Dressed vs. bare tail hook

[ivanputski]

I came across a bunch of white, yellow and black feathers, and started dressing the tail hook on my plugs... I also put a black feather on a needle fish... My thoughts would be that it always helps, but if that were the case, why do so many plugs come with a bare tail hook? I always second guess myself, assuming the person who designed it set it up to perform at its optimum... I also tried taking the back half of a 9" black sluggo and threaded it onto the tail hook of a black metal lip swimmer... what are your thoughts? Its just funny that seaweed on your hook = no hookup... black feather= enticing action... When to dress and when not to dress?