Lipless wood

[LrgmouthShad]

Merry Christmas!!

 

I ran a small lipless yesterday in a pond with quite a bit of wood. Was pretty nervous about it. I tried to parallel any wood I could see and tried to stay above any wood on the bottom. Yet, I hit wood at least half a dozen times. Here’s what surprised me. The crankbait deflected every single time. I never got hung. I am wondering if this is a common occurrence. I haven’t used these baits enough to know if I should be careful around wood or fearless. Would appreciate any help. 
 

1/4oz red eyed shad. Started playing around with those last winter in MO

[PondProwler9000]

Fearless, your probably gonna get hung up but imho your also gonna get bit.

Buy extras when on sale, it takes a little sting out of losing them.

[LrgmouthShad]

2 minutes ago, PondProwler9000 said:

Fearless, your probably gonna get hung up but imho your also gonna get bit.

Buy extras when on sale, it takes a little sting out of losing them.

We found the bait monkey, fellas 😂. I don’t disagree. A lure retriever might be able to save me some. I don’t want to lose $40-$50 in a trip. I swap all my crankbait hooks to the 1x strong, 2x short mustad triple grips, so it’s losing about $9 a bait.

 

I’ve also heard of removing the back hook? Anybody tried this? How’s the hookup ratio?

[fin]

I once tried to pick up a lure off the bottom using a lipless and learned how hard it is to hook something on the bottom with one. Because of the way they are designed, the hooks are kind of shielded by the nose and the body. Kind of.

 

Grab some cheap lipless from Walmart or whatever for throwing in spots like that. You'll be surprised what they can come through when you don't care whether you lose them.

 

I've never removed one hook. I wouldn't recommend it, personally.

[Pat Brown]

I modify my lipless cranks for bank fishing.

 

I cut off the hook that hangs down on the front one and I can't seem to snag em.

 

I catch fish on the modified front hook and back hook both and I have not lost a single lipless since I started doing this.

 

[Catt]

Long before ripping a Rat-L-Trap out of grass became popular it was & still is ricocheting em off wood. 

[TnRiver46]

Take the back hook off when fishing a stump field 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

The fish around here like to group up in stump fields in the winter, but will often feed on the baitfish that are using them as cover as well.  A lipless is one of those baits that can get a reaction bite or get a finesse bite when worked slow on the bottom.  I like to either use 2 lighter wire double hooks, or use light wire round bend trebles.  The 2x short EWGs are good because they tuck in really well, but that short shank is very hard to bend compared to a longer shanked round bend, I suppose its due to leverage, and once an EWG is sunk into wood its tough to get them out.  IMO its a compromise, the EWGs dont get snagged as much as round bends, but once there in they're considerably harder to get out.  Some of the better-quality lighter wire hooks have a tendency to break before they bend in really cold water, Ive seen that with Duo Nanos.  It gets expensive, but its better than losing a TN70, or shutting the whole school down trying to wrestle it free with a lure retriever.  I do like the double, but the only ones I have been able to get recently have an open design, like blade bait hooks.  What happens when you try to wrench the bait free is the shanks just open up instead of the bend in the hook.      

[OkobojiEagle]

"Double hook" replacements have been mentioned in a couple replies, but it's far easier and cheaper to snip off the leading hook point of the front treble hook.

[Bankc]

They'll get hung up in wood, but not every time.  Lots of good suggestions so far.  The only thing I have to add is if you're fishing from a boat, they're usually easier to free from a snag than most lipped crankbaits, as they have a bit more weight to them.  Just be sure not to bury the hooks into the wood too deep and bring a plug knocker.  You'll still lose a few, but you'll catch more bass as well.  

[Catt]

6 hours ago, Bankc said:

They'll get hung up in wood, but not every time. 

 

It's like fishing crankbaits around wood. Ya gonna get hung, ya gonna lose some, it's part of the game.

 

The reward is worth the risk!

[FishTank]

At one of my favorite lakes, I always get hung up in the forest below with a lipless. I haven't tried it yet but but I bought some Owner trebles that have offset hooks. They have a 150 degree angle between two of them. I think the idea is, providing you put them on correctly, that the hooks pulls up between the side of the bait and hopefully, making it less snag proof. 

[scaleface]

I have two Rattling Storm Thin Fins. One of them doesnt work , I ought to just throw it away . The other vibrates like a Rattle Trap . I toss it around wood . It snags less .

[LrgmouthShad]

I have been playing around with this more. Some things I’m noticing… if I feel I’m about to clear a limb, the worst thing I can do is speed up. That can cause the bait to roll sometimes and open a gap for the hooks to snag. If I am coming up to wood from below, often that is fine. The nose will deflect and the hooks will initially be below and then sideways as it clears. But, if my bait is above a limb, the hooks can snag onto it. That seems to be where I get more of my snags.

[KP Duty]

On 12/25/2023 at 7:42 AM, fin said:

I once tried to pick up a lure off the bottom using a lipless and learned how hard it is to hook something on the bottom with one. Because of the way they are designed, the hooks are kind of shielded by the nose and the body. Kind of.

 

Grab some cheap lipless from Walmart or whatever for throwing in spots like that. You'll be surprised what they can come through when you don't care whether you lose them.

 

I've never removed one hook. I wouldn't recommend it, personally.

Yeah...at the amgle most lipless cruise, the bait is the weed guard.  The new Jackall TN38 is supposed to have a more natural cruising angle

[WRB]

I don’t know what the % is boat vs bank anglers using lipless lures, maybe 90 to 10% boats? Boat anglers can retrieve a snagged treble hook lure by jigging it free or using a retriever.

Cutting off the the leading hook into a double didn’t work well for me and stopped that years ago. Lipless usually snags twigs and easy to break off or jigging free most crank baits.

Tom

[king fisher]

Buy them, use them loose them repeat.  That is how the game is played.

[LonnieP]

I’ve lost right many Lipless cranks fishing them around wood, but the quality fish I’ve caught doing it makes it worth it.

[papajoe222]

If the hooks are hung correctly, two of the three belly hooks will ride up on either side of the bait.  For running around wood, I cut off the hook on the bottom. Do the same for the rear hook, the one that rides down gets cut off. 

[TnRiver46]

13 hours ago, scaleface said:

I have two Rattling Storm Thin Fins. One of them doesnt work , I ought to just throw it away . The other vibrates like a Rattle Trap . I toss it around wood . It snags less .

My buddy’s kid slays fish with a storm thin fin, he got another nice one from the bank with it just before Christmas 

 

[fin]

9 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

If the hooks are hung correctly, two of the three belly hooks will ride up on either side of the bait.  For running around wood, I cut off the hook on the bottom. Do the same for the rear hook, the one that rides down gets cut off. 

 

 

You see blade baits come with double hooks, I don't know why not lipless.

 

I'm not sure how much it helps with blade baits though. They stick to almost anything they touch, in my experience.

 

 

[scaleface]

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

My buddy’s kid slays fish with a storm thin fin, he got another nice one from the bank with it just before Christmas 

 

I cant even cast a regular Thin Fin . The rattling version is thicker , heavier and cast like a trap with a tight action. 

[TnRiver46]

@scaleface he throws it with spinning reel 

[LrgmouthShad]

@TnRiver46 @scaleface I am throwing the 1/4oz red eyed shad on a spinning rod and honestly, I really like it that way. Doesn’t need a spinning rod, but I think it keeps the fish hooked well and also easy to free fall the bait. 1/2oz and 3/4oz I am baitcaster.
 

Lipless in wood is much more fun than I was expecting. You just don’t know what is going to happen. Is it going to clear the wood? Is it going to snag? Is that a bite? 

[Bird]

I keep a box of cheap lipless ( Amazon ) for wood but there's a down side to the real cheapies....... they don't wobble as well on a slow retrieve so I either have to burn them or use a yo-yo retrieve.

 

I may try cutting the hooks as suggested.