Treble hooks for livelining

[Saltheart]

What do people think about using treble hooks for livelining?

When we used to snag bunker and let them run , we used treble hooks. they are extremely effective in terms of hook up to strike ratio. When we liveline herring though which we catch , put in a tank then rehook and liveline , we use single point live bait hooks. The hook up ratio goes way down . I use the live bait hooks since i think they result in less injury to the fish which we mostly throw back. A lot of meat fisherman (commercial pinhookers) use treble hooks. They are far more effective in my opinion.

I'm curious as to what most guys use and why. Do you use the same for herring as you do for bunker?

[jettyjockey18]

i've used eagle claw L774 4x bronze trebles (size 2) for 10 years...hook the herring in the snout and it sticks em every time...plus the bronze rots out much faster if you occasionally hook a fish deep, which only happens if you count to ten before setting the hook...

i used to use size 4 for herring and size 2 for bunker, but i've basically switched over to size 2 for both...course its been 6 years since i last livelined a bunker...

[JohnR]

I'm mixed - I usually use a single but for a Tourney I would want the Trebble... A quicker set willreduce chances of gut hook and keep more fish...

On a side note - some of the proposals on Ammendment 6 were for the elimination of trebble hooks, requirement of circles. This makes sense in some instances but not in others but how would you regulate it? Sure, circles would be prefered fer tossin' clams but they suck on a live Mack. And how would you favorite wooden swimmers swim without a front trebble? While I would hope that plugs will be exempt - one never knows.

[Got Stripers]

When I'm live-lining it's usually dragging behind the boat, while I work plastic up front, so I want that fish to basically hook itself. That calls for a treble stinger in the tail, which is rigged off one the treble hooks I run through the baits nostriles. Size 2 is more than enough, sometimes I rig with stainless wire (if blues are about) or flurocarbon if it's just bass or they are leader shy.