Jackall TN hook choice

[Mike son]

What kind of hook do you guys like to use on the 60 and 70? Anyone bump that rear hook up to a size 4? I was thinking of picking up some gamakatsu magic eye short shank round bends for them, was thinking of running 4's front and rear.

[City17Banner]

What timely topic! I just received my order of the new Jackall TN 70 Skull Shell lipless crankbaits to add to my lipless crankbait collection yesterday afternoon and the hooks are the same as on the "normal" TN 60 & 70 lures with a #4 belly hook and a #6 tail hook. I've long since standardized on the Gamakatsu Amart TWG G-Finesse Nano treble hooks which are made of a much thinner steel wire gauge than my previous go to replacement treble hook the Owner ST-36.

The thinner wire gauge on these G-Finesse Nano hooks allow me to increase the size of the hook without adversely impacting the weight or balance of the lure. In this case, the rather awful stock hooks on the Jackall TN lures weigh: .64 grams for the #4 belly hook and .49 grams for the #6 tail hook. In contrast, the G-Finesse Nano treble hooks I've chosen to replace the stock hooks weigh: .64 gram for the #2 belly hook and .44 grams for the #4 tail hook. Since both replacement treble hooks are identical or lighter in weight, I don't expect to see any adverse impact in the lure action and now I've gained a much larger gap hook for both the belly and tail hooks. This has been proven out in my experience with the "normal" TN 60 & 70 lipless crankbaits I have previously modified, and they now actually hook fish when they bite this great lipless lure instead of coming unbuttoned halfway back to the boat after a hookset.

I can also say with absolutely painful experience that these G-Finesse hooks are the sharpest replacement treble hooks I've ever used, and they are sharper than the thin wire Katsuage treble hooks Megabass uses on their jerkbaits but have much better strength and resistance to rolling the hook point.

I highly recommend these replacement treble hooks and I hope you find them to be of great utility in your fishing adventures.

[Mike son]

(a lot)

Thanks for the reply. Do you use the MH gauge wire nano finesse treble hooks? I'm familiar with the "regular" nano finesse trebles, been using them on vision 110's. I ended up putting magic eye short shank round bend #4's all around on a 60 and it seemed to work fine when I was out this evening. Didn't weigh them, not too concerned there. Action was fine and the hooks can't tangle together. Got a decent one, landed on one barb. Got a carp hooked in the mouth as well and the fish dogged and stayed pin. Haven't messed with my 70's yet but after last season and destroying one hook one of the 60's I knew I needed replacements.

edit: after looking it up, the nano's are the regular wire gauge hooks. Gamakatsu calls the meatier version " G Finesse Treble MH"

[City17Banner]

I do use both of the G-Finesse treble hooks and my criteria is based around a given lures weight and balance. As you noted, there are some lures where lure weight and/or balance is critical to the lure working correctly such as jerkbaits like the Vision 110. In the cold-water period, I tend to actually play around with each of the two G-Finesse treble hooks and even the Owner Hyperwire split rings to manipulate different variants of the MB Vision 110. I am seeking to impart either a very slow sink horizontal motion, a very slow sink head down motion, or a very slow tail down sink motion.

I usually start with an unmodified lure and see how the fish respond to the lure via my Lowrance Active Target, do if the fish bites the lure, then there's no modification needed. Sometimes, modifying the lure for a specific sinking motion helps to trigger fish when they are lethargic during the cold-water period and sometimes, I have to move to a different presentation but it's easy to manipulate the lure by simply by picking up a different rod that has a modified lure on it to see if I can trigger the fish. This is where I use the two G-Finesse treble hooks as they have the same sizes, but the NH version is ~15% heavier so it's a good way to gain more weight without much effort.

As for durability, I haven't seen either of the "normal" or MH G-Finesse treble hooks break or dull noticeably on any of the lures I have put them on so far and that includes just about every crankbait I own, so that's several hundred lures without any significant failures since I started using these hooks a few seasons ago.