01-26-2003, 07:05 PM
[cool] I switch the standard trebles with single hooks on a lot of my jigging spoons. On some of them, I tie "bait bug" type fly/jig bodies on the single hooks, for extra color and attraction. The single hooks do make it easier to fish a strip of fish meat and keep the lure balanced.
There are two good reasons for "going single". One is that you get fewer snags. Two is that a good single hook holds better...especially in larger fish. I have never noticed a sacrifice in hookup percentages with a single hook, but I have noticed that fewer fish are lost on the way in than with trebles with smaller hook gaps.
I have actually experimented with my homemade blade baits for a couple of years. I have taken a few walleyes, largemouth, smallmouth, white bass, yellow bass and even some hefty channel cats on them. Only in rare cases did the fish hit the blade bait any better than my standard prism tape spoons. I have been in a couple of schools of big white bass and yellow bass that were eating anything that got close enough to pounce on. Not a good test. I kept the blade baits on only because I didn't want to re-tie.
They do produce a sexy flutter when jigged vertically. However, they are more prone to having the hooks swing up and tangle on the line...even when using single hooks.
When trolled or retrieved at fast speed, they have a tight wobble and put out good vibrations. I have yet to try them on stripers or wipers, but the big white bass really jump on them when you let them sink down and then burn them up through the level at which the fish are stratifying.
I now have both nickle and brass blades for my molds, and I plan to play around with them some more this year. I'll be experimenting with some of my new glitter paint colors, as well as the prism tape. I'll post some pics when I get the new models put together. Might need a couple of official field testers for Willard fishies.
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There are two good reasons for "going single". One is that you get fewer snags. Two is that a good single hook holds better...especially in larger fish. I have never noticed a sacrifice in hookup percentages with a single hook, but I have noticed that fewer fish are lost on the way in than with trebles with smaller hook gaps.
I have actually experimented with my homemade blade baits for a couple of years. I have taken a few walleyes, largemouth, smallmouth, white bass, yellow bass and even some hefty channel cats on them. Only in rare cases did the fish hit the blade bait any better than my standard prism tape spoons. I have been in a couple of schools of big white bass and yellow bass that were eating anything that got close enough to pounce on. Not a good test. I kept the blade baits on only because I didn't want to re-tie.
They do produce a sexy flutter when jigged vertically. However, they are more prone to having the hooks swing up and tangle on the line...even when using single hooks.
When trolled or retrieved at fast speed, they have a tight wobble and put out good vibrations. I have yet to try them on stripers or wipers, but the big white bass really jump on them when you let them sink down and then burn them up through the level at which the fish are stratifying.
I now have both nickle and brass blades for my molds, and I plan to play around with them some more this year. I'll be experimenting with some of my new glitter paint colors, as well as the prism tape. I'll post some pics when I get the new models put together. Might need a couple of official field testers for Willard fishies.
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