Over the last year or so I've heard a lot of guys complain about lost fish on Darters an swimmers while out fishing and on many of the threads on the net. It seems a common occurance with all types and makes . Like most I have the tail hook facing down as the old beleif was the fish hits from under the plug or the side mostly. This seems fine on pencils,poppers and spooks plus surface swimmers.
But what about plugs that swim deep or are made to hug the bottom. A fish hits down on a plug and drives it into the bottom either sandy ,weed filled or rocky. All the hooks are facing away from the fish's mouth. You fight the fish all the way in and it see's an ugly face- LOL-or the shore so it lets the plug go. A fish will hold onto a plug hard and no matter how hard you set the hook if it's facing away from the fish's mouth your not gonna set the hooks. So question. Hook facing down or up on darters and deep swimming plugs.:sled: Something to think about as most of us use siwash or tags on the tail.Ron

Good question.

Will having the hook up impart a different action on the plug?

Not sure John as it will hang differently.

Sideways

Doesn't catch any weeds or bottom
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I do not believe which way you hang the hook will have any impact on the action of the lure or the hook up ratio! Most bass hit the belly treble anyway......of all the bass photos and videos I have taken I can't remember more than a couple that may have been caught on the tail hook and they were very small fish! Personal preference I say.

PS- I also believe if you want to keep your hookup ratio high you keep a table hook on the rear.......sometimes that extra couple of barbs will be the difference between landing that fish or not!

Besides for some needles I fish trebles on all my plugs, barbs crushed
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I admit....I do not crush my barbs. I am there to catch fish and I am not going to lose any due to barbless hooks. Thats just me. I have almost zero issues with mortality.....might have one instance a year where I have a fish swallow it deep but thats it. I am not going to be booting myself in the ass the day that trophy comes along and I lose it because I let a little slack in the line and the fish tosses the hook.

I rig them facing up. No real reason i guess. I usually crush the barb on the siwash since its less apt to catch fish anyways.

i think the roof of a basses mouth is thicker on top on the
inside compared to the bottom jaw which extends downward to scoop
(suck-up) prey and in that case UP would be my choice

I miss and drop more fish on darters than any other plug but it also gets more attention and more fish to come back more than any other plug? Even with a treble as my rear hook.

I always chalked it up to the plug darting and fish missing it. Same with a spook?

There is more clearance when unhooking a fish with the tail hook pointing down especially when the plug has belly treble hooks.
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MMMMM I've found that fishing some of the shore rips that run parralel into a boulder feild that when the plug is coming back past the rocks that I get a lot more hookups on the tail hook.Many time with the tail in the mouth an the belly in the lip as the fish is ambushing the plug from behind. a treble may make the difference but on most darters sold they have a treble an not a siwash. Deffinitely something I'm gonna do some testing on. Slack line does hurt but most of those that talk about loosing fish on darters an deep swimmers are pretty good fishermen. Still doesn't explain the higher loss ratio. Interesting puzzle to work out.I'm gonna do some test with the side hook Chris to see how it makes a plug track.

I miss and drop more fish on darters than any other plug but it also gets more attention and more fish to come back more than any other plug? Even with a treble as my rear hook.

I always chalked it up to the plug darting and fish missing it. Same with a spook?

My experience too---it's the nature of the plug.

And with braid, you have to give them a second or two before hitting them. And because there are times that the hooks don't grab a good hold, you tend to drop more.

Interesting , I've always put siwash on the end of my plugs only lost a couple fish . I'm lucky I guess ,
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Something I didn't see mentioned and you might want to take into consideration is hooks pulling during the fight of a decent fish I've had it happen to me a number of times fishing darters for some reason.. With the treble in the rear you get more chances of that hook finding something to grab if the front hook does pull.

I do not believe which way you hang the hook will have any impact on the action of the lure or the hook up ratio! Most bass hit the belly treble anyway......of all the bass photos and videos I have taken I can't remember more than a couple that may have been caught on the tail hook and they were very small fish! Personal preference I say.

Ditto!!! Doesn't make a damn bit of difference.

For me the numbers of dropped fish goes up with both the size of the plug and the number of hooks attached to the plug.
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I have always been under the impression that the stripers go for a head shot first on deap swimmers and usually come from the back or side on surface swimmers. When I miss a hook-up on a deap swimmer I stop the plug dead and usually they hit it again. I use both siwash and trebles with great success. May drop one fish a year on the retrieve.

Funny, there didn't seem to be a solid answer on this subject back in 2003 either. http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=9257&highlight=hook

It's one of the many puzzles that keep fishing interesting.

fish them down,move threw water faster.

All the darters I use come with two trebles. I hate trebles. I fish them the way they were designed anyhoo, rarely drop a fish.

Any plug that comes with three trebles and won't swim right with the back belly hook removed doesn't stay in the bag, but lives in my basement