# Swapping some of my trout lures over to single hooks



## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

I know I'm not the only one here that's tired of paying tribute to the river gods. Most trips to the river I at least lose one bait, sometimes a good amount more. I decided to swap my baits over to singles since those damn trebles just seem to get hung up on everything. My hookup rate may go down a bit, but now I probably won't lose as many baits. These are some of my 1/8oz spoons, spinners, and Rapalas. All of them now have size 6 single hooks; siwash hooks on the spoons and spinners and single inline hooks on the Rapalas. On my 1/16oz hardware I run size 8. Last fall I swapped most of my steelhead hardware to single hooks and only lost one the entire season.


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## waterwolf90 (Jan 7, 2013)

I read somewhere that American fisherman were the only ones that fished lures with trebles. Tackle manufacturers make two batches of lures, one with trebled for us and one with singles for the rest of the world.
I've even heard of lures equipped with circle hooks being used.
How about going barbless, sure would have been nice the last time I 'got hooked'!


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## Zkovach1175 (Mar 29, 2017)

tincanary said:


> I know I'm not the only one here that's tired of paying tribute to the river gods. Most trips to the river I at least lose one bait, sometimes a good amount more. I decided to swap my baits over to singles since those damn trebles just seem to get hung up on everything. My hookup rate may go down a bit, but now I probably won't lose as many baits. These are some of my 1/8oz spoons, spinners, and Rapalas. All of them now have size 6 single hooks; siwash hooks on the spoons and spinners and single inline hooks on the Rapalas. On my 1/16oz hardware I run size 8. Last fall I swapped most of my steelhead hardware to single hooks and only lost one the entire season.
> 
> View attachment 491287


I saw a you tube video of a guy trolling that would take the back hook off completely and add 4-5” of line with a slow death hook and crawler. He was killing walleye with it. The thought was if they didn’t quite hit the lure they’d hit the night crawler behind it. I may give it a try.


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## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

waterwolf90 said:


> I read somewhere that American fisherman were the only ones that fished lures with trebles. Tackle manufacturers make two batches of lures, one with trebled for us and one with singles for the rest of the world.
> I've even heard of lures equipped with circle hooks being used.
> How about going barbless, sure would have been nice the last time I 'got hooked'!


Trebles hooks are outlawed in some parts of the US. I know if you order right from the tackle makers themselves, like Mepps, Wordens, etc they offer all of their lures in single hook variants.


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## Zkovach1175 (Mar 29, 2017)

tincanary said:


> Trebles hooks are outlawed in some parts of the US. I know if you order right from the tackle makers themselves, like Mepps, Wordens, etc they offer all of their lures in single hook variants.


I know panther does it as well. Where are u fishing? Mi? Or another state?


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## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

Zkovach1175 said:


> I know panther does it as well. Where are u fishing? Mi? Or another state?


I'm fishing here, just like the singles because they don't get snagged so easy.


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## Zkovach1175 (Mar 29, 2017)

tincanary said:


> I'm fishing here, just like the singles because they don't get snagged so easy.


understood, I haven’t ever switched my hooks out yet but I get the thought process


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

When swapping treble hooks for singles on crankbaits you need to bump up a couple of sizes to make up for the weight difference. In order for the bait to run correctly. E.g. a size 6 treble should be replaced with a size 2 or 1/0 inline single hook.

On spinners it doesn't matter as much. YMMV.


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## Zkovach1175 (Mar 29, 2017)

PunyTrout said:


> When swapping treble hooks for singles on crankbaits you need to bump up a couple of sizes to make up for the weight difference. In order for the bait to run correctly. E.g. a size 6 treble should be replaced with a size 2 or 1/0 inline single hook.
> 
> On spinners it doesn't matter as much. YMMV.


Good input


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## 6thMichCav (Nov 8, 2007)

I got into a lure making craze in the early 2000’s and ran out of trebles, so I put singles on a couple of dozen lures. I didn’t have much problem with hookup rate, and they also tangled less in the box. Some theorize that it is harder for fish to throw a single hook, but I can’t prove that. I think a smallie could throw a tank if it had hooks. 

My conclusion was that sharpness and balance were more important than trebles. They are a lot easier to unhook for catch and release, too.


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## -db- (Jan 12, 2016)

Has anyone noticed that single hooks on spinners throw them out of balance on the retrieve or anything like that? Of course it's not an issue on spoons or cranks which are designed with an eccentric action built-in, but spinners are typically designed to be concentric with a perfectly straight retrieve.


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## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

-db- said:


> Has anyone noticed that single hooks on spinners throw them out of balance on the retrieve or anything like that? Of course it's not an issue on spoons or cranks which are designed with an eccentric action built-in, but spinners are typically designed to be concentric with a perfectly straight retrieve.


I never have, all of my bigger Cleos, Mepps, and Rooster Tails have all been changed over to single siwash hooks. Additionally, you can order those baits straight from the manufacturers in a single hook configuration. The key is to match the hook size with the bait. If you run something too big or small it may throw it out of balance. Each manufacturer has a chart that shows which size to use in lieu of a treble.


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## fisheater (Nov 14, 2010)

Tincanary,
Where are you purchasing your hooks?They are hard for me to find at local dealers. I have some Gamagatsu (spelling) hooks I like. I have some Eagle Claws that don’t inspire confidence.
I started switching out river fishing lures first. However the unexpected success is running single hook plugs over the tops of weed beds. I can clean lures while paddling. A rookie should be successful in a power boat.


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## tincanary (Jul 23, 2018)

The siwash hooks I get from FishUSA and the single inline hooks came from Finesse Fishing. Finesse Fishing is the only place I could find the tiny #8 single inline that I use on 1/16oz baits. VMC and Owner only go down to #6. The single inline hooks I got are made in Japan by Gamakatsu.


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