[challenger]

I hit the spot pretty well today although my stubbornness with top water cost me. I got the first on on a tsunami shrimp with pro-cure shrimp under a popping cork. That was released because there was so much action I knew there would be bigger ones coming. Famous last words I know but I didn't have interest in a gamble just to have meat from a 18" fish (actually that's the eyeball ruler number). I had at least 10 drum roll on, boil at and swallow my various top water offerings but when I knew I had about an hour left and still no red drum on the stringer I pulled out all the stops. The second one I got on a Rapala rattle something that I bought at the 50% off bin at a local tackle shop. It is an irritating thing to fish but I suppose drum like the vibration. I "customised it" the with a feather I found in the wire grass. I've taken to getting these feathers when I see them and I jam them into the split ring. They hold the pro-cure very well and this thing barely touched the water and the 24" drum (real ruler) inhaled it. I was on pins and needles because I had three other drum on top water plugs today as well and they all got off after a decent fighting time. I can't figure it out. I never gave them slack, nothing broke, they just unate the hooks? Brand new crushed barb size 2 4X treble hooks too. I still say three hooks allows fish to "leverage" out of being hooked sometimes. One was pulling so hard I knew I had it then boom, Nothing. Still a lot of fun. This one I kept has taken my Penn battle 1000 to its limit I think. The reel sounds poorly after I landed the fish. Maybe I need a 2000-2500 for these puppies?

Pictures are in reverse order.
Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

 

[glsmith]

Sounds like you had a sweet day on the water. I by no means am I a salt water fisherman but I have noticed in a magazine for saltwater fishing they advertised a Rapala type bait that had a single hook instead of trebles. I thought it was really odd... Could you explain the "leverage" theory?

 

[challenger]

I'll get some hard data that supports my theory. If I can't come up with the pre Internet info I read back when ink and paper were used I'll call BS on myself. 😁

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

 

[drumchaser]

2000 is plenty reel for average channel bass. Nice going on those fine fish.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

They sell treble hooks with built-in swivels just because of the "leverage" factor of regular trebles. I've never tried them, but your theory is correct.

The mashed barbs aren't helping keep fish on the hooks.

 

[challenger]

Yea the crushed barbs will never "help" the hookup/catch ratio but the reduction in catches is a trade off I happily accept. Several days ago I buried a hook with the barb in my thumb and if the barb was crushed I could have just slid the hook out instead of taking almost an hour to cut the hooks off the plug and swatch the hook out of my thumb. IMO it is worth crushing the barbs just to make it easy to remove the hooks from the landing net. We all know it is such a time wasting hassle getting hooks out of a landing net. All in all I'm more than happy to lose some fish given the advantages of not having to deal with dehooking nets, fish and flesh.
Thanks

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

 

[drumchaser]

Yea the crushed barbs will never "help" the hookup/catch ratio but the reduction in catches is a trade off I happily accept. Several days ago I buried a hook with the barb in my thumb and if the barb was crushed I could have just slid the hook out instead of taking almost an hour to cut the hooks off the plug and swatch the hook out of my thumb. IMO it is worth crushing the barbs just to make it easy to remove the hooks from the landing net. We all know it is such a time wasting hassle getting hooks out of a landing net. All in all I'm more than happy to lose some fish given the advantages of not having to deal with dehooking nets, fish and flesh.
Thanks

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

I wish everyone had this mindset. Especially with the trout full of roe. This type of thinking will keep us fishing hopefully.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

Check out the Stowmaster nets. Their net material isn't the twisted nylon stuff and hooks won't get hung up in it. They'll get tangled, but it takes seconds to get them out instead of minutes like more traditional nets. It also folds up for storage. It's definitely pricey for a net, but I've been using mine for 4 years and if it was lost tomorrow I'd pay double to replace it if I had to. It's that good. It's kind of like an autopilot trolling motor in that it is expensive, but it lets me spend more time fishing and less time messing around so it's totally worth it.

But yeah, if I'm trying to pick through a school of small trout to find 4 keepers or if I'm in a bunch of overslot reds or anything where I know I'll have to release a lot of fish, I'll mash the barbs too.

 

[OptiMystic]

The mashed barbs aren't helping keep fish on the hooks.

I think this is particularly true with trebles. As challenger pointed out the design is such that they can't ever rotate past the bend, but a bigger factor is that they tend to be on heavier lures and a head shake has a lot of effect. When I fly fished gold medal water out west where a single barbless hook was required, it really didn't seem to make that much difference. The lip of the fish was pinched between the body of the nymph and the point, the fishes mouth was often closed and shaking usually didn't dislodge it as it weighed so little. Shaking a crank bait is a completely different story.

I am not saying you shouldn't go barbless, just that it makes a much bigger difference with bigger lures.