TackleTour

i started experimenting on using single hooks on my hardbaits a little last year to make them a little more snag resistant and it worked. so this year i took the plunge and bought 100 gammy octopus hooks from 1/0 to 4/0 and removed the trebles from the baits i am planning to use this year and replaced them. so far so good as i landed a near 5 lber in a tourney yesterday ripping a rattlin' vibe thru the grass and he had both 3/0 single hooks in his mouth. the only problem is using the 2 split rings to keep the hooks straight makes it kind of long and sometimes the front hook was wrapping over the top of the bait. you just have to get confidence in doing it like any new bait

We have to do this on all our plugs for Salmon and Steelhead on certain rivers. Single point barbless hooks only. We run a lot of warts and other cranks backtrolled with single points and dont seem to have an issue getting hooked up. Keeping em on is another story without a barb and lots of acrobatics We use Gammy Siwash hooks.

experiment going good. getting more confidence in single hooks after landing some 20" smallmouth with a jerkbait and have changed to singles on my topwaters. still having problems with the hooks wrapping over the top of my baits but will live with it till i can find a shorter shanked hook. most of my fish are on the front hook so i also started to use only one hook.

I think this is pretty cool and I'm interested in some more details about your experiences with this beyond just hooking up. Are you noticing significant improvements in weedlessness? Have any of your lures' actions changed much due to a weight/balance change? Do you suspect any of your lures have become more/less appealing to the fish? Are you doing this w/all of your trebled baits or just certain baits? Have you adjusted the rest of your system like rods/line to accommodate this?

I even like the idea of a bait putting out perhaps a slightly different sound.

Owner is making their single hook replacements more available in the US, apparently. No need to double up on split rings, since the hook eye is in the right direction. Here's a video from iCast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpLRvwzvg68

I've had the same idea after using the Jackall Panicra crankbait. Comes through weeds like a champ.

cuke wrote:experiment going good. getting more confidence in single hooks after landing some 20" smallmouth with a jerkbait and have changed to singles on my topwaters. still having problems with the hooks wrapping over the top of my baits but will live with it till i can find a shorter shanked hook. most of my fish are on the front hook so i also started to use only one hook.

VMC 7237 have short shanks, a wide gape and come in sizes 6 through to 3/0. Great for small to medium lures. The silver VMC 7266 also have short shanks, a wide gap, but come in larger sizes 1/0 through to 9/0.

Have used both on jerks, cranks and topwaters for large tropical fish with excellent results.

The owner single replacements are awesome. I started experimenting with them on bigger jerkbaits fishing for stripers and immediately had confidence in them. What I really like about them is the bait doesnt walk down the fish after its played for while. If they get the front hook theyre stuck, and the rear hook is just along for the ride. The other good thing I've found with these hooks is you don't have five other hooks waiting to bury into your hand when you're catching dinks.

Matt

I use single hooks a great deal and one way to effectively get the hooks lined up is to just cut an appropriatly sized treble hook down from 3 tynes to a single tyne that is facing up on the back and forward on the front. I also frequently remove the belly hook on 2 hook baits and the middle bottom hook on 3 hook jerkbaits. I really have not experienced a noticable drop in landing performance for any of these modifications. Squeezing down barbs is a whole differnt story however. It should be noted that I fish strickty for fun and manage to get mt share of fish most times out. I don't sweat it when a fish gets off. Angling is a sport after all and sometimes your opponent (the fish) has to win, lol.

Owner and Vmc have single crank hooks up to 3/0 with the vmc,s a much cheaper price. It's nice having a bigger hook on my baits and easier on the fish too so we're both happier.

Another option would be to buy some VMC Sure Set hooks (the ones with the 2 small and one extra large tynes) then remove the smaller tynes. That way you would have a decent sized hook that, weight wise , would not overpower the baits action. Personally i swear by the Sure Set hooks but only on surface baits like poppers, sammys, wake baits etc. I find they really bump up hook up rates. I don't use them on regular diving baits though.

I've "invested" in single hooks.

I find that I can in most cases go with a larger single. And while some smaller or short strikes miss.
Strikes that do connect stay stuck.

And baits foul less as well.

I'm also less likely to lose sleep over a trophy fish that has a treble in the jaw and one in the eyebal that happens so often with trebles.

For finesse minnow baits or spybaits. It's very nice to step up from a number 8 treble to a size 4 or 2 single.

Which way do you attach the front hook? Point towards the nose of the bait or tail?

Hmm... The philosophy is sound; easier to sink a single point than multiple. Or at least it should be. I'm gonna have to get on this bandwagon and check it out. Interesting thread.

Everyones doing it. Well not really

http://www.basspro.com/Rapala-XRap-Long ... ct/180627/