When/what to use a CPS on?

[pauldconyers]

Last year I got real tired of always having to adjust my soft plastic on a hook without a keeper of some sort and after almost every retrieve having to fiddle with it to get it to sit the way it's supposed to. Throwing some Keitechs on Owner beast hooks made me a fan of their CPS Centering Pin Springs so I want to buy a pack of 8 of them and see what I think and try them on anything you can T-rig.

 

For those of you with experience with these do I want to so with the Medium or Large size? Do they work better with a EWG or round bend worm style hook or does it not matter? With or without an offset? I've heard some guys say it might not slide through stuff as easily and you could catch grass and other gunk around it? Just am hoping for some insight here.

[nascar2428]

I only use those for plastic swimbaits and senkos. The eye of the hook needs to be vertical for it to work right.

[thinkingredneck]

I use it on a 60 degree jig hook, with soft plastics.  Has the effect of an EWG but never slips.  Med size.

[Brad Reid]

Regarding which CPS size to get, the mediums will be the size you will use 90% of the time. The small CPS size is very, very tiny so only indicated for tiny plastics and hooks; the large size will work well with larger plastics, 7 or 8" sizes or those with "broad noses" to attach to. The large CPS work poorly on the more standard sized plastics most of us use where there isn't enough "nose real estate" to attach to.

 

Hooks? I buy them in bulk and it seems I bought around 50 3/0 jig hooks with a 60 degree bend for less than $20. Then, I bought the 50 package of CPS locks, too, and match them up. 

 

My favorite presentation is a 3/0 hook with medium CPS and a 4" Keitech paddle tail or soft jerk bait. I use this particular set up all the time, fish it weightless.

 

Brad

Oh! I meant to mention don't screw your plastic lures all the way on tightly, that is, leave it a turn or two back so that some of the CPS is exposed and not buried in the plastic. It allows the plastic to compress easier when a fish bites down on it, makes for better hook-ups. You don't want your plastic affixed too stiffly on the hook and CPS . . . keep it limber.

 

Brad

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

What @Brad Reid said!!

[Festivus]

Is it possible to just bend up the hook eye on a EWG or even regular worm hook so as to use these CPS? I think I saw somewhere where an angler was screwing the CPS on the neck of the EWG/Work hook right under the eye and that was working OK, not ideal but a feasible work around. Anyone use them like that as well? 

[Brad Reid]

7 hours ago, Festivus said:

Is it possible to just bend up the hook eye on a EWG or even regular worm hook so as to use these CPS? I think I saw somewhere where an angler was screwing the CPS on the neck of the EWG/Work hook right under the eye and that was working OK, not ideal but a feasible work around. Anyone use them like that as well? 

Reorient the hook eye by bending it 90 degrees?

 

I suppose it'd work but likely make for a mess with regard to the swimming action of, say, a Keitech shad. The hook eyes generally need to be of the "in line" sort common to jig hooks. I suppose you can find other hook shapes with in line eyes.

 

Try modifying one, let us know how it works out!!!

 

Cheers!  Brad  

[WRB]

CPS works on 28 to 30 degree bend standard eye jig hook.

You shouldn't  bend tempered high strength steel hooks , it cracks the metal unless you heat it, then it looses it's temper.

I used CPS springs to fasten dummy swimbaits to A-rigs because in California only 3 hooks are legal. 5 wire A-rigs with 2 dummy's and 3 with hooks.

CPS springs are a little difficult to attach a piece of soft plastic worm to jig hooks, they work OK prefer Hitchhicker spring that clips on because it's easier to add or remove.

Medium sized works for nearly everything.

Tom

[Preytorien]

Screw the CPS into the bait nose (I use them on Keitechs), then thread your hook through the bait and embedded CPS, threading the bait through the nose. I use this rig on weightless flukes and it seems to save me a lot of baits. The CPS keeps the bait on the hook and I can usually get 2X the number of fish out of one bait. It also helps me have an excellent hookup ratio compared to a standard weightless texas rig type.

[J Francho]

Pop a nail weight in a Yum Crawbug, and screw in a CPS into the tail, and hook it like you describe above. 

[fishwizzard]

I do this for flukes and it works super well.  For larger stickbaits it works great for wacky rigging them, I run the CPS through the plastic and then run the hook through the spring.  With 5” senkos it has not worked out as well, the spring seems go weaken the plastic enough to ruin the effectiveness.  I keep meaning to pull the tiny spring out of a lighter to  see if that will work better, but I’ve never actually got around to doing it. 

[pauldconyers]

I am not envisioning this and how it works. Can you look at the date this video was posted or better yet the name of the video so I can search for it? I'd love to hear more about this.

[Fishin' Fool]

Besides using centering pin screws for hooks you can also use them to add a small willow leaf blade to a senko or other soft plastics.

[Birdman2136]

I've been using the large CPS screw locks on my soft swimbaits. It greatly increased the amount of use I get out of my plastics.