Treble hooks

[Micropterus salmoides]

Looking for some replacement treble hooks for various lures and wanted to see what you guys think of the Owner ST-36 vs the Gamakatsu Magic Eye Short Shank Round Bend.

[angry john]

i use the st-36 a lot and like them, for topwater i have had a lot of luck with the st-41. I have not used the magic eye, but have the regular gami ewg short shank trebles from TW. There quality as well. I dont have a preference one over the other, they're both great hooks.

[Toadslayer72]

Yeah, I think you can't go wrong with either. I'm an Owner guy through and through but I wouldn't hesitate to us a Gammy (or any other quality hook) if for some reason I couldn't get exactly what I wanted from Owner. That said, I've used the st-36 a lot and haven't had any problems. I think when you get get down to their smaller sizes and if you are fishing braid, you may want to go with a 2x(st-41) or a 3x(st-56), depending of course on how robust the rest of your set up is.

I think with hooks these days that just about all of the big names make excellent stuff, it's more a matter of finding the hook(s) that offer specifically what you are looking for. Like round bends, short shanks, heavier gauges or any number of little things. I remember when just about every hook I used was some sort of bronze Eagle Claw or Mustad that always required sharpening to get them sticky. We got it pretty good these days with all of the different styles and super sharp and strong hooks.

[Casca]

Owner Stingers x2.

[takrat 67]

Go Owners no other choice

[LAGVPI99]

I have used several types of treble hooks and replace every one on my baits with the KVD hooks now.

I fish braid with a leader 99% of the time. These hooks hold fish better than anything I have ever tried.

I have lost one 10-12" fish in the last 18 months on a crank after changing. Many were open water fish but a few were nice sized fish in cover that I simply pulled away from the trash to keep them from getting hung up and fish don't pull off of these hooks.

Knock on wood...

[cndbasshunter]

i love the 2x short kvd mustad hooks.

[capt1fish]

I have used several types of treble hooks and replace every one on my baits with the KVD hooks now.

i love the 2x short kvd mustad hooks.

I also switched the bulk of my squarebill cranks over to the #2 KVD hook in the past couple years. Over the weekend I tried some cranks with the Gamakatsu equivilent, the EWG Short Shank Magic eye treble.

It's a confidence thing I suppose, but I've always preferred Gamakatsu over Mustad. The Gammies come out of the package sharper. I bought the KVDs because there were the only hook like that in the market place. I'm not sure when Gamakatsu released this hook but I bought a few packs when I saw em at the local shop.

I landed every fish that hit my crankbait that day and will likely replace all baits with the Gamakatsu over Mustad.

To the OP, I like EWG styles on my crankbaits and round bends on my topwater. You can't go wrong with either option you presented. Just try not to replace with a hook that weighs more than factory for your topwater. It may affect the action.

[cndbasshunter]

I also switched the bulk of my squarebill cranks over to the #2 KVD hook in the past couple years. Over the weekend I tried some cranks with the Gamakatsu equivilent, the EWG Short Shank Magic eye treble.

It's a confidence thing I suppose, but I've always preferred Gamakatsu over Mustad. The Gammies come out of the package sharper. I bought the KVDs because there were the only hook like that in the market place. I'm not sure when Gamakatsu released this hook but I bought a few packs when I saw em at the local shop.

I landed every fish that hit my crankbait that day and will likely replace all baits with the Gamakatsu over Mustad.

To the OP, I like EWG styles on my crankbaits and round bends on my topwater. You can't go wrong with either option you presented. Just try not to replace with a hook that weighs more than factory for your topwater. It may affect the action.

how much are the gammy's? i pay $4 (6 pc) for the KVD.

[capt1fish]

I also switched the bulk of my squarebill cranks over to the #2 KVD hook in the past couple years. Over the weekend I tried some cranks with the Gamakatsu equivilent, the EWG Short Shank Magic eye treble.

It's a confidence thing I suppose, but I've always preferred Gamakatsu over Mustad. The Gammies come out of the package sharper. I bought the KVDs because there were the only hook like that in the market place. I'm not sure when Gamakatsu released this hook but I bought a few packs when I saw em at the local shop.

I landed every fish that hit my crankbait that day and will likely replace all baits with the Gamakatsu over Mustad.

To the OP, I like EWG styles on my crankbaits and round bends on my topwater. You can't go wrong with either option you presented. Just try not to replace with a hook that weighs more than factory for your topwater. It may affect the action.

how much are the gammy's? i pay $4 (6 pc) for the KVD.

The KVD's at your price are MUCH more economical that the EWG Gamakatsu. Almost by half.

TW has the size 2 EWG Magic Eye for $7.49/pk. I remember they had 6 hooks per pack making it $1.25/hook compared to $0.67/hook at your price.

It's certainly a premium hook.

[Crankbaitmaker]

Owner ST 41 trebles are the best crankbait hooks on the market in my opinion. Gamakatsu makes a good quality hook too but the barbs are a bit small for my liking.

Crankbaitmaker

[Native]

I have used several types of treble hooks and replace every one on my baits with the KVD hooks now.

i love the 2x short kvd mustad hooks.

I also prefer the Mustads, even going so far as to replace the Owner's or Gamm's on my larger Swimbaits! Makes a huge difference because with a short shank hook you can also go up one hook size if you want! Haven't lost a fish yet on them.

[JTinKC]

This year alone I have purchased about 20 of those mustad KVD elite treble packages. Great hooks. Definite good buy.

[Jeffbro999]

Id have to go with Owners just by how sharp they are but the KVD hooks hold fish better once hooked up but arent nearly as sharp as the owners. I use the Mustads on my cranks where I can reel tight to a fish and stick them. I use st-36 on topwater and jerkbaits where I want to stick any fish that even tries to slash at my bait.

[Mags00]

I've been a Gammy guy through and through and slowly switching to Mustad after a few bend outs and break offs of Gammy circlehooks on my dead stick rigs... I have some LCs that will be needing new trebles and have been tossed and torn between Owners and the Mustad (be it KVD) or just the standard Ultra Point...