Wacky Rigging: Hooks working too well. Advice?

[Sword of the Lord]

First, a little bit of background information and a small, albeit possibly embarrassing question prior to my actual question.

 

I've picked up bass fishing again this summer after a hiatus. From 2012-14 I was really into it. I did well, but I was still a novice. I stopped for a few years due to personal reasons. I was using Eagle Claw Razor Sharp offset worm hooks back then, but have switched to Gammie EWG hooks. I don't like EWG hooks for thinner plastics, such as the Berkeley Power Worm; so I picked up some normal offset Gammie worm hooks. On the package it ends with 'RB'. What does that mean? The Eagle Claws never said that. I find that the worms do not sit as nicely on these hooks as they do the Eagle Claws. I'm wondering if the 'RB' means something and it's not the same as a normal offset worm hook?

 

On to the main question. I'm wacky rigging Senkos a lot and having a ton of success and a great time. I've tried several variations of hooks, but nothing has made the bait look as good or have such a high percentage of hookups as the Gammie octopus hooks. However, I think they work too well, or perhaps I'm not unhooking them properly. I am strictly catch and release. I really care about the bass I catch. But these hooks are brutal to try to remove due to the tip of the hook being bent inwards. If it's just too tough, I slide the hook out backwards and cut the line. It gets the hook out well enough but the eye leaves a hole in the fish. I'm no snowflake PETA guy by any means, but I love these fish and want it to be as smooth and undamaged of an unhooking as possible. Any tips?

[Fishes in trees]

RB stands for round bend - as opposed to several other types of bends in hooks offered by various hook manufacturers, like wide gap or sproat or O'Shaunessey to name a few.  

 

As for your wacky rig hook issues, I got nothing, other than if you don't like the hook you're using for whatever reason, try a different hook.   I like Falcon K-Wacky weedless weighted hooks for wacky rigging myself, but there are many quality brands of hooks out there.

[MNGeorge]

Crush the barb down...

[WRB]

You can go with a light wire circle hook that prevents gut hooking and ends up at the side corner of the mouth. If you use a needle nose plier just push the hook shank down away from the barb and the hook slides out easily. You could also try Owner weedless wacky hook #5172 that is very strong, sharpe with a wider gap than either the mosquito hook or Gamakatsu octopus hooks.

Tom

[Oklahoma Mike]

I use the owner hooks that Tom mentioned above in both regular and weedless versions with good hookup ratio. 

[Bluebasser86]

9 hours ago, MNGeorge said:

Crush the barb down...

This is what I do. There's almost zero leverage for a fish to throw a wacky rig, so crushing the barb has nearly zero effect on numbers of landed fish and it's most likely a wash, since a hook with no barb penetrates more easily. 

[MichaelCopeland]

I've heard you could use the same octopus hooks you have and bend the hook point out away from the shank slightly to increase the gap. It would save you money from having to buy different hooks.

[sully420]

Dude you are doing it right as long as you're not gut hooking them those fish will be fine

[NHBull]

As usual, Tom is spot on.

Circle hooks make life easier for me as does owner wacky hooks

 

My wife insists on crushing the barb for her rigs

[Sword of the Lord]

It's not the barb. It's the inward hook point. Thanks guys.

[moguy1973]

I just started using Berkley Fusion 19 wacky hooks with a weed guard and I'm a extremely impressed with how well they have worked for me.  The fluorocarbon weed guard is very effective in keeping it from snagging on things too.  All the fish I've hooked have been hooked in the side of the mouth

[Falkus]

I have been using Owner Weedless Wacky Hooks 2/0 for tournaments which is bigger than the Trokar hooks.

 

 

I just wish that they would make it 3/0. 

[kylek]

9 hours ago, moguy1973 said:

I just started using Berkley Fusion 19 wacky hooks with a weed guard and I'm a extremely impressed with how well they have worked for me.  The fluorocarbon weed guard is very effective in keeping it from snagging on things too.  All the fish I've hooked have been hooked in the side of the mouth

 

These are what I have been using for myself and for my kids.  We have had zero issues with them and I do like the fluorocarbon weed guard.