removing trebles from hardbaits, and going with regular hooks?

[Darth-Baiter]

this weekend i hooked a decent bass.  as it came boatside, i looked at all those trebles and the thought of netting it with my net seemed like a bad idea.  i have the Everlast net, and while i love it,.  it seems to have a gravitational pull to all things treble hooks.   i thought about lipping it.  nope.  boatflip?  yea, right..eventually given enough time, it shook free.  i said outloud, "easy release!" in an effort to make myself think it was okay

 

anyone ever put single hooks on hardbaits?  is that a thing?  i am going to go after a protected trout (Lahotan Cutthroat) this fall, and i think a tiny jerk bait will smoke em, but i think trebles (even barbless) might not be allowed.  i still have to slow read the regulations. 

[casts_by_fly]

a wide mesh rubber net is the answer.  Then net every treble hooked fish and don't worry about it.  

 

very occasionally I'll boatflip a little one if I can confidently grab it behind the head on the way into the boat.  I'll never try to lip one that has trebles anywhere near the mouth until its in the net and has started to calm down.  Even then I'll usually pop the hooks with pliers first while the fish in the water in the net.

 

I have no interest in swapping out to single hooks for bass on hardbaits.

[Darth-Baiter]

Asking for the trout trip. 

[Dwight Hottle]

Yes I have done it with success. These work well. 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Single_Replacement_Hook_X_Strong/descpage-OSRH.html

[looking45]

I swap the trebles for inline hooks on most of my baits. Less worry  abut tangling in the net and having a treble hook flapping around while trying to handle the fish. There’s also a lot less of a chance of the fish tossing a single hook. YMMV

[Dwight Hottle]

5 hours ago, looking45 said:

I swap the trebles for inline hooks on most of my baits. Less worry  abut tangling in the net and having a treble hook flapping around while trying to handle the fish. There’s also a lot less of a chance of the fish tossing a single hook. YMMV

Also note the position of the hook points. Rear hook faces up to the rear & the front hook faces forward. This is the correct positioning. 

[Tatulatard]

It's a popular thing with the trout guys.  They can yell you all about it and what hooks to get.

[michaelb]

I swap trebles for inline singles. I’m on a kayak and dont want to deal with trebles swinging around. I often leave the front treble on and just swap the rear; I avoid buying hard baits with 3 trebles but if i do I would remove the middle too. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

It definitely works and is much easier on both the fish and angler.  The singles dont hook the fish that just slap at the bait as well as trebles, but once you get a hookup with the inlines you have a better chance at landing them.  Once drawback to the inclines, that they can change the action of the bait, particularly baits with weight transfer systems.  The loss of drag can make the bait have a tighter action.

[casts_by_fly]

On 6/5/2023 at 2:39 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

Yes I have done it with success. These work well. 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Single_Replacement_Hook_X_Strong/descpage-OSRH.html

I grabbed a pack of these on my last tw order to try.  I don’t mind trebles at all for landing purposes, but I thought it might give me some options around grass.  I tried that idea tonight and was very surprised. I swapped the hooks on a rapala dt-fat squarebill and ran it around the grass beds the same as I would a spinner bait (which I did later).  About 8/10 casts would come back to the boat clean with just popping it when the bill caught some grass.  1/10 the bill would come back with some weeds on it and 1/10 the hook would have weeds on it. I rigged mine so the front hook was backwards (not the correct way) and the back one point up (correct way). Not sure how this would play for hooksets, but I’m going to give it another try.  I’ll probably swap a jerkbait too as another option.