Red Hooks?

[Bassfisherman94]

I have been seeing crankbaits and jerkbaits with the front hook being a red hook. Does putting a red hook on your baits make a difference?

[jkarol24]

Not sure if it does or not, its more of a confidence thing. For me, i will put a red hook on the front hanger of a topwater. In case the fish ARE attracted by the red, then they will hit the front hook, and if they miss they will get hung by the back one. Now if the back one were red and they were attracted to that one but and missed, you would go fishless. Its a mental game if nothing more. There have been studies showing that the color red is the first to "disapear" into a black appearance. Who knows, there are no scientists who can get inside the brain of a bass... But if it makes you feel more confident, then by all means go for it.

[roadwarrior]

I have been seeing crankbaits and jerkbaits with the front hook being a red hook. Does putting a red hook on your baits make a difference?

No

[Christian M]

I think that the red does make a difference, whether its a confidence thing or proven to work, I look at it as just one more thing that may entice a strike out of a fish that might not have hit my bait otherwise. I always put a red hook on my favorite crankbaits, rattletraps, topwaters, and jerkbaits. Just be careful when changing out the front hook on certain baits. Sometimes it will impede the action that the bait was designed to have.

I keep a LMB in a tank and I notice that whenever I'm cleaning the tank, and I clean the bigger rocks, when I go to put them back in, he will completely ignore the black, tan, & grey ones, but the minute I drop a red gem in, he charges at it & sometimes tries to eat it. Ive had the fish for 8 months since it was the size of a small baitfish, so it's definitely instinctual. Just something I found interesting

[guitarkid]

The only reason I have them is becasue I thought they look cool. I also have black nickel hooks

-gk

[loodkop]

I use a lot of red hooks on plastic baits. I don't know if this improves my strike rate or not but it doesn't hurt it either. In my experience of fly fishing for a variety of species red is considered by many to be an attractor color and splashes of red is added to a lot of fly patterns. I try to do this by adding red hooks.

[Lund Explorer]

I have been seeing crankbaits and jerkbaits with the front hook being a red hook. Does putting a red hook on your baits make a difference?

Yes!

The practice has hooked a large number of fish.....ermen!

[SirSnookalot]

Red line that's translucent will disappear in the water, at least to my eye, not sure about a fishes. Red hooks will not disappear, light does not transmit thru them, and I don't think they are any more effective than any other color hooks.

[Sam]

I went to the bible of bass scientific information, Dr. Keith Jones' Book, Knowing Bass, and the chapter on vision has so much information that it is impossible to share it all with you regarding the color red. On page 161 here is what Dr. Jones writes:

By filtering light into pure colors, Dr. Don McCoy of the University of Kentucky, filtered light into pure colors. McCoy found that largemouths could be trained to distinguish all colors between red and blue but not equally. Bass quickly learned to distinguish between colors falling in the red and green sectors of the spectrum but struggled to differentiate shade of blue. This suggests that bass color vision is relatively good from red to green but weak in the blues and violets.

Earlier work by Frank Brown at the University Illinois had also found that bass have good color vision in the spectral areas of red and green. Largemouth bass were trained to approach a target having the “correct” color to receive a food reward but received an electrical shock if they approached the “wrong” color.

Bass trained in this manner easily distinguished between even minor shade variances of red and green. Outside of these areas color vision was more questionable.

Intense yellows could be discerned by pale yellows and pinks appeared to be interpreted simply as “light.”

Similarly, bass often confuse dark shades of blue and purple with heavy shades of gray or, in the case of very intense colors, with black.

As the spectrum reaches a point in its shift from green to blue, bass’s color vision seems to fade out entirely.

Beyond this point, blues and purples, and to some extend dark shades of green and brown, are interpreted by a bass simply as “dark.”

Very strong shades of dark red have the same effect.

Add to this what Dr. Jones writes on page 160:

While no direct reports indicate exactly how many or which visual pigments bass have, we have good reason to believe that they have only two: red and green. The color spectrum available in these waters is dominated by reds, oranges, yellows and greens with only a smattering of blue.

OK, now you know.

[Darren.]

I'm no expert on the science of color spectrum, water visibility, how particulate matter in the water refracts light in relation to line/hook color, etc. So IMO, red hooks have not produced any more fish for me. My local BPS puts all their brand of red hooks at the bottom of the shelf now (if that even means anything).

Like the braid vs. fluoro, the line color arguments, so goes hook color. If you feel more confident with red hooks, use 'em. I'll stick with the nickel varieties.

[Deleted account]

I think a splash of red is an attractant at times, but I also don't want a fish focusing on my hooks, most baits come with a bit of red on the lower chin, or it can be easily added, I like black nickel hooks.

[Avalonjohn44]

Red line that's translucent will disappear in the water, at least to my eye, not sure about a fishes. Red hooks will not disappear, light does not transmit thru them, and I don't think they are any more effective than any other color hooks.

AMEN!

[KCL655321]

Like a lot of things related to fishing, it only makes a difference if you think it makes a difference. I bought a lot of red hooks when I first got back into fishing, but have gone back to the standard hooks after watching them chip like crazy & not make any meaningful difference from my perspective.

[Raul]

I have been seeing crankbaits and jerkbaits with the front hook being a red hook. Does putting a red hook on your baits make a difference?

If you believe they will make a difference I´m the first one to tell you should use them, to reply to your original question: no, I haven´t seen any difference betwen red and bronce/black/silver hooks.

[TINK]

I am a red hook guy all the way. Exsample.......Me and a buddy was out one day throwing flukes same color except one thing I had 5/0 red hooks be had 5/0 regular hooks. I caught two to his one for 4hr straight. He then decided to get a red 5/0 hook from me and started catching more. Just my two cents in the deal.

[mr.mallard]

it hurts my # of bites of my crawfish imitating baits IMHO

[Bass Dude]

There are a bunch of other posts about this topic so--take a look for those on here too.

My opinion...I don't know if I get more bites, but when I've one red and one black nickel hook on a crankbait, the fish for the most part hit the red. It's happened way too many times for it to be a coincidence. I feel they are attracted to the hook once it goes after the bait, but I don't think they go after the bait any more or less than they would have if I didn't have a red hook.

I also use a red worm weight with my texas rigs too. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I have more confidence with the red weight.

I also saw a show with Ken Cook that swears by having one red blade on his spinnerbaits. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me--so I make a lot of my spinnerbaits with a red colorado as the first blade. Again, not sure if it makes a difference, but it's a confidence thing.

[NCbassmaster4Life]

Not at all, the red colored hooks haven't "made" me catch "more" bass...it's just one of those wise -tells...lol

[Team9nine]

Like a lot of things related to fishing, it only makes a difference if you think it makes a difference. I bought a lot of red hooks when I first got back into fishing, but have gone back to the standard hooks after watching them chip like crazy & not make any meaningful difference from my perspective.

Ditto - RW had the shorter, more direct answer but this one is a 'nicer' way of saying the same thing -

-T9

[Bluebasser86]

I use all red hooks on my cranks. Don't know if it makes a difference but I have more confidence in my baits when they have red hooks and confidence is one of the best fish catchers there is!