, 2015 Author Posted May 12, 2015 This girl was peeling drag pretty good. And the rod was bent to the reel seat lol. The fight was a good couple minutes when she started tiring is when I started getting her closer to the boat and that's when she gave the one last ditch effort to break free. I've caught 100s of fish if not 1,000s on jerkbaits over the years. This is the first time this has happened to me. As I said I use mustads 99% of the time unless it's already got owners or gamakatsus on it. Quote
dam0007 Posted May 13, 2015 Author Posted May 13, 2015 How are the split rings on the STX? supposedly they upgraded them. Idk who makes them but I never have a issue with them. Hell, I have one bait I must've change the hooks on a dozen times or so. Bait is best to hell but it produces. O rings still hold their shape excellent. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted May 13, 2015 Global Moderator Posted May 13, 2015 How are the split rings on the STX? I fish a lot of STX jerkbaits and haven't had any problems with the split rings since they switched them. I've never fished one with the stock hooks, they get changed to Owners before they ever touch the water. Quote
Super User smalljaw67 Posted May 13, 2015 Super User Posted May 13, 2015 How are the split rings on the STX? They did have a bad batch when they first came out but it has been resolved. Quote
*Hank Posted May 13, 2015 Posted May 13, 2015 supposedly they upgraded them. Idk who makes them but I never have a issue with them. Hell, I have one bait I must've change the hooks on a dozen times or so. Bait is best to hell but it produces. O rings still hold their shape excellent. I fish a lot of STX jerkbaits and haven't had any problems with the split rings since they switched them. I've never fished one with the stock hooks, they get changed to Owners before they ever touch the water. They did have a bad batch when they first came out but it has been resolved.Ok good to know,that way I'll only have to slap some owners on it and not have to pay extra for split rings. Quote
Super User smalljaw67 Posted May 13, 2015 Super User Posted May 13, 2015 Ok good to know,that way I'll only have to slap some owners on it and not have to pay extra for split rings. Owner ST-36 Stingers are the only ones you can use, and if the water is over 55 degrees it will sink with those on. For the cold water they are fine but when it gets a little warmer you'll want to use the VMC 8540. 1 Quote
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