My question is this; will a trailer hook throw off the bait at all? I went out last night and managed to hook three, however I missed probably another four. I was thinking about a trailer hook, but wanted to ask all of you with a little more experience to see if there was anything else I could do before that. I did slow down my retrieve and still managed to miss them.

Thanks in advance for any advice given.

Trailer hooks are like American Express - don't leave home without 'em. Trailer hooks on buzz baits can help with your hook-ups but they don't guarantee a catch everytime. If you get a good strike that doesn't hook up, have a throw back lure (Senko, Ring-Fry, etc.) to give 'em another chance.

Not at all, in fact you'll find that most folks here would encourage it.

I noticed that you mention slowing down on those short strikers, I actually go the other way and speed up. IMHO, you had the right lure - color, flash etc - but the fish aborted the mission of blasting your buzzbait for what ever reason. Speed up, and that buzzbait gets blasted, the fish will not have enough time to "think" about your bait and will just react to striking.

My question is this; will a trailer hook throw off the bait at all?

No.

Most of my buzzbait fish have the main hook in their mouth, but there are just enough that are landed on the trailer hook only that I use them all the time because without them I'd lack the confidence.

Thanks all for replies. I'm going with a trailer next time out and will def try speeding up my retrieve as well