Tips
& Techniques
Picking the Right Hook
from...
Pro Tom Redington |
 |
December,
2007
By Tom Redington
Selecting the correct hook when fishing
soft plastic baits is a rather simple choice, but one that can dramatically
impact your lure’s action and your hooking percentage. Based on the size of
the fish, the hook set style used, and how heavy or lightweight your rods
and line are, there is a hook that will maximize your landing percentage for
each bait. For Texas rigs, weightless Texas rigs, and Carolina rigs, there
are a few basic guidelines that I follow. While you may find a different
system works better for you, hopefully this will help you more critically
evaluate your hook choice in the future.
First, you need to decide what style of hook to use. For traditionally
rigging soft plastics, hooks come in 3 main styles—straight shank, offset
shank, and extra wide gap. Straight shank hooks have a “J” shape, while
offset shank hooks have a similar design, only with a small double 90 degree
bend (offset) near the eye of the hook to help keep lures from sliding down
the shank. Extra wide gap hooks are more in the shape of a “G”, with a
rounded shank similar to Kahle style hooks and an offset near the eye.
Straight shank hooks were the dominant worm hook for years until the
introduction of the Sluggo in the 80s, creating widespread use of offset
hooks. As flipping tubes became popular in the 90s, the use of extra wide
gap hooks became widespread, and I now see more bass fishermen using extra
wide gap hooks with soft plastic lures than any other hook type.
Like a growing number of anglers, I used a lot of extra wide gap hooks in
the past but I’ve now switched back to using straight shank hooks whenever
possible. Currently, I use straight shank hooks about 80% of the time,
offset hooks 15%, and wide gap hooks only about 5%. My reasoning is based on
simple geometry. Wide gap hooks have the hook point directly in-line with
the eye of the hook, or slightly above the line eye on “wide gap plus”
hooks. When you set the hook, the sinker and the front of the lure clear a
path for the hook point to escape a bass’ mouth without imbedding.
Meanwhile, on straight shank hooks the point rides substantially above the
eye of the hook and aims for the roof of the bass’ mouth, resulting in a
more hook-ups. The extra wide gap hooks do an excellent job of holding fish
if you manage to get the hook through the bass’ mouth on the hook set, so
well that I often need pliers to remove a hook once the bass is landed;
however, there are plenty of times when a bass completely takes a bait and
even on a short pitch with braided line to a bedding fish, the hook flies
cleanly out of the bass’ mouth on the hook set. Missing an extra fish every
once in a while doesn’t sound like a big deal, but if that fish is the one
you need to get a check in a tournament or the lunker of a lifetime, losing
it is a huge deal.
Based on my
preference for straight shank hooks, here’s a breakdown of the types of
hooks I use. For rigging worms, creature baits, craw worms, French frys, or
similar baits like Ring Frys, Fork Worms, Twitch Worms, Fork Craws and Fork
Worms by Lake Fork Tackle, I use straight shank hooks. For weightless soft
plastic jerkbaits like Magic Shads, Zig Zags, or Senkos, an offset worm hook
works better. These baits have thick bodies that seem to deliver the best
action and hook-ups when rigged Texposed with offset hooks. Offset hooks
have the hook above the eye, similar to straight shank hooks, and produce
much higher hook up percentages for me than extra wide gap hooks, while
still delivering good action. For baits that are extremely bulky, baits that
you swim, and tubes, I’ll use extra wide gap hooks. For Fork Frogs and Live
Magic Shads, the extra wide gap hooks act as a keel to keep the lures
running true, while having enough gap to get through the thick bodies. And
for Texas rigging hollow bodied tubes like Lake Fork Tackle Craw Tubes,
extra wide gap hooks are the only ones that will rig them properly.
The biggest drawback to straight shank hooks is the head of the bait sliding
down the shank instead of staying on the eye of the hook. This is even a
problem with offset and extra wide gap hooks when fishing soft plastics
around heavy brush or grass. While there are a number of novel ideas and new
hook designs to combat this problem, the simplest solution is to use the end
of a toothpick. Simply break off the end of a round toothpick and push it
through the head of your lure, continuing through the eye of the hook, and
out the other side of the head of the lure. Trim the toothpick so it is
flush with the both sides of your bait and it’ll be locked in place at the
eye on any style of hook.
Once you’ve determined the hook style, you need to figure out what size is
best. Selecting the size of the hook is another subject upon which my
thinking has changed over the years. In the past, I would use the largest
hook possible, figuring that larger hooks were stronger and would land more
fish. Nowadays, I prefer using the smallest hook I can get away with. While
it is true that larger hooks often have heavier wire that is stronger than
light wire hooks, when two hooks of similar sized wire are compared, the
larger hook will straighten out easier. Just like a long wrench will loosen
a tight bolt easier than a shorter wrench, the larger the hook and
especially the wider the gap, the more leverage for big fish to bend out
your hook. For that reason, I’ve switched to mostly 2/0 and 3/0 hooks for
most of my Texas rigs and Carolina rigs instead of the 4/0 and 5/0 hooks I
predominately used in the past. Furthermore, smaller hooks normally have
smaller points, making them easier to penetrate the bass’ mouth, especially
on long casts. The rule of thumb for selecting hooks size is based on the
bulk of a soft plastic lure, not the length. For example, I use a 3/0 or 4/0
hook when Texas rigging a bulky 4” Ring Fry, while I’ll only use a 1/0 or
2/0 hook for rigging a skinny 6” Twitch Worm. The bulkier the lure, the
bigger the hook gap need, so you’ll need to use a larger sized hook.
Concerning the thickness of the hooks wire, in general I’ll use light wire
hooks when I’m using line than is about 10 lbs or less and go to the extra
strong 3X or “Superline” hooks when I’m using line that is 20 lb test or
larger and fishing in a lake with big fish.
Keep your hooks sharp and give my tips a try, I think they’ll help you land
a few extra fish or two this season. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of
your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572
(days) or 972-635-6027 (evenings) or e-mail me through my website,
www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com.
Tom Redington is a full time bass guide on Lake Fork and is sponsored by
Ranger Boats, Diamond Sports Marine, Lake Fork Trophy Tackle, and P-Line
Fishing Lines.
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