Single or treble

[BassSteve]

Hey,

 

Last year I swapped out my treble hooks on my crankbaits with in line single hooks. I can't help but feel like I've missed a number of fish due to there only being one point of contact they have to hook. If I install the treble hooks again would crushing the barbs make it easier to deal with treble hooks? What is your guys opinions about this?

[softwateronly]

I prefer good hooks and carry needle nose pliers, hemostat, and a net.  I really like jerkbait fishing and the hooks are almost everything.  So I deal with it on all trebles.  Angry, thrashing northern pike with their entire mouth hooked shut on cranks and spoons, give me the most trouble.  But I would think barbless trebles will certainly improve hookup/land over singles, but if I were fishing in the ***, I'd want every advantage to get them to me.  Having a mini bolt cutter is a good idea too, it can de-escalate a handful of disasters.

 

scott 

[BassSteve]

1 hour ago, softwateronly said:

I prefer good hooks and carry needle nose pliers, hemostat, and a net.  I really like jerkbait fishing and the hooks are almost everything.  So I deal with it on all trebles.  Angry, thrashing northern pike with their entire mouth hooked shut on cranks and spoons, give me the most trouble.  But I would think barbless trebles will certainly improve hookup/land over singles, but if I were fishing in the ***, I'd want every advantage to get them to me.  Having a mini bolt cutter is a good idea too, it can de-escalate a handful of disasters.

 

scott 

Yes they say treble hooks mess up a fishes mouth, but probably not so bad in largemouth. I will just smash the barbs for ease of removal I guess. Single hooks won't land a lot of fish on a crankbait I don't think 

[rgasr63]

Treble hooks are a necessary item if one wants to have a better hookup ratio vs a single hook. It has been said above a pair of hemostats and a good pair of fishing needle nose pliers work good. I have to add to that a lip gripper is a great thing to have as a bank angler. It will add a little bit of space between your own hand and the fish. It is helpful to a boater but the net is a good tool too.

[Team9nine]

Easier to deal with in a net, and easier to deal with when buried in yourself, but otherwise, keep the barbs.

[BassSteve]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Easier to deal with in a net, and easier to deal with when buried in yourself, but otherwise, keep the barbs.

Ok so you think it would be a bad idea to smash the barbs down? 

[gim]

4 hours ago, softwateronly said:

Angry, thrashing northern pike with their entire mouth hooked shut on cranks and spoons, give me the most trouble. 

I am familiar with this problem.  The small pike have almost nothing to grab and they are as slippery as ice.  The worst is when a small one completely swallows a treble hooked lure.  There is often some profanity in my boat when this happens.

[RipzLipz]

45 minutes ago, BassSteve said:

Ok so you think it would be a bad idea to smash the barbs down? 

I’ve only smashed barbs when required by regulations (when I’ve fished out of my home state). I’m not one for "telling" another angler what to do, but rather give them things to ponder & let them decide based on their experiences & personal knowledge. With that said, if you had a potential PB on, would you want to risk losing it should mashed barbs come into play?

 

Me only, I’m not mashing them.

[Team9nine]

53 minutes ago, BassSteve said:

Ok so you think it would be a bad idea to smash the barbs down? 

It’s not a bad idea, it’s just a question of it is necessary to go to all that trouble. If you net every fish where it could be a headache and waste a lot of time untangling your bait from the net, or if you’re afraid of deep hooking yourself, then do it. Otherwise, there is no real good reason to…maybe if you fish weightless Senkos a lot and always seem to gut hook your fish might be another.

[OkobojiEagle]

1 hour ago, BassSteve said:

Ok so you think it would be a bad idea to smash the barbs down? 

I leave the barbs on the front treble and file the barbs on middle and back trebles.  I find it easier to deal with when more than one treble is embedded.

[zeth]

On 11/21/2023 at 6:09 PM, BassSteve said:

Hey,

 

Last year I swapped out my treble hooks on my crankbaits with in line single hooks. I can't help but feel like I've missed a number of fish due to there only being one point of contact they have to hook. If I install the treble hooks again would crushing the barbs make it easier to deal with treble hooks? What is your guys opinions about this?

What is wrong with treble hooks?  Serious question as you don't really get into why...

You most certainly are losing/missing fish because of this. It is also likely your baits are not running as designed depth-wise at least if your single hooks weigh less. Treble hooks are of no concern.  Take out pliers and remove them. Takes .00005 seconds.  1 out of 20 may be slightly more difficult and take a whole second or two. Go buy yourself some spro or owner split rings and some Hayabusa, Owner, Gamakatsu.... hooks and put them back on or if you are cheap get some vmc or mustad hooks. Best split ring pliers are texas tackle brand.  Don't even bother with the others.  Best pliers imo are cheapo rapala with the spring on them or any other brand that stays open.  

[JN94]

I hate trebles and refuse to use them on any lure, so I've put inlines on all of my hard baits. I don't feel like my hookup ratio is bad at all with them

[garroyo130]

Ive honestly never dealt with a treble hook that was difficult to remove. Swallowed single hooks on the other hand ... 

 

Anyhow if I were you I'd go treble and leave the barbs alone. I swapped over my deep divers to inline single hooks and although I'm sure I've had lost bites, it hasn't been bad enough for me to switch back and start losing lures every outing again. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

I just about went to all single hooks for striper and blue fish and have found they actually work better.  Once that fish is buttoned, they don't come off and I can get the fish off and get back into the water so much faster.  You do have to be really vigilant of the points and keep them needle sharp, being lazy will cost you fish for sure. 

When it comes to FW I don't use them nearly as much.  I've tried them and had success on them, but there are certain baits, JBs are first to mind, that are going to work better with trebles, especially in cold water. 

To me the fish always comes first, but I don't damage to many fish.  I crush my barbs to minimize damage and I might change a tail hook out to a single, so it has less chance to find and eye.  The barbs on top quality JB style trebles are so small, that if you're counting on them to consistently keep fish pinned, you're kidding yourself.  Smaller barbs offer less resistance on during penetration, just look at the evolution of flagship hooks over the years, they get smaller and smaller.   

[Aquaftm45]

I've converted most of my hardbaits to twin hooks. Reduced snags by 90% and I am more confindent throwing in squirrly places. Haven't noticed a measurable difference in catch ratio. 

 

 

[PaulVE64]

I've snipped the 3rd hook off alot of my treble hooks but I didnt know you could buy them that way!

Did this for all my larger jerkbaits, the ones that northern pike seem to enjoy in my river.

[BassSteve]

1 hour ago, Aquaftm45 said:

I've converted most of my hardbaits to twin hooks. Reduced snags by 90% and I am more confindent throwing in squirrly places. Haven't noticed a measurable difference in catch ratio. 

 

 

Pretty cool, so if I try these out are the common sizes I should get #4 and #3 or #2? Most of my crankbaits are lipless crankbaits and square bills in 1.0 to 1.5  max probably.

[Fallser]

Since I mainly fly fish, I'm use to fishing barbless hooks.  They're required in some of the trout streams I fish, but I use them also for warm water and salt water fly fishing.  I never been able to talk myself into removing the treble hooks from my lures.  What I've been doing the past two years is replacing the barbed trebles with barbless ones.   I buy them from either Barlow's or Jann's Netcraft.  So far they've worked well.  Easy to remove from fish or net.  Not to mention myself.

[BassSteve]

2 hours ago, Aquaftm45 said:

I've converted most of my hardbaits to twin hooks. Reduced snags by 90% and I am more confindent throwing in squirrly places. Haven't noticed a measurable difference in catch ratio. 

 

 

I'm trying to look these up, they are kind of difficult to find....these dang things are expensive! Considering only 4 come in a package. Go figure that a hook with two points would cost more than a treble hook..funny. I don't think I can justify paying $30 with shipping for just 4 hooks. What other company makes these, and are they any cheaper than this?

[The Bassman]

I'm all barbless with trebles and barbed with singles. I've had to unhook myself from trebles more than a few times. Smaller bass are the worst. As far as singles vs trebles I've gone back and forth on this for a long time. Trebles are rougher on bass so being barbless makes removal from gill rakers less traumatic. One thing I have settled on is using singles on my lipless cranks. Noticeably fewer lost fish and pretty much every one hooked in the lower lip. I'm still sticking with trebles for now on topwater and jerks.

[WRB]

Bottom line is a single is an advantage to reduce snagging weeds, sharp treble hooks ate an advantage hook to strike ratio.

Tom

[Aquaftm45]

2 hours ago, BassSteve said:

I'm trying to look these up, they are kind of difficult to find....these dang things are expensive! Considering only 4 come in a package. Go figure that a hook with two points would cost more than a treble hook..funny. I don't think I can justify paying $30 with shipping for just 4 hooks. What other company makes these, and are they any cheaper than this?

Yeah, I forgot to mention that, they were a limited run and I had bought a bunch when they came out a couple of years ago. I recently found a big batch on Yahoo Shopping and re-upped my stock. I buy alot on Yahoo Auction via a 3rd party (buyee) and they also do Yahoo Shopping. When bundled with a big order the shipping is negligable. 

These are actually two seperate hooks bound together so they have a degree of articulation which helps keep the fish pinned, much like assist hooks that they use in saltwater jigging. Alternativly, clipping the hook is a good alternative. 

I'm not a fan of barbless, guess I am not a good enough fisherman to keep from losing a fish on a barbless, I've tried them while trout fishing and my fish loss rate is rediculous. A pinched barb is actually better than a true barbless as you have a small hump left where the barb is, which helps keep the fish on a little better. A micro barb hook is a step of from that, but again, I am talking trout fishing.