Hook swapping on artificials

[22Tango]

Since the weatherman scared me out of fishing this weekend, I got hooked in the lures isle of my local tackle store. It was really bad ...

Since I'm new to artificials, I've decided to read up on presentation of them. I see a lot of people on this site and through the internet talk of altering hooks setups on artificials to increase fish mortality. I'm all for that. I also dont want to hook myself and the fish together on some multiple treble hook once he's in the yak.

Some say pinch the hooks, some say replace with circle hooks or with siwashi hooks with a skirt, or take off the rear treble but not the front, or just leave the rear hook. One guy bragged he used no hooks because he just wanted to feel the hit of the fish. Anyway, you get my point, they alter the hooks. Should I do that? I don't want to ruin my new lures either.

What do you guys do, and how do you know what sized/ type hooks to use as replacements?

[Memory Maker]

I either mash the barbs on most or switch to dressed single hooks. Just check the action before and after the change to make sure the action isn't changed much. Most of the time it isn't

[Petey091]

An easy trick is to mash the barbs down the then just nip two of the three hooks off the treble hook. It help with fish mortality but more importantly I prefer not driving myself to the ER with a hook embedded in a body part.

[archeryrob]

You can change trebles to single hooks but many times you need to go up three sizes to keep the same action. You might need to experiment with it. Some like Top water are not going to matter. Even some like big Danny swimmers probably will not matter. Now a Rattle-l-trap, the size of the hook could affect the action.

I am starting on making my own lures now and adding singles in the back on some only. Larger lures like spooks with a single in the back and a treble in the middle. If a fish closes his mouth on a single hook, your going to catch it. You just might miss the ones that missed your lures and got foul hooked before on trebles. But that is a small price to pay.

[DOGFISH]

I still fish with the barbs, except for catch and release season. I don't have that much trouble with the fish taking a trolled lure deep into the throat, at least stripers. I do change out the hooks on my crankbaits. The ones that come with a lot of crankbaits tend to be cheap, especially those designed for LM bass. They just are not up to par for stripers. I change them out for 3 or 4x. I use a red hook of the same size for the belly hook. I change out the tail hook for one size larger of the same or similar color. I have not noticed a change in the action of the lures. As far as controlling the fish with hooks, once in the kayak, fish grippers. You may lose an occasional fish at the boat but that's fishing. I release most, almost all, of what I catch anyway. They swim away just fine.

The important thing is to get the fish back into the water as soon as possible. One should have the fish grippers and pliers, if needed, ready to go. If one is to release a fish, it is bad to let the fish flop around the kayak or the deck of a boat. You should also support the fish by the belly and not just lift it by the lip.

Other saltwater species may be different. Bluefish, jacks and kingfish to mention a few, are best with single hooks. That is just my opinion.

[bignose]

How I modify the lures depend upon what species I am fishing for, and whether or not I plan to release my catch, or not.

For LM and SM Bass, I just mash down the barb. Even big bass seldom take an artificial lure very deeply, so they are easily released.
The exception is fishing soft plastics, but I seldom use plastics anymore unless I m fishing very weedy water and need to Texas rig a bait to keep it weed free. Here, I'll mash the barb, but I still end up with the occasional fish getting a hook in the throat.
I almost never keep the bass that I catch from small ponds. I do not fish with bait in freshwater.
When I fished for trout, I used barbless hooks on all of my flies, so this is just a natural sort of carry over for me.

For Rock, since they tend to engulf a lure, I'll bend in two of the tips in of treble hook lures, and possible mash the barb of the third hook in the set. Except for occasionally trolling a rattle-trap, and using surface poppers/ Spooks, etc., I don't fish too many treble hooked lures in saltwater any longer. Way too much trouble to release the fish, and way to easy to end up with a hook in a body part. But I also tie my own buck tails, so I don't worry about this as much. For my personal fishing, I pretty much stick to my catch and release ethic, although I'm not above taking home the occasional Perch or Rock for dinner.
On the charter boat our priorities are much different. Here, we are keeping our limit for the clients. But we never use treble hooked lures with our customers. That's an accident waiting for a place to happen!

For Blue fish, I don't want to think about extracting a set of trebles from a good sized fish. The fish damage themselves enough as you are trying to get the hook out.

Funny but true story:
About 25 years ago I was surface fishing a small pond for bass, while the owner's 80 pound Black Lab ran around the pond. I caught a decent sized bass, and the dog promptly jumped into the water to join in the fun and ended up with a treble hook in his hind leg. I tackled the dog (I could just imagine what would have happened if he had gotten his mouth around to the lure). I managed to get the dog unhooked relatively easily, but not before the other treble hook imbedded itself in the tip of my middle finger, way past the barb. It took 15 minutes of tear blinded cursing to get the hook out. Since then, every hard bait that I have owned has had their barbs mashed down!

[CAGE RATTLER]

I dont fish with hard baits except for top water but i do alot of jigging with metal spoons and always either change the trebble to a single hook or cut one of the 3 hooks off the trebble.
Probably why my favorite lure is a crippled herring. It comes with a single hook on the lure with an optional trebble in the package.