Not so salty Rapala jerkbaits

[OldManLure]

Seeing several rods standing against a table, I stopped at a yard sale last weekend.  The rods were in sad shape, but spread across the table was quite a collection of baits.  There were a number of Rapala lures, new in the box, marked $1.00.  I bought all 13!

Among them were 6 or 7 saltwater jerkbaits (XRap long cast, Twitchin minnow, and Xrap subwalk).

Would you consider throwing them at bass with the single hooks, or would you automatically replace them with trebles?  
 

 

[Fishingstickman]

You got the deal of the day for sure.I prefer the single hook on all the lures you mentioned that I throw now, I usually take off the front single hook on the smaller ones and use just the rear hook, the front hook faces forward and hangs up on weeds, and sometimes wraps on your line when you cast. I will leave on both sets on the sub walks and twitch if I'm in open water, I haven't had and hook setting issues and makes removing hooks from fish easier.  I leave treble hooks on baits that fish swipe at like rattletraps.

[Buzzbaiter]

If it’s capable on bringing in striper and other strong saltwater fish, it’s good enough for bass. I personally like to change hooks on old baits just for the reassurance that they won’t bend on me, but I’d be fine fishing them as is

[king fisher]

If the baits came from the factory with single hooks then I would fish them that way.  Switching to single hooks on lures designed for trebles can ruin the action, or make them impossible to tune.  I have fished places where single hooks are required and I have to leave many of my favorite cranks at home because they will not work with single hooks.  Many times I prefer single hooks, but only if the lure will run correctly.  

[GetFishorDieTryin]

There isn't a difference in the design or build of the SW baits in comparison to the FW versions.  The only difference is the hooks and beefed up split rings.  You either get tin type trebles or the VMC inline singles, which are outstanding hooks btw.  As long as you have the gear to handle the increased weight of the long cast X raps they should work for FW bass. 

I havent had very much experience with the twitching minnow, although I'm confident it will work.  Its really just like a JB that runs a little shallower.  The subwalk on the other hand is a bait that I have fished quite a bit and have done really well with it.  Its essentially just Rapalas version of a Catch 2000.  Its a twitchin bait just the minnow except the shape and weight in comparison to the size of the bait make it cast better then that traditional minnow shape.  

Rapalas aren't really precisely balanced when it comes to the hooks like MB or Duos.  You have a pretty wide margin of error before the action of the bait is affected by changing the hooks.