Replace trebles with singles

[dwh4784]

So this is my first year fishing from a kayak, and I quickly discovered that treble hooked fish are not my friend. Especially when it's a dang pikeminnow (squaw), and I C&R everything anyway. I did as much research as I could and ended up deciding to swap out every treble I had to Gamakatsu octopus circle hooks. Problem is I haven't used any of these modified lures too much yet, other than a 1/4oz Panther Martin which has had a great hook-up %. I have several lipless cranks, flicker shads, countdown Rapalas, topwaters, even trout spoons, all re-rigged with these hooks in various sizes. Does anyone have experience doing similar? I always plan on fishing them but I get out there and the zero confidence bug bites and I fall back on other stuff.

[j bab]

Why aren't treble hooks your friend?

I have not tried that yet, but I've considered doing it on deep divers to see if it'll snag less

[dwh4784]

They get caught in the net, and it's difficult to lip a nice fish from a sitting position in the kayak. I'm also worried about getting one stuck in a finger and being out by myself in some remote location.

[MIbassyaker]

I've wondered about switching to single hooks too, but am not ambitious enough to try it. In the meantime, I keep a fish grip on me and don't fish trebled baits in the dark.

[J Francho]

Just get a Fish Grip:

 

[jr231]

Or try the single hooks like you've decided to do and let us know how it goes !!! 

I like the lures you're choosing to use too. 

[georgeyew]

I have single hooks on my lipless crankbaits and they work great. I don't have to worry about the hook pulling out as much with the single hooks. I also tried them on some of my topwater baits. I've had mix results with the topwater. It seems that they miss my topwater baits quite often and will not fully get the single hook. So on some of my topwater baits, I've reverted back to trebles just in case they are missing the bait.

[J Francho]

Gamakatsu octopus circle hooks.... this doesn't end well.  Been down this road with teaching beginners how to use wack senkos, trying to reduce deep hooking.  Good hookups were rare, even with proper technique.

[Ktho]

26 minutes ago, georgeyew said:

I have single hooks on my lipless crankbaits and they work great. I don't have to worry about the hook pulling out as much with the single hooks. I also tried them on some of my topwater baits. I've had mix results with the topwater. It seems that they miss my topwater baits quite often and will not fully get the single hook. So on some of my topwater baits, I've reverted back to trebles just in case they are missing the bait.

Which hooks did you go with? I'm trying to find a good single hook for my lipless arsenal

[Dwight Hottle]

32 minutes ago, Ktho said:

Which hooks did you go with? I'm trying to find a good single hook for my lipless arsenal

Owner makes a single replacement hook in X strong & XXX strong. There is a conversion chart available to help you decide what hook size you need. They are available thru the big warehouse (TW). I have used them on jerk baits & some cranks without any hook up problems. 

[J Francho]

3 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I have used them on jerk baits & some cranks without any hook up problems. 

I use a them on jerkbaits, but not for bass, but trout and salmon. I find I do better with a little bit stouter rod, and the usual single hook hookset.  Some of those salmonoids have tough jaws.

For bass, I use stock trebles or an Owner Stnger upgrade.

I still contend that the circle hooks are gonna be trouble.  The only thing I use them for are bullhead and live or cut bait.

[fishwizzard]

I fish a lot for perch and panfish with inline spinners and small cranks.  Perch especially seem to have a knack for getting all three points of a treble in their mouths.  I have switched all my spinners and mico cranks over to single hooks and they seem to catch just as well.  I use Cox&Rawle hooks I find on ebay as replacements, as I have never found any really good smaller single hooks.   

For bass I really never fish treble hooked lures in the first place, but have been getting a little topwater collection going now that I have a rod for them.  Once I get more confident with them I will likely switch the trebles out on them as well.  For now I just pinched the barbs on all of them. 

I also fish out of a kayak and often hike in miles to fish and really don't want a hook in me in either of those situations.  

[Oklahoma Mike]

18 hours ago, dwh4784 said:

They get caught in the net, and it's difficult to lip a nice fish from a sitting position in the kayak. I'm also worried about getting one stuck in a finger and being out by myself in some remote location.

Level 3 cut resistant gloves. Cut the thumb and index finger off right hand (for RH reel) for better feel when casting if you like, and then lip the fish with your left. 

[dwh4784]

5 hours ago, J Francho said:

I still contend that the circle hooks are gonna be trouble.  The only thing I use them for are bullhead and live or cut bait.

I appreciate the advice, Kind of late for me to switch them out already though, I guess I'll see how it goes. The hooks look so good, I guess they "caught" me.

[dwh4784]

7 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Owner makes a single replacement hook in X strong & XXX strong. There is a conversion chart available to help you decide what hook size you need. They are available thru the big warehouse (TW). I have used them on jerk baits & some cranks without any hook up problems. 

Those are what I should have bought, darn it. You don't need to use two split rings either with those.

[CenCal fisher]

Instead of liping the fish try pining them to the side of the kayak 

[everythingthatswims]

Get a rubber mesh net to keep hooks out, they don't stink either. 

 

Just man up and hold the fish, if you let it slip out of your hand, or pull your hand away when the fish thrashes, that's when things go wrong.

[MikeWright]

When you hold the fish...do you use 2 fingers? One in the mouth one on the jaw? When I first started fishing I quickly learned to place my thumb in the mouth and wrap all 4 fingers along its jaw bone...they might flip and flap but the jaw isn't going anywhere..pop out the hook..back in the water!!!

[BobP]

I think using single hooks on moving baits like crankbaits will inevitably result in fewer hookups.  Have you considered just crimping down the barbs on your trebles?  In my experience, barbless trebles work about 95% as well as barbed do.

[dwh4784]

I had a nice day on the water today, only got to test out a single hook modded lure on one fish though. Also my fist time using a Whopper Plopper. Happy to say it hooked up and came right in, only a 2lb11oz but decent enough. I had one other fish knock it clear out of the water, not much you can do about those though.

I definitely could be better at lipping fish also. Anyway, I was just curious how many people if any were swapping out trebles for singles especially when kayak fishing. I've never been a huge fan of trebles anyway. Seems like when I used to fish for trout a lot they would often spit out lures with them, but you rarely ever lose one on a fly with a single hook. I'm definitely going to give the singles a fair chance, even if I end up switching to those Owners. Appreciate the tips and advice from everyone!

[georgeyew]

On 8/31/2016 at 2:42 PM, Ktho said:

Which hooks did you go with? I'm trying to find a good single hook for my lipless arsenal

For my lipless cranks, I am also using circle hooks, same as you. Just have to remember do the side sweep and not set the hook in a regular manner.

[camman]

On 8/31/2016 at 0:19 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

Owner makes a single replacement hook in X strong & XXX strong. There is a conversion chart available to help you decide what hook size you need. They are available thru the big warehouse (TW). I have used them on jerk baits & some cranks without any hook up problems. 

I use these on my jerkbaits as well when I'm fishing for stripers.  I found that I can get away with a larger single hook and don't have an issue with hook ups.  I did find that they tend to mess with suspending jerkbaits...the lighter weight of the hooks cause them to rise quicker in the water.  They are a lot easier to unhook when the they go crazy.

[Airman4754]

I've been doing it with my salmon & steelhead plugs, spoons, and spinners forever and it works a lot better. Those fish have way harder mouths and are a lot bigger. They also don't slap at stuff. 

Bass swipe and bump plugs a lot and the trebles do increase your chances of at least getting some kind of hook in them. It's also why most of us fish much more parabolic rods with treble hooks to keep that poor hookup pinned without applying a ton of pressure like it would with a stiff rod. 

Long story short, if it's something thousands and thousands have been doing forever and a new style hasn't emerged there is a reason for it. Keep the trebles. 

[Mumbly]

I know several people who have swapped out the trebles on their super spook jr and skitterwalk topwaters for single hooks.

I remember seeing a decent thread on a kayak fishing forum talking about this very thing. They were using the Gamakatsu #18411R 2/0 on front and 1/0 on back of super spook jr. with great success. I believe they had the hooks facing away from each other as well...Front hook facing forward and back hook facing back....if that makes sense.

[scaleface]

If I was  to try it , I'd go with Octopus hooks .