Hook brand/style selection help

[Nattyboh74]

Going to put in an order via Dicks sporting goods. Ive settled on 3/0-4/0 hooks for plastics. Curious to see what brands are suggested... Are the BPS hooks decent? You can get 25 for the same price of 5-6 hooks of another brand. Also I see suggestions on straight vs EWG hooks for plastics. What about Kreatures/hula grubs etc?

 

For Senko Wacky rigging, I'll go 1/0 hooks.

[Jar11591]

Gamakatsu is my brand of choice. I use 3/0, 4/0 and 5/0. I use EWGs for just about all of my soft plastic fishing. 

[d-camarena]

The h20 xpress 25 pack hooks work great

[scaleface]

Bass fishermen have gravitated to the largest hooks they can get away with . I dont know if this is good or bad .  If I'm using a thin six inch   worm I wont hesitate to tie on a thin wired off-set 1/0 hook , as long as it is twice the diameter of the lure . It penetrates through  the worm and the  basses mouth very easily . Just a couple of days ago I was knocking the snot out of bass , 14 foot deep in a strong wind with little hooks .

[RoLo]

 

Unlike the hooks of yesteryear, every premium brand hook today is an excellent hook,

otherwise it would cease to exist in today's highly competitive marketplace.

For years anglers looked down their noses at Eagle Claw hooks, but suddenly they love Trokar,

the new Eagle Claw. I have no brand loyalty, which is a moving target, but admit to a bent

toward "Owner" hooks. All the same, most of the hooks that found their way into my tackle box

are "Gamakatsu" hooks. The reason isn't brand-loyalty, but it's because Gamakatsu produces

hook styles that satisfy the features I'm looking for.

 

Roger

 

 

[WRB]

Everyone would like to buy 25 hooks for the price of 5 and get a premium quality product.

Inexpensive hooks are never a bargin. Mustad and VMC offer mid price hooks, good hooks.

Gamakatsu and Owner changed the hook business with high quality hooks, Eagle Claw/Tokar offer the highest price hooks.

I use both Owner and Gamakasu worm hooks, the majority today being Owner because of a boarder variety of styles, all excellent hooks.

Straight shank round bend #5100 or 5103 hooks for standard size worms, mosquito or #5133 down shot hooks for finesse worms, 5140 off set EWG for thicker body creatures and 5172 weedless wacky hooks for Senkos would the basics.

Tom

[LxVE Bassin]

I have Gamakatsu, VMC, Mustad, and Daiichi in my arsenal. But the majority of my hooks are Gamakatsu. No complaints with any of them. 

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

For what it's worth, I use VMC, Owner, Trokar, and Gamakatsu. How do I make my choice? It's simple for me - it depends on what's available at my local store. Being a twice-a-week fisherman, I can't justify an order of hooks since I can't predict what I will need. All have served me well; however, because I like the screw-in bait keepers, I do prefer Owner. If you compare the keeper on an Owner with other brands, you will notice that the Owner bait keeper has a centering pin which helps align the bait with the keeper.  

[Catt]

[FCPhil]

Lunker city Texposer hooks! Buy them and I garantee you'll buy more! 4/0 for a 5 inch senko style worm. 

[Nattyboh74]

Thanks guys. Im surprised many people shy away from EWG hooks..

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

@Catt: Yup! Got some of those for "punching" although I use the term "punching" quite loosely. From my sit-in kayak I "punch" by firing a mortar shot up in the air and ducking until I see where it comes down. I gotta work on that technique some more!

[scaleface]

I like VMC's offsets  because of the  degree of  bend at the offset I can rig the bait straight and get minimum line twist . EWG's i just use whatever .  

[Choporoz]

I bought BPS hooks.  Once.

 

I'm much the same as @RoLo.  But, with a slightly stronger urge to stick with Owner.  I certainly have Gammy and others, but it is pretty rare that I don't find Owner to be the best choice for nearly any application. 

    As to EWG v straight, it really depends.  I prefer straight when I can get away with it, but many times I use EWG.  Since 80% or more of the time, my plastic of choice is Rage Tail, I generally have EWG tied on, since RT (Cut-R's, craws, Bugs...) all work best with EWG.

[Deleted account]

17 hours ago, scaleface said:

Bass fishermen have gravitated to the largest hooks they can get away with . I dont know if this is good or bad .  If I'm using a thin six inch   worm I wont hesitate to tie on a thin wired off-set 1/0 hook , as long as it is twice the diameter of the lure . It penetrates through  the worm and the  basses mouth very easily . Just a couple of days ago I was knocking the snot out of bass , 14 foot deep in a strong wind with little hooks .

 

I use the smallest hook I can get way with, but then again, I don't consider myself a bass fisherman. The way I go about hook selection is, i find a bait I like, then find a hook that works with it. I find the hardest thing to find is a larger hook that isn't too long. I even sometimes custom bend them on the fly.

[Mike L]

Depends on what I'm rigging..

Swim baits I use Owner's twist lock. 

 

Punching and heavy cover gets Trokar's TK130

 

Thin worm's and stick baits in light cover to open water get Gammy Skip Gap. 

 

All other plastic of any size I use Gammy EWG. 

 

I rarely use straight shank hooks. 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[Scarborough817]

i use mustad ultra point grip pin ewg or Gamakatsu offset round bend 

[NYWayfarer]

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 7:50 PM, GrumpyOlPhartte said:

How do I make my choice? It's simple for me - it depends on what's available at my local store. Being a twice-a-week fisherman, I can't justify an order of hooks since I can't predict what I will need. 

 

Same here. I use Gamakatsu, Owner, VMC and Eagle Claw hooks most of the time. I like them all.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I use Eagle Claw Laser weedless #2 for wacky rigs. Trokar swimbait jigheads for paddletails. Gamakatsu EWG for ikas. Lost too many fish with quite a few different types of owner hooks so they dont suit me.

[CroakHunter]

On 6/11/2017 at 9:06 PM, Catt said:

Jungle hooks all the way!

[CTBassin860]

I either use 3/0 offset or screwlocks for worms.4/0 screwlock flipping hooks for pitching beavers.All Owners.I can't tell you the last time I used an EWG.I used to use Trokar.While sharp as heck,they tear up baits like nothing else.

[Iluvsmallies]

I like owner and mustad

[fishballer06]

I am not overly brand loyal whenever it comes to hooks. I buy the best quality that I can get for the best price/availability at the time I need them. 

 

Owner is a company I've started using in the past 2-3 years that I've been very impressed by. All of their hooks are top notch quality. Their treble hooks are the best I have found. However, I also use Gamakatsu, VMC, Mustad, Eagle Claw, Trokar, and Daichi. 

 

Gamakatsu and Trokar are both top quality right up there with Owner. VMC, Mustad, and Eagle Claw are more middle of the road, and their pricing reflects that. Generally, my tournament equipment gets Owner/Gama/Trokar and my pond fishing equipment gets the mid range stuff on it.