i was thinking of switching my spoons over to single hooks to help prevent damage to the fish. is it worth it? for anyone who's done it, was there an increase in missed fish?
I switched some of my favorite spoons to Gamakatsu size 4-6 siwash hooks 2 years ago. I would say you lose some fish because its easier to spit a single hook and there's a higher probability you miss the initial hook set. On the other hand it seems the single hook spoons get a few more hits maybe because the action is a bit more erratic. As far as damage to the fish, it depends where they get hooked, good and bad results both ways. It's much easier(quicker) removing a single hook than 3 barbs in wedged in a 1st year salmons mouth but the bigger single hooks can take out an eye. I'd say single hooks are slightly less damaging to 1st year or small fish but you are going to lose some bigger fish which can tolerate a treble hook recovery. I still use both because I can't make up my mind.
i switch to the pinch on singles when the treble gets ruined, dont notice less fish being caught with the singles just keep pressure on the fish when reeling. big single hooks poke eyes out of the small salmon, use a size 6 on the db and a size 4 max on the top gun styles.
I've fished with both single and treble hooks. I've seen much more damage to smaller fish with single hooks in comparison to treble hooks. Yes, a treble hook may put three holes in a fishes mouth and take a slightly longer time to cautiously remove - BUT when using a single hook you are putting all the strain on one location of a fishes mouth. I've seen a lot more fish come to the boat with a big tear in their mouths from the single hooks than I've ever seen with trebles. While I've never happened to get a small fish hooked through the eye with a single hook, I have stayed with trebles due to the ungodly size of the holes/tears a single hook will make to a young, delicate fishes mouth.
I've spoken with several other guys from this board that made the switch to single hooks and are now in the process of switching back to trebles for this same reason.
I would say if you are really interested in a quicker release, just pinch the barbs on your treble hooks. But, as you saw the day we fished together, you don't even need to remove a fish from the water to delicately remove the treble hooks I had on my lures - and the barbs weren't pinched. That's the big plus in having a gunwale low enough to the water that you can de-hook a fish without even putting it in a rubber net.
I know everyone wants to do their best in protecting the fish and some may disagree with my findings, but I really think a single hook is worse on the smaller fish.
As far as hook-up to loss ratio... I don't notice a big difference with single hooks. As long as you keep pressure on the line, you're going to maintain a solid lock on the fish no matter what style of hook you use.
My 2 cents anyways...
thanks craig. i remember you telling me about that. i've been thinking about it and i think i'll just stick with trebles. maybe pinch the barbs down, i don't know. i may try that.
not sure if i'm gonna go sunday, supposed to be some showers... if i do go, you wanna come?
Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Worked out alright, as I ended up getting busy with other things Sunday anyways. Plus was a late night at a pig roast the night before. So, I wasn't up too early. Hahaha.
after watching the weather forecast, i decided to stay home and spend the day wrenching on the jeep. got a lot done... still have a lot more to do though. but i'll be going this weekend for sure, weather permitting.