cutting VMC's

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by JHABS

How many of you have seen when you are changing your hooks like a Mustad or cut V.M.C , When grabing the eye of the hook and opening it with your plyers with no effort it Breaks, I'd rather play it safe and stay with the closed eye

I've seen it happen more often than not with a Mustad open eyed hook. On plugs that are brand new out of the wraper---both Gibbs and Superstrike. It's been a problem for about 3-4 years now.

But, I never had it happen with one I put on myself, back when Mustad still made good hooks. And I rigged hundreds of plugs for Hawg Hunter Brad over the years. I put the hook on, took the crimping pliers, and gave it one firm squeeze, and where the end of the eye ended up, it stayed. I think some guys play with the eye too much to get it flush with the other side of the eye.

Now, on the changing the size of the hook deal by adding a split ring--take a 4/0 Mustad, a 4/0 Eagle Claw, and a 4/0 VMC and put them side by side. The shank length of the VMC is shorter by a good 3/4". When you add a ring to the swivel and put on a shorter shanked treble, you ain't really changing squat, length wise.