The Way Of The Hook

Aussie

BBM Personel Director
Joined
May 11, 2009
Location
Australia
#1
The Way of the Hook

By Matt Straw..


Enlightenment means finding “The Way.” For anglers, the first step is learning how to match a hook to a situation. Anglers with a discerning eye can match the attitude of the fish to a specific hook and take advantage of the strike form. Perfect hooks match the size of a specific plastic bait precisely while minimizing interference from the lure to improve hooksets dramatically. The right hook is required to keep a suspending bait neutrally buoyant. Changing hooks can improve hooking percentage, speed or slow the drop of a livebait, or balance an erratic crankbait. The right hook makes a bait play show-and-tell while keeping the point handy.

In today’s specialized angling world, you don’t need to book a flight to Tibet to get started along The Way. Just read the package. Exponential advances in technology have provided us with hooks tailored toward crafting perfect presentations. Specialization prompts manufacturers to create hooks specifically designed to do almost everything you do. Many of today’s hooks are named after techniques and labeled accordingly.
TroKar


Belly-weighted, premium worm hooks, first introduced by Falcon Lures, have been the rage for years, allowing anglers to control drop speeds and probe deeper with soft sticks. But enough anglers commented on the need for light, big-gap hooks for soft jerkbaits to bring a few light wire, unweighted versions into the game. Right now, big, soft frogs with swimming legs are hot items in the slop for largemouth bass, so at least four manufacturers have designed new hooks for soft frogs.

Hook manufacturers are busy looking for those kinds of niche markets, blessing us with a more diversified tool belt on the water. But that’s not even the beginning. Advances in metallurgy, sharpening, and overall design are reaching an apex. Any anglers not excited about what’s happening with hooks right now should check themselves for a pulse.

New Standard For Sharp
TroKar hooks were introduced at ICAST, the fishing industry show, in Orlando last summer. TroKar hooks result from a marriage between odd bedfellows: Surgical tool makers and fish-hook manufacturers. A company that designs and creates points for surgical needles worked with TroKar on this project and the result is the sharpest packaged fishing hook in world history.

To spread the word, TroKar sponsored a media event on the lakes of Disney World during ICAST. Each boat was given a supply of plastics and TroKar hooks and turned loose. I pulled up on an island, Texas-rigged a worm, pushed the point through and began bleeding. (I resolved to warn the public about TroKar Hooks, so here it is: Handle with care.) Matt Smiley of TroKar said, “One of the anglers at that event snagged his TroKar, pulled real hard to break free, and it shot back at the boat and the point actually imbedded into an aluminum pontoon.”

I reburied the hook and pitched it out there. With Goofy and a band of mesmerized kids dancing in the background, the first bass struck. I decided not to set the hook and just started reeling. It worked. Filming a salmon trip in Michigan, we used the TroKar again with floats and plastics. TroKar found a lot of wood during those few days, and each time I ripped it free the tip was bent. But each time it was bent back, the surgically sharpened point remained incredibly sharp without requiring a touch up—sharp enough to hook and board 20-pound kings. TroKar Hooks are the sharpest out of the package I’ve encountered.

TroKars are available in 6 styles, including three worm hooks: The Extra Wide Gap (1/0 to 5/0), the heavy wire Magworm (3/0 to 8/0), and the standard round bend Heavy Duty Worm Hook (1/0 to 5/0). Other styles are Swimbait (4/0 to 7/0), Drop-Shot (#1 to 1/0), and a strong straight-shafted Flippin’ Hook (4/0 to 6/0). The finish is a dark chrome black. For now, bass fishermen are well taken care of, but look for the TroKar line to expand every year.

Expanded Arsenal
Specialization really means having the perfect hook available for more of the things you do. In this past year, better hooks have appeared for soft frogs, replacement trebles on cranks, big crawler harnesses, walleye snells, and for keeping plastics secured.

And, after years of going back to the drawing board, the best circle hooks for freshwater applications are finally answering the Eagle Claw challenge (the Lazer Sharp 747 has been one of the few operable circles for light-line fishing). Jeff Pierce, sales manager for Mustad, said the problem for most freshwater applications was unintentional gut hooking of fish. “We redefined what a circle hook is,” Pierce said. “Our new Demon Perfect Proportion Circle has a new front angle. The angle of the plane has to be 90° or gut hooking<SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="/sites/all/modules/contrib/tinymce/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js?E"></SCRIPT> increases. We set ours at 92°. And we have it in several versions, in both standard wire for finesse applications and heavy wire for big fish in cover. Hooking percentage is high and predominantly in the corner of the mouth.”

This is great news for livebait smallmouth anglers who release fish and provide significant input and impetus into freshwater circle designs. This hook is being offered in 8 models, with wire ranging from 1X to 4X, for everything from average smallmouths to marlin. The smaller diameter version (model #39940BLN) appears in sizes #1 through 6/0.

When demand is really high, two or more manufacturers often arrive with answers at the same time. Demand for freshwater circle hooks also inspired VMC to introduce their Non-Offset Tournament Circle Hook starting at size #1 and extending up to size 4/0. This tournament-approved vanadium steel circle hook with its Forged Cone Cut Point is being offered in sizes 2/0 up to 10/0, matching needs of pike, muskie, catfish, walleye, and bass fishermen who employ livebait.

MiHatchii, too, is introducing a new tournament-approved Wide-Bite Circle Hook with (or without) a unique bait stopper that keeps minnows from sliding up the line. The Wide Bite is offered all the way down to size #8, for panfish and trout applications, answering the call from freshwater guys who want to put big fish back. The problem has been a lack of circle hooks in sizes and wire diameters applicable to freshwater fishing (with the notable exception of the Lazer Sharp 747). Suddenly our options have quadrupled.

One of the hottest bass tactics everywhere the past few years has been wacky rigging with cigar worms, finesse worms, creature baits and other plastics. Owner, which already has a fine entry in that arena called the Mosquito Hook, added the Wacky Hook (sizes #4 through 2/0) and the Weedless Wacky Hook (sizes #4 through 1/0) last year. These hooks have a green camo finish and a unique bend that puts the worm out there front and center. The weedless version sports a single fiber guard, for folks pitching drop-shot rigs into wood or pockets in heavy weeds. And, like all Owners, these babies are sharp.

Mustad introduced the KVD Elite Treble. “It’s reminiscent of our Triple Grip treble, but the angle of the point going back toward the shank is not as severe,” Pierce said. “And it’s short shanked, so it won’t tangle with the other treble on most cranks. It’s available in sizes #6 up to #3/0. I handed out samples to charter captains for flies behind dodgers and they love it for salmon and steelhead. It’s named after the designer, Kevin Van Dam, but Gary Parsons looked at it and pointed out that bass guys only use one crank at a time while walleye guys fish cranks 4 at a time, so he predicts higher sales to walleye fishermen.” The KVD Elite is available in black nickel only for now.

The same kind of angler response inspired Gamakatsu to offer a new Short Shank Treble this year. John Burgi, sales manager for Gamakatsu, said they had “lots of requests from bass, walleye and steelhead anglers who have problems with hooks tangling on the cast. These trebles balance better on cranks than any hooks out there, and we’ve made them all with the Magic Eye.” The Magic Eye is flattened at the top in spade fashion, allowing you to wedge the treble into a split ring easier. “No more broken finger nails,” Burgi laughed. The Gamakatsu Short Shank Treble is a straight round bend packaged in sizes #6 though 1/0 in black only.

Finesse-minded walleye anglers will benefit from the new Mustad Double Wide. “It’s basically a fine octopus style that’s in-line, not offset,” Pierce said. “It has a 20 percent wider gap than the traditional walleye hook. It’s designed for crawler harnesses, but when Kevin Van Dam came by the booth he said the Double Wide was going to become his new drop-shot hook.” The Double Wide is available in sizes #8 through #2, only in red.
VMC Spark Point 7545 BN


Mustad’s recent walleye innovation is called the Slow Death, a hook with a unique bend that creates action. “The response was phenomenal,” Pierce said. “It was designed by guys on the walleye tour who kept it secret for a long time. They were trying to mimic the death spiral of a fish that’s come through a turbine or is dying from stress. Half a crawler or a small minnow on this hook creates a slow spin walleyes can’t seem to resist.” Slow Death is available in sizes #4 through #1 in red, bronze, and gold. Slow Death prompted a lot of people devoted to other fisheries to inform Mustad how well it worked in salt water, in trout lakes, and in a variety of other applications.”

Gamakatsu Walleye Snells added some finesse tools to the best walleye boxes this year, too, providing premium hooks in four fluorescent colors (chartreuse, orange, pink, red, and red glow). Walleye Snells include 5 rigs per pack. Each rig includes a soft glow bead, 7 feet of premium 8-pound test mono and a single size #6 to size #2 octopus hook.

Mustad bowed to the catfish lobby with two new rigs this year. One has an octopus circle hook and the other has a straight octopus. “Each rig is tied with 28 inches of premium 50-pound line,” Pierce said. “Hook sizes range from 5/0 through 8/0, in black nickel.”

Introductions in stinger hooks came from VMC and Owner. The VMC Quik Strike Trailer is designed to “seamlessly rig to the back of VMC Dominator Jigs,” which have Fast Snap connectors on the head. The leader on this stinger is 12-pound Sufix Fluorocarbon, and the hooks are high-carbon steel, in black nickel or red, perfect for bass and walleyes. The Owner Stinger Harness Rig sports a size #6 up to size #4 treble tied to heavy-duty, plastic coated, 80-pound braid for larger predators like pike, lake trout, and muskies. The hook is attached with a heavy-duty clip, and the long loop connection is designed to dovetail with the new Owner Beast swimbait hooks, but works with any big hook on the market today. The premium hooks on both these new rigs are razor sharp.

Youvella is introducing new flippin’ hooks this year. Tim Norman, president of sales and marketing for The Fish Harder Companies (which represents Youvella in the United States), said you’ll have to see these new hooks in action to believe them. “They’re tough, the points are durable, and the wire is thinner but stronger, allowing anglers to use a wider variety of plastics in heavy cover.”

Innovations For SwimBaits, Frogs

Innovations in soft swimbait and hollow swimbait designs led to a need for better hooks to match the sheer density and circumference of these baits, another example of lure popularity driving specialization in hooks. “We actually had some of the biggest swimbait manufacturers waiting for us to launch larger hooks before they would come out with larger baits,” Pierce said, so Mustad delivered some new grande sizes (6/0 through 9/0) in the famous Ultrapoint Impact lineup. Impact Hooks have Opti-Angle needle points and a large, plastic keeper attached to the eye to keep baits from sliding down on the hookset or sliding up the line. Baits stay centered, too.

“It’s the swimbait hook for guys who didn’t like the belly weights, who said they were in no hurry for the bait to sink. And we were responding to people who were looking for an oversized hook for fishing plastic frogs in the slop, too,” Pierce added.

The Stanley Ribbit was the prototype among this new genre of frogs, so it’s only fitting that their new Double-Take Hook would become the best complement for it. The Double -Take has two prongs, creating a V-shape that stabilizes the bait as it hops over cover. It also doubles the hooking potential, with a gap that accommodates the Ribbit perfectly, the points riding in optimum position for avoiding snags and biting flesh. Stanley Sales Manager, John Hale, said the Double Take is an exclusive for Stanley, and is available in two sizes, 5/0 and 6/0, to match the two sizes of the Ribbit. “The hook is designed to meet the frog right where the legs meet the body,” he said. “The bait won’t roll over at all with this hook.”

Owner’s addition to this genre’ of beastly hooks is appropriately named. The Beast appears in both weighted and unweighted versions from 4/0 through 10/0 to match anything from moderate swimbaits and frogs to muskie-sized soft jerks. Tony ****anishi, sales manager for Owner American, said the Owner Twistlock keeper with its centering pin inside a spring has met with monumental customer satisfaction. “Screw the head of a plastic bait on and it stays put and well centered,” he said. Owner patented the design and offers it in on several different series of hooks. “Very popular,” he said. “In fact, we’re selling tons of Twistlocks by themselves with no hooks. It can be found on our new lighter-wire version of the Beast, too. This one’s for finesse fishing, in 1/0 to 6/0 sizes.”

Don’t be fooled by the name. Eagle Claw’s new Lazer Sharp Monster Swimbait Hook is actually designed for finesse fishing. Not. This whopping 10/0 bruiser will handle the biggest hollow bellies and soft swimmers with ease, and get them down where the fish live quick with a balanced, wedge-shaped belly weight that tapers toward the front, putting more weight toward the back where most of the plastic is, creating a horizontal profile on the drop. Muskie-sized soft jerks finally have a dance partner.

Ron Stallings of Daiichi said the new Stand-Out Drop-Shot Hook is a unique design that offers better hooking. “Fishing smallmouths on the Columbia River I dropped it 50 times on a rock pile and got 50 positive hooksets in a row,” he said.<SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="/sites/all/modules/contrib/tinymce/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js?E"></SCRIPT> Though this hook isn’t brand new, it’s quite recent and remains the only hook of its type on the market—a unique design. The line is tied to a bend in the shaft and goes through the eye, creating two contact points on your line. This keeps the bait out at a 90° angle while holding the hook in the right position for setting hooks at all times. “Crappie fishermen love it for stacking baits,” Stallings said. Sizes range from #6 up to 2/0.

In the end, a hook is a hook. Why spend time worrying about it. Sharpen the one that’s on the line from the last trip, maybe bend the point out a bit and away you go. That’s the spirit. Especially if you’re fishing the same tournaments I’m in. Good fishermen know that finding the perfect hook, the one that won’t miss and won’t let go, is half the game. And the perfect hook is out there for most of the things we do, labeled to mark The Way.