Circle Vs J hooks - on artificials

[Raptor]

Folks,

I'm in the process of replacing all the trebles on my X-Raps and Rattle Traps with standard hooks. I'm killing way too many fish, and spending lots of time trying to delicately remove multiple trebles without killing the fish. I was thinking that circle hooks would be good because of their tendency to catch the fish in the mouth. However, the guy at Anglers recommended a standard "J" hook as the circles are primarily for bait fishing and probably would not hook up well on an artificial. I'm definitely no expert so I was wondering if there are any opinions or experiences out there in Snaggedline land.

Terry

[bignose]

I'd recommend leaving the trebles in place, only bend two of the three hooks in until the point contacts the shaft. This way it does not affect the balance of the lure.
And mash the barb down on the remaining hook.

[donkey fish]

If you change the hooks on a rattle-trap it will never swim right

[buzz]

I agree with bignose and donkey fish.
The first thing that came to mind was... he's going to remove the hooks with which that lure was designed to work.

[kevinfry]

Terry...you must be catching more fish than the rest of n us...
I agree that there could be some balance issues, but I know guys with single hooks on xraps. That being said I have several xraps that have one of the hooks on the trbal broken off (usually due to stupid rays) and none have been as productive as they were before. I laso doubt you could bend those black nickel hooks to point suggested above without beaking it off
. It would seem to meb that mashing down barbs o
n your trbles and seeing if that helps your survival rate would be the better first step.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[Romo]

Most lures wont swim right without the trebles. Even changing the treble sizes or gauge will kill the action. If you want to do less harm to the fish you can always pinch the barbs down with pliers and if you're fishing 3 hook jerkbaits or something then you can remove the middle treble. Otherwise start using slip bobbers with live bait and a circle hook haha

[Raptor]

Guys,

Thanks. Lots of good input. Up until a couple of weeks ago I had a pretty hot stick with the Rock, but was rather unhappy with messing up quite a few nice fish that just happened to be hogs. I like the idea of leaving on the hooks on that were designed for the lure. I'm going to try bending the hooks in and de-barbing the remaining hook, as bignose suggested, and see how that works. It messes with the lure the least, and is dead simple providing the hooks are bendable. If the hooks don't bend maybe I'll just cut off the points.
As a side note I went fishing in Vermont for Lake Trout and Salmon last week. It was a fishing derby so we were only interested in the big ones. The guy I was fishing with had a blue X-Rap with just one trailing "J" hook and no hook in the middle, unbelievably, it seemed to catch um just fine. I watched several 5 -10 lb. lakers brought to the back of the boat where the captain grabbed the single"J" hook with a set of long nosed flat tipped pliers and give a half twist. Fish off - never even came out of the water - real slick. BTW - we did harvest a few landlocked Atlantic Salmon for the grill (4-5 lbs.) cooked them Alaskan style - one word - AWESOME.

[Romo]

The lip on the lure has a lot to do with what action changing a hook will do. For example if you are using a regular xj10 with a small lip you will notice a markedly decreased wobble with a single J on the back. If you're using a diving plug like a manns stretch or in this case a diving xrap the oversized lip will overcome the changed out hooks and the thing might even wobble harder

[bignose]

Unlike a bass, a rock tends to engulf a lure and swallow it deeply.
I usually find that bass get hooked on their lips.
Hard dehook a thrashing rock, especially in a yak, when it's got multiple trebles in it's mouth. You catch him, then he catches you.
I've modified plenty of rattle traps with the bend in method I described above, and it works pretty well.
Or switch over to single hook lures like paddle tail jigs on a lead head.
Z mann lures if the blues come to town and start chewing stuff up.

I also carry a pair of forceps to reach in. Don't want to go trying to stick my fingers in there.

[Raptor]

Unlike a bass, a rock tends to engulf a lure and swallow it deeply.
I usually find that bass get hooked on their lips.
Hard dehook a thrashing rock, especially in a yak, when it's got multiple trebles in it's mouth. You catch him, then he catches you.
I've modified plenty of rattle traps with the bend in method I described above, and it works pretty well.
Or switch over to single hook lures like paddle tail jigs on a lead head.
Z mann lures if the blues come to town and start chewing stuff up.

I also carry a pair of forceps to reach in. Don't want to go trying to stick my fingers in there.

I just got done modifying an X - Rap. The hooks bent with a bit of force - I'll give it a try. I've used single hook rigs in the past and was quite successful removing them without causing the fish mortal harm. I started catching more fish with X - Raps this spring but the mortality rate was way high with the dual trebles. It killed me to throw back an 18" rock during trophy season that I knew was going to die. I guess I'm trying to get the best of both worlds. I've not used the Z-man lures but from reading the reports they seem to be soft plastics like paddletails that are pretty much impervious to the dreaded blue fish "tail bite off". I'll have to get some soon, the last time I was out some baby blues de-tailed my Gulp - first time this year.

[On the fly]

Raptor, there are lure company's that put single hooks on some model lures, yo-zuri lures is one that makes saltwater lures, like a rattle trap style and others. I will look up but found an article awhile back about the benefits of changing from Trebels to single hooks. Yo-zuri uses circle hooks. I will send you like via pm along with other secret fishing info.
But here is one article;
http://www.bayflyfishing.com/light_tackle_trebles.htm

Harry

[Runnin]

I would say Kevinfry called it. Mash down the barbs. They will come out much easier.

[DOGFISH]

I don't know about switching from trebles to single hooks, but I routinely switch out the treble hooks on my crankbaits to 3x strong, one size larger on the tail hook and the same size on the belly hook. I have had no problems with loss of action. Without the swap, stripers bend the cheap hooks that come with most cranks, which are designed mostly for LM bass. I also like to use a red hook in place for the belly hook. This combination works well on my X-raps, as well as others. I have been using this combination for years.