In-line hooks. Does anyone throw these?

[Capt. BassinLou]

I'm back at tinkering again. This time with In-line hooks.

Inline hooks are popular with the inshore and offshore anglers. They remove the treble hooks off their lures and replace them with specific inline hooks.

I took a page out of their playbook and will be experimenting with inline hooks with a few of my treble baits.

My main reason for doing this is for safety reasons. Our exotic fish are mean and aggressive, and they don't stop fighting even when they are lipped. If I can avoid another treble hook accident. I will try it!!

From what I researched, the inline hook gap must be more or less equal to the distance of 2 treble hook points.



I chose a 1/0 VMC inline hook to replace a #4 treble hook.


Let's see how this works out.

[topdsm0138]

I'm back at tinkering again. This time with In-line hooks.

Inline hooks are popular with the inshore and offshore anglers. They remove the treble hooks off their lures and replace them with specific inline hooks.

I took a page out of their playbook and will be experimenting with inline hooks with a few of my treble baits.

My main reason for doing this is for safety reasons. Our exotic fish are mean and aggressive, and they don't stop fighting even when they are lipped. If I can avoid another treble hook accident. I will try it!!

From what I researched, the inline hook gap must be more or less equal to the distance of 2 treble hook points.



I chose a 1/0 VMC inline hook to replace a #4 treble hook.


Let's see how this works out.

I've done this to a few jerkbaits and crankbaits. The only disadvantage I found was that sometimes the topwater bites don't hook up like trebles. BUT..There are a few advantages. First is being you are less likely to be imbedded by them when lipping. One stronger hook doesn't bend as easy as a smaller treble. It's easier to dislodge the hook for less damage & stress on the fish. It's harder for the fish to throw the single hook. Last but not least, when in grass & cover, you snag less due to fewer hooks poking out.

We switched our Snook lures to singles mainly because it's easier to not get hooked ourselves and quicker release during off-season. As you mentioned, our exotics fight just as hard as a Snook would, so it makes sense to give it a shot. Worst case, you don't like em, and can easily swap out for trebles of choice again.

Sent from undisclosed location. -Tiller Mafia

[Capt. BassinLou]

Cool! Thank you for sharing!

[ike8120]

I have changed most of my trebles to inlines.

[SHC286]

I have a few I've done like this, trebles don't care if they're sticking a fish or your fingers. Doesn't matter much for me lately though, the rare occasions I fish I even more rarely catch anything. The last fishing trip I took before this vacation I lost a whole stinking rod and reel.

[bigjim5589]

Lou, I've done it on various lures, but the majority are large lures I'll use for Stripers. I've noticed that the smaller the lure, the weight has to be carefully considered as you go with the heavier single hooks, or it can negatively affect the lure balance and action.

Yozuri was marketing some jerkbaits with them, and I no longer see them with inline single hooks. That may be folks reluctance to try them, and not that they're not a good choice. 

Your method of comparing the treble width to the single gap is as good as any IMO, at least it's a good starting point.  I've tried Owner, VMC, Mustad and Decoy inline singles and there are some differences, but each still works well enough.  Some of the hook brands are also making the inline hooks in various strengths,  just as is done with trebles, but for bass fishing I've stayed with the basic hooks, and only gone to 2X heavier with some of the inline hooks. I also mash down the barbs, which I've been doing on trebles too. That's a different topic for discussion.

I see from your photo, that you should have also changed the split rings, as they're deformed. When a split ring has a gap in them like that, the result of trying to install the larger wire diameter hooks and deforming them beyond them returning to shape, it decreases the strength. That's one reason I've not tried to go to heavier inline singles, and have had to play with the split rings some to find those that won't deform, and will also fit the hook hangers on lures. As I had mentioned, that's easier to do on larger lures, and again can cause some balance and action issues with smaller size lures since it changes the weight that's added. 

It will be interesting to see how that lure works for you with those inline single hooks and if those split rings survive. 

[Capt. BassinLou]

I have been itching to get out and fish with these inline hooks.

Had some time to kill, so I went out to one of my local bank fishing spots.

My concern for this lure  modification was the weight and balance. I wanted to test if the heavier hooks and thicker split rings would bog down this little spook.

I am happy to report that the mods did not affect the lures performance one bit. Unfortunately, however, not one fish decided to cooperate, so I could not test the hooks and observe how the lure handles a fish. That will change soon, I will keep you guys posted.

[Hobious]

i am gonna try this.  a big angry striper is tough to unhook with a treble.  and my last outing it was a bummer when a fish took a treble to an eyeball.  they just body slam the baits to stun it i think.

[Larry Francis]

I am curious how this turns out. Keep us informed. Thanks Lou.

[Esox obsessed]

I do on my topwater and have done mostly good with them even though i have never thrown a spook the only lure i have thrown for top water with no topwater experience before hand  better for the fish, easier to unhook, less tangles and safer for me imo 

[Capt. BassinLou]

Had the opportunity to fish the  inline hooks with the spook boyo extensively today.

Overall, I gotta say, I really like fishing with the inline hooks.

The first two bass I came across, I lost. They shook loose.  However, I made a hooksetting adjustment and  connected with several bass.

I was able to thread the needle sort of speak by casting into pockets of cover, where I couldn't throw into before with treble hooks.

Once I made my hook setting adjustments, I drove the hooks home, and the hooksets were solid.

[SenkoSam]

Bet they would do well with poppers and other topwaters.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Bet they would do well with poppers and other topwaters.

Yep, those lures are next on the list to try.

[Capt. BassinLou]

So far so good, fishing with the in-line hooks. I'm not going to lie, in a few situations, if I had on trebles, I would have landed a few bass that got away. But overall I'm happy with throwing in-line hooks. I went ahead ordered a lot more hooks and will be converting many of top water baits to this hook system.

[bigjim5589]

Lou, do you feel that the losses were the difference in the hooks, a single point compared to the 3, or, that you're still getting used to the inlines?

[Capt. BassinLou]

Lou, do you feel that the losses were the difference in the hooks, a single point compared to the 3, or, that you're still getting used to the inlines?

Jim, I think its a little of both. I believe in the few instances this has happened so far, it's because of the single point versus 3. I'm lying if I said my fingers weren't crossed in my mind when I go to set the hooks. However, my confidence is high that the fish will stay pinned once I feel the rod load.

[Capt. BassinLou]

I took it one step further, and I'm going to test the in- line hooks with my smaller jerkbaits as well.



In case anyone following is curious. That's a thunderstick 9 jerbait with size one owner in-line hooks. They are small.

Here's a reference point for you guys.

[Capt. BassinLou]

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's outing. This will be the first time I'm going to test  the in-line hooks, specifically peacock bass.

[D.W. Verts]

I think, and don't take this wrong (I admire ingenuity and your messing with new ideas), but I reckon that I'll risk the occasional OUCH & Owee-



over possibly missing bass. I know, I'm weird. But I need all the help I can get...

Dale

[Capt. BassinLou]

I think, and don't take this wrong (I admire ingenuity and your messing with new ideas), but I reckon that I'll risk the occasional OUCH & Owee-



over possibly missing bass. I know, I'm weird. But I need all the help I can get...

Dale

That picture is one of my main reasons I'm fishing with in-line hooks. Ouch!! I've been there, done that several times.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[Capt. BassinLou]

Changed out the treble hooks from one of Booyah Poppers for in-line hooks. And I have to say, the more I fish with these In-line hooks, the more I like them.

[chrisD46]

I think it is a great idea for conservation of fish as well as hands ! In some states where Salmon are present in the waters - no treble hooks are allowed . **Don't forget to beef up your split rings with in-line hooks !!

[bigjim5589]

**Don't forget to beef up your split rings with in-line hooks !!

Yes sir, I had mentioned this in my previous comment. There's often a big difference in wire diameter for the inline hooks compared to the trebles they're replacing, and that tends to deform the split rings.

I had forgotten that I had these photo's, and was looking through photo's the other day & spotted them. These are the Yozuri Sashimi Minnow lures that I had mentioned, that they were marketing with single hooks. However, these are a different style single hook.  I don't think that I've even used any of them, and if I have I may have switched them for trebles. 

[Bigbass201]

This is a very interesting subject.  Thanks. 

[chrisD46]

The below may be helpful as an addition to Capt. Lou's great post :

Single In-Line Hooks :
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Single_Replacement_Hook_X_Strong/descpage-OSRH.html
https://mustad-fishing.com/us/product/10121np?colorName=Duratin&hookSize=2&packQuantity=7

*Please Note: The VMC Single In-Line Hook is a fine option but size 1/0 is their smallest hook size.
 
Treble Hook Size   Single In-Line Hook Replacement Size
2              2/0
2-4              1/0
4                1
6                2
8                4
10                6

*Also here are some great split rings for using with single in line hooks :
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Hyper_Wire_Split_Rings_Black/descpage-OHWSB.html
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Hyper_Wire_Split_Rings_Stainless/descpage-OHWSR.html
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/SPRO_Power_Split_Ring/descpage-SPSR.html