3 treble jerkbaits?

[EGbassing]

Just bought a KVD jerkbait with three trebles. Are those a nightmare to remove? It just looks like it would take forever to get out if all three were hooked.(especially deep) What are your experiences with these?

[JediAmoeba]

From the fish or your hand, the answer is yes.  

 

My experience with them is they are great for hooking up - just make sure you aren't over eager lipping the fish or you will get a hook in your hand.  Always have some forceps or pliers near by and watch wear the hooks swing...I have some holes in my shorts and pants from them.  

 

Edit: the reason these longer baits have 3 hooks is for balance and the way you fish them the fish swipe them a lot and the hooks don't all go in their mouth.  At least my little 1 pound bass don't get them all in...

[OkobojiEagle]

File down the barbs on the first and third treble hooks... if not all three

 

oe

[WolfyBrandon]

My experience, using two tools 1. Boga Grip, 2. Quarrow Hook Remover it has made removing hooks so easy and hands free that the only concern I have about the number of hooks on a bait, is that it follows what the state law allows. I like to Lip or Boat Flip the bass I catch as I don't own a net, but when dealing with treble hook baits such as jerkbaits or crankbaits, if I can't boat flip the bass I will use the Boga Grip to lip the bass as I'm not looking to get a treble hook in the hand. If nothing else a hook remover is a must... I've saved so many deep hooked bass's lives using it, I never fish without it. Only costing $5, I even bought one for my fishing buddy, and we both use them almost every fishing trip.

 

[jakkbauer]

just use pliers and if necessary fish grips as well. often all 3 will be dug in so just choose one side and work your way to the other without letting the hooks you have already unhooked go back into the fish. whatever you do do not just use your hands or you are askin for it ?

[MickD]

11 hours ago, OkobojiEagle said:

File down the barbs on the first and third treble hooks... if not all three

It's much easier to simply crush the barbs.  I think taking the barbs off in some way is a great idea.  

[fishballer06]

I'd rather worry about having to remove three sets of trebles than worry about keeping a fish pinned on my jerkbait. 

[MickD]

Keep a tight line.

[Big Rick]

The vast majority of fish hit a jerk bait on the NOSE or the front of the bait. They seldom come up from behind. So, 3 hooks will increase your landing percentage greatly because the front hook will be in his mouth and the other 2 will be hooked OUTSIDE the mouth/gill plate and will prevent the fish from throwing your bait. Bass are notorious for doing a vicious side swipe on the front of the bait and if your hooks aren't super sharp you'll flat out miss it. 

 

One of the most effective things you can do is swap your hooks to Owner ST-36 and your split rings to Owner Hyperwire split rings. Those side swipes become much more deadly. 

 

 

 

 

[rboat]

I started taking off the middle treble hook. I have not noticed any difference in hook ups, and the bait remains balanced. Three treble hooks seems like overkill. A friend changes all of his to single circle hooks instead of trebles and still catches just as many as before. I guess maybe it depends on if they are eating the bait or just swiping at it?

[Bluebasser86]

You just have to remember to make sure that if you let them get it deep that you make sure there's room to work when you're removing the trebles

 

I didn't have any issues getting this one back, and it's the same 3 hook KVD jerkbait you're referring to. 

[TotalNoob]

On 6/30/2019 at 8:24 AM, rboat said:

I started taking off the middle treble hook. I have not noticed any difference in hook ups, and the bait remains balanced. Three treble hooks seems like overkill. A friend changes all of his to single circle hooks instead of trebles and still catches just as many as before. I guess maybe it depends on if they are eating the bait or just swiping at it?

I started doing this as well on my shadow raps this Spring. I removed the middle treble and replaced the front treble with a bit stronger hook (the shadow raps come stock with pretty light wire hooks). I'm not finding any difference thus far. I haven't done it with all of them yet but I'll find out this Fall for sure if I want to keep it this way or not. 

 

As has been stated, it definitely seems like most fish that eat a jerkbait eat it from the HEAD first. I've got a bunch of walleye pics here from last Fall - walleye are obviously aggressive predators like LMBs. Clearly the majority of the time they are eating jerks on the pause or just as it begins to move again on the next set of twitches FROM THE HEAD FIRST.

 

The two wiper pics are from this Spring with the middle treble removed from the shadow rap. They both got the front treble cleanly, that middle treble would have only given me grief. 

 

As long as removing the middle treble doesn't adversely affect the desired suspension or orientation of the bait then I don't think there's anything wrong with removing it (just make sure your remaining trebles are stout enough by themselves). I've had too many fish with trebles all over the place and too much time lost trying to remove them while the bite is on. 

 

 

 

If you like, here's a walleye I caught last Dec on a shadow rap with three treble hooks. When they hit it exactly like this, I think you can make both arguments (having both front trebles or having just the one). Perhaps this is why rapala puts very light wire hooks on the shadow rap, because each hook will help absorb the overall load of the fish. I'm not sure. Either way, I feel like I get this fish in with just the front treble hook 95+% of the time.

 

Regardless, I bend out too many of these lighter hooks and end up messing with removing multiple trebles too often that I'm actively pursuing the removal on the middle treble of my 3-treble hook jerkbaits. 

 

 

One other factor on this subject I wonder about is whether or not a fish with multiple trebles hooked vs a single treble ends up with more leverage throughout the fight? 

[A-Jay]

The LAST thing I'm ever thinking about doing, is Removing hooks.

Presenting artificial baits to fish we can't see, seems challenging enough and I need every advantage I can get.

I may fish a day, or a week, a month, a year or even many years, for That ONE Strike from a very special fish.

I'd be selling my self short if I missed her because I removed a treble hook.

Of course, I guess I'd never know just how special that fish was if I never got to hold her. 

Either way, I'm fairly happy with my approach so far.

A-Jay