Single Hooks on Darters & Bombers

[JoeP]

Does anyone use single hooks as rear hooks on darters (the 5" Yo-Zuri Mag Darters in particular) or Bomber-type lures?

If so has it affected the hook-ups or action?

I use them on needles and some topwater lures but just have never tried them on these.

[CANAL RAT]

tail hooks make it easy to remove hooks from blues i replace all my plugs rear hooks with singles

[Christian]

ok, what you want to do is buy a bunch of the VMC siwash hooks in different sizes. the trick is finding the siwash that has the same weight as the treble the plug comes with.

i will have 2 of the same lure sitting side by side in a bucket. 1 with the origonal trebles on it (we will call this plug A), the other with the back treble off (plug B). you will notice plug B will float alot different. you want to try out the different size siwashs on plug B until you find the size that makes it float just like plug A, the origonal.

i like putting siwash on my smaller bombers and baby mambos. alot easier to unhook fish, and i think it holds better than a little treble.

[CANAL RAT]

gamakatsu singles are good too

[PurpelNoon]

I replaced quite of few trebles on the rear of my plugs this year. It was a blessing when it was time for hook removal, but I did miss more bites it seemed.

For a plug that moves in a rather stragith fashion, like a needle or popper, it would seem to me that there would be less of an issue, but with a swimmer or darter that has lots of movement, do you think it increases the chance of a fish missing it?

I figure this would be less of a problem with bass since they are more prone to hitting the middle treble anyway.

[*LB]

Another option is to crush the barbs on the rear treble - it won't effect the swimming action and hook removal is a lot easier. If I'm targeting large bass I keep all the trebles and barbs as is . . . I get too paranoid about losing a big one. If there are a lot of bluefish around I'll usually crush the rear barbs or fish with a single tail hook. I hadn't thought about the weight of the single hook as being a factor . . . that's a good point!

[libassboy]

Try the Gami singles, they are great!

[TunaCell]

Canal Rat, what size Gamakatsus do you use, and what is the name they sell the hook under?

[CANAL RAT]

i use the 3/0 and 4/0
http://www.gamakatsu.com/catalog/siwash.htm

[JoeP]

I release everything I catch, so the problem I'm trying to avoid is the rear treble hook hooking into the outside gill plate or into the flesh of the lower outside throat area of the bass that almost always hit the middle of the lure first. This happens especially often with 5" Mag Darters, which I've been using more and more the past couple of years. I guess this could also happen with single hooks.

I like the idea of crushing down the treble barbs so at least the hooks will come out easy.

Thanks for the input.

By the way Canal Rat I used those Gami's on needles and found them to rust much faster than VMC's. Did you have the same results?

Joe