Treble Hook Replacement ~ One Man’s Theory & Application

[A-Jay]

The subject of treble hooks has been kicked around here more than a few times. 

Could be a solid ‘hard water season’ discussion, but I’m way deep into puppy training. 

So, while Tank is napping, I’m knocking this one out.

 

   I’ve mentioned a few times that I prefer to replace most stock trebles with aftermarket offerings. 

Additionally, I’m a fan of EWG’s vs the Round Bend model in just about every scenario. 

Not saying that one is considerably more effective than the other, it’s just how I do it and where my confidence lies on the matter.  

However, there’s a bit of method to my madness which I’ll explain in detail in just a bit.

 No doubt, the hook replacement deal is a commitment and I’m not sure if I’ve ever really gotten into exactly why I do it.  

The Why is what this post will center around.

 

 Perhaps the obvious aspect of the stock treble hook replacement is, I believe that replacing marginal quality stock trebles with a better option puts more of the fish that strike my baits into the net. 

This might even be a complete figment of my imagination, but my perception is my reality, so there you go. 

Either way, all of my treble hook plugs get the treatment. 

This includes but may not be limited to Topwater, Jerkbaits, Square bills, Lipless, Medium & Deep Divers and even Spy/Spin Baits.

 

  The Why is right here – the actual Meat & Potatoes of this deal.  

I am a Huge fan of Plus Sizing where need. 

Needed ?

Yup, needed.

 

  Best way for me to describe this starts by taking just about any treble hook bait out of the package. 

Holding the nose of the bait and turning it so that we are looking at the ‘bottom’ of the bait. 

If & when the trebles are positioned ‘correctly’ on the split rings, the treble hooks should lie flat & flush against the body of the bait. 

Now, pay particular attention to where the points of the front treble (and middle treble on a 3-hook bait) are in relation to the bait’s body diameter.  

I find that on many stock offerings, regardless of hook type, the treble hook ‘points’ are the same size or smaller, than the body of the bait.

This can be especially true on ‘fatter’ squarebills, cranks & beefy topwater plugs.

 

  Why is this a concern and does that even matter? 

It might. 

I content that when a bass bites down on the bait, the body of the bait itself could possibly implead the hookset.  

By plus sizing that front treble (and middle when so equipped) the hook points are positioned at least even with or better yet, ‘beyond’ the body of the bait. 

Thus, allowing the trebles to be accessed in advance of the bass coming in contact with the bait itself. 

So in my world, that front (and middle hook) get a bump up in at least one size so the points clear the bait; or at least come close. 

Tail hook are usually simply replaced with the same size.

 

 Clearly there’s no way to know for sure how a fish will strike a bait and each one is different & a crapshoot.

Split second hits & misses, are always going to be a part of the deal regardless.  However, I believe I get less of that going this route.

 

  Short shank trebles prevent most hook-to-hook tangles and that’s what I use the most.  

Plus sizing hooks can change how the bait sits & is positioned at rest; especially suspending jerkbaits. 

I’ve not found this to really matter all that much.

Slow sink, slow rise, nose up and nose down, they all get bites.  

I also tie up my own dressed tail hooks for topwaters, just use a better hook.

  

 Seems most stock split rings are decent these days but if there’s ever a question, Owner Hyper wires get the nod.

These Owners rings will endure routine hook changes through the course of a season without springing open, which I like.

 Standard split ring line ties, where the line can get pinched or slide between the rings, which I hate, are ALL replaced with oval or pear-shaped versions. 

  Finally, when it comes to makes & models of after market trebles, again there’s plenty of very good ones readily available now. 

And while I haven’t tried them all, am currently using and feel good about recommending, Mustad KVD 1X strong 2x short triple grip, Gamakatsu Short Shank Magic Eye and Owner Short Shank ST-35’s; all EWG of course.

 

So there it is  – a look into my obsession with treble hooks.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

 

[ironbjorn]

The only stock trebles I have a huge problem with are the original Rat-L-Trap. A lot of people say they're quality and I think they claim they're mustad, but I swear they're never sharp enough to even scratch my fingernails and I lose a ton of fish if I don't swap them out. Fishing a lot of weeds and muck all the time doesn't see a lot of treble use in my arsenal, but lipless are a huge producer for me.

[TnRiver46]

I’ve got a whole bunch of cranks and Jerkbaits that I’ve left in boxes for years and the hooks rusted. I was switching out a few the other day and pondered if being too big was a problem, thanks for insight now I can use some hooks I thought were too big for certain baits 

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve got a whole bunch of cranks and Jerkbaits that I’ve left in boxes for years and the hooks rusted. I was switching out a few the other day and pondered if being too big was a problem, thanks for insight now I can use some hooks I thought were too big for certain baits 

Plus sizing may not be the magic bullet.

One down side depending on the type and abundance of any cover around,

could lead to more snags.

It's a trade off I suppose.

A-Jay

[Columbia Craw]

Well thought out and well written. I upgraded hooks and hardware on over 75 percent of my baits this year.

[Mbirdsley]

I swap most of my trebles out to kvd triple grips extra shorts extra strong. Only time I don’t is for instance spro’s already come with gamas installed.  If they already have good hooks installed even though, it’s not my preference brand I’m not going take the time to put the triple grips on.  I’ll wait until the originals are dull or damaged 

 

the Berkley hooks are pretty good for being a stock hook.  I hate the hooks that come on the strike king or strike king kvd cranks

[FishTank]

I change a few of mine right out of the box especially the KVD Strike King crankbaits.   I would often find myself getting hits but missing fish.   I was like.... how can this happen with two big hooks.  I should be ripping through the fish with these baits.  Changed the hooks out with Owners or Gamakatsus and problem solved.  

[MassYak85]

Unless I know which hooks come stock, I'm swapping them out. All my jerkbaits get swapped to Gamakatsu nano finesse trebles except vision 110s I'll keep stock. All split rings get owner hyper wire replacements. Snaps I change out to Decoy Egg snaps. 

 

It's interesting your take on upsizing the front treble. I feel there's two trains of thought, either go big or go small. Bigger you have better hookup, better chance the fish doesn't shake, tear or bend the hooks. But some guys go with the smallest they can, thinking the less/smaller hardware the more bites they get (more "natural"), and the baits action is less hindered. It's an interesting discussion and I feel like it varies bait to bait. A jerkbait's action can be wildly altered by the wrong hook selection, but something like a crank you probably have more leeway. 

 

Consider something like a flatsided crank. A lot of guys like them in cold water for their deadened action. Would bigger/heavier hooks deaden the action even further? That might even be a good thing for that bait? But on the opposite token if you consider that a "finesse technique would it makes sense to drop to lighter/smaller hooks for a more "natural" look? 

 

It's fun to go down the rabbit hole sometimes lol. 

[bulldog1935]

I swap a lot of hooks and buy a lot of Gami SpMH - for one thing, I use freshwater plugs in salt.  

I've had YoZuri salt minnows rust the hooks after one use and even given a bath at home.  

The weird thing to me are the crankbaits that come with a smaller treble in back.  

A couple of examples - a small minnow with the tiny trebles replaced with salt singles.  

On the Jackall lipless, I swapped the back treble that came off one of my larger surface plugs (in turn swapped with salt hooks).  

 

 

ps - these Smith split-ring tweezers are amazing if you need to work on any split ring smaller than #3.  

[J Francho]

The split ring tweezers aren't something I have already. My obsession with split ring tools is well documented here, lol. For under $20 they're worth a try. 

[islandbass]

Thanks for a great write up, A-Jay. The plausibility is great and makes a heck of a lot of sense — and because you formulated it based off experience, that bears great weight to me. 
 

I have been focusing a lot on weighted and unweighted T-rigs this season and as a result, treble hook lures in my arsenal have taken a back seat. With that said, my initial approach to treble replacement was just, “buy a quality treble (gamakatsu, owner, vmc, mustard, etc.) of the same size and be done with it. I also arrived at the conclusion of going shorter shank in cases trebles get caught up on each other. 
 

The next time I replace trebles I’ll be keeping this post in mind. 
 

 

[cyclops2]

I have found the single hook woks better in weeds. If the point is pointed up. most hook ups are in the upper jaw.  Should be eliminating torn or strained lower jaw muscles.  I have never had a line tangle with just a tail hook. NEVR hooked me or anything else.  Big plus for me.  ?

[Fishes in trees]

Didn't Rapala market some special hooks on some of their crank baits a while back?  With two hooks of one size that are the two that go flush up against the body when the bait is moving and the third, down hook being a size or so bigger.  Seems to me they called these hooks David Fritts hooks, but I ain't so certain about the name.   While I own a fair number of Rapala Cranks, I don't fish them all that much so I can't speak to the efficiency/quality of these hooks.

 

 

[Team9nine]

48 minutes ago, Fishes in trees said:

Didn't Rapala market some special hooks on some of their crank baits a while back?  With two hooks of one size that are the two that go flush up against the body when the bait is moving and the third, down hook being a size or so bigger.  Seems to me they called these hooks David Fritts hooks, but I ain't so certain about the name.   While I own a fair number of Rapala Cranks, I don't fish them all that much so I can't speak to the efficiency/quality of these hooks.

 

 

 

I forget the name they gave them, but it was basically a treble hook with two round bend hooks and one EWG hook to form the treble (see pic). They were only placed on the rear hook hanger and were designed to catch fish that just “nipped” at or short struck the bait as I recall. I used them for awhile, and did have an instance or two where that was the only hook in the basses mouth when landed (the longer EWG), but it was rare, and the longer drop back seemed to hang more frequently. I eventually removed them all from my Rapala baits and went straight round bends.

 

Edit: It was called the SureSet hook. See added pic for details.

 

[A-Jay]

22 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Edit: It was called the SureSet hook. See added pic for details.

 

 THE WORST HOOK IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF HOOKS !

A-Jay

[Team9nine]

37 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 THE WORST HOOK IN THE ENTIRE HISTRORY OF HOOKS !

A-Jay

 

But it won an ICAST award! - lol

 

Found the write-up: The ICAST BEST NEW PRODUCT AWARD WINNER is designed with Crankbait fishermen in mind. Its trademark extended extra wide gap branch eliminates the risk of short bites and enhanced your hooking rate to guarantee you catch more fish! The eye of the SureSet® has been rotated to be inline with the largest branch so it provides lures with perfect balance, exceptional swimming action even at high speeds. The SureSet® hugs the lure body to prevent the hook from pivoting during attack. It features VMC® premium ConeCut® point for instant penetration and perfect hook setting.

[A-Jay]

Just now, Team9nine said:

 

But it won an ICAST award! - lol

 

Found the write-up: The ICAST BEST NEW PRODUCT AWARD WINNER is designed with Crankbait fishermen in mind. Its trademark extended extra wide gap branch eliminates the risk of short bites and enhanced your hooking rate to guarantee you catch more fish! The eye of the SureSet® has been rotated to be inline with the largest branch so it provides lures with perfect balance, exceptional swimming action even at high speeds. The SureSet® hugs the lure body to prevent the hook from pivoting during attack. It features VMC® premium ConeCut® point for instant penetration and perfect hook setting.

Not certain what the deal was but my first encounter with them was on the back of all my Sub-Walks.

Just Brutal !

I thought I was losing it, dropped fish after fish.

It was like they were laughing at me.

I was not amused.

A-Jay

[cyclops2]

I just had my first deep throat swallowing of a 1.5 "  long Rapala by a big perch.  He got very lucky with my long SS forceps & crushed down barbs.  Maybe a hungry or a early fall feed start.  2 nd day of lots of fish being aggressive in loose schools at several places. Very overcast day. Good choppy surface. 2 P M

 

No bass. Trolled deep big lures for a hour.

 

Zero fish in less than 6' with all those fine green slimes covering weedless bottoms.

Other good fish guys are striking out also.  Not a good sign.

[NYWayfarer]

Good read, thanks for the info.

 

I replace the stick hooks on my Rebel Pop R’s. Love the bait hate the hooks. Usually the get brand new VMC trebles. The rear one is the hybrid with the flashy spoon.

[Big Hands]

6 hours ago, Team9nine said:

 

I forget the name they gave them, but it was basically a treble hook with two round bend hooks and one EWG hook to form the treble (see pic). They were only placed on the rear hook hanger and were designed to catch fish that just “nipped” at or short struck the bait as I recall. I used them for awhile, and did have an instance or two where that was the only hook in the basses mouth when landed (the longer EWG), but it was rare, and the longer drop back seemed to hang more frequently. I eventually removed them all from my Rapala baits and went straight round bends.

 

Edit: It was called the SureSet hook. See added pic for details.

 

Okay, my pointed head just exploded here.

 

I found a hook like that on one of my baits and took it off figuring that it had been somehow damaged. That a hook could be so distended just blew my mind, but there it was plain as day in my hands so I couldn't act like I was imagining it. I played with it for a while with a couple pairs of needlenose pliers trying to bend it back into a symmetrical shape and finally gave up. I threw it in the trash earlier this week while cleaning off my work bench.

 

===================================

 

I have a Vision 110 that I was fishing off of a lighted fishing pier (at night) about a year and a half ago. Pre-spawn. Two big bruisers came wandering into the area slowly cruising, so I tossed the jerkbait out a little ways and was doing the twitch and stop deal (just like Matt and Tim suggest, LOL), and one of the two bass wheeled around while the bait was suspended in the water and just stared at it from about 8 feet away. I gave it two tiny twitches and it charged over and slammed it in the blink of an eye. A nice chunky 8.5 pounder was the result.

 

Just a few nights later, I was just throwing it again . . . because why wouldn't I be, right? This time, another bruiser of similar size is suddenly up behind my bait and I had run out of water so the bait was only a couple feet from the pier. I just stopped and the bass came up to within inches. The bait sat suspended, not sinking, nor rising. It just sat there and sat there and sat there for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, I figured that if it really wanted to eat it, it could have a long time ago, so I gave it two baby twitches and the bass slowly sank and sauntered off into the depths. 

 

I'm still not sure why it passed on my tasty plastic offering, and wonder if there was something else I could have done (or not done) to entice the beast.

 

That night on the way home, I (or some otherworldly demonic force) snagged the bait into my soft bag. First one treble, and soon (as I tried to free the treble) another treble was buried into the soft tackle bag. 

 

Not wanting to cut into the bag, I cut the split rings and then tried to free the treble (that has barbs on the outside) to no avail. Alas, I had to cut the hook and pass the barbs through the same direction they went in.

 

Draws another breath. . . I had read that ST-36 were highly regarded, and so I bought some of those and whatever split rings they had on the hook and got the hooks replaced. It didn't take long to see that the bait just didn't act the same, and I only caught one more fish on it in the next month, but hadn't really had a chance to see what it was doing in the water. Then, I had it back out at the pier one night and could see that it was no longer suspending the same way it had before the hook change. 

 

My local tackle shop was able to order me some of the stock Megabass Katsuage trebles (might be the same as the VMC Outbarb), so I replaced the ST-36 with the stock hooks. But now I'm paying attention as though I am trying to remove fly poop from pepper. The bait still doesn't suspend like it used to. 

 

At some subconscious level, I decide to obsess over this bait so I can figure out how to restore it to it's former glory so I can presumably catch 8.5 pounders each time I use it. To make a very long story only slightly shorter, I end up spending a few evenings trying many different split ring and hook combinations in order to get it to suspend pretty neutrally with the nose pointed ever so slightly downward. 

 

In all of my years of bass fishing, the best anglers I know are the type that fuss over details. I don't know that they always matter, but over the long term, I think that mindset pays off more often than not. 

If this happens again, I may just cut a hole or two in my soft tackle bag, LOL.

[HaydenS]

I think @BoatSquirrel has a pretty impressive treble box...

This is a great thread.

[whitwolf]

This is what makes this the best bass fishing site on the internet.  Outstanding work @A-Jay!

[Pat Brown]

@A-Jay shared this thread in another thread and rather than highjack that thread or start a redundant new thread, I figured I'd add my 0.02¢

 

I think a HUGE advantage to changing hooks on crankbaits (and probably all hard baits) is that if you are on a pressured fishery where everyone uses popular lures....I believe modifications to the lure such as treble hooks or split rings can change the action substantially.  This new action 'signature' in the water constitutes an entirely new bait to the bass.

 

I think with lipless crankbaits and other baits where the vibration draws fish in, anything you can do to change how it thumps in the water can add up to more bites.

 

I also think up sizing hooks is always preferable for me, but I'm tangling with really big fish and I find bigger hooks help keel baits which I like.

[Woody B]

9 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I think a HUGE advantage to changing hooks on crankbaits (and probably all hard baits) is that if you are on a pressured fishery where everyone uses popular lures....I believe modifications to the lure such as treble hooks or split rings can change the action substantially.  This new action 'signature' in the water constitutes an entirely new bait to the bass.

 

Yep,  I accidently clicked on some wrong hooks when ordering once.  What I found was some hooks that make many 1/4 to 1/2 ounce Balsa baits suspend perfectly.  Stop an OG 4 that suspends instead of rises for a few seconds you'd better have a good grip on your rod when you start moving it again.

[Choporoz]

I so very much hate changing hooks, that I rarely do it except in the case of rusty or bent hooks. I have next to no dexterity and changing a pair of trebles can take me 20 minutes.  I am floored that some guys actually do it on the fly...in the boat.  I have tried no less than five different split ring pliers, including the Texas ones.  It is not the tool...it is the tool holding the tool.  I don't question the value of changing hooks out.  But I won't do it if I don't have to. (I also admit to a deep seated angst about changing hooks on a brand new 10 or 20 dollar lure.)  I sharpen hooks regularly,  but that's about it.