I was at a flea market this morning and I came across a table with fishing stuff and the guys had a bin full of packs of Mustad soft plastics hooks with welded keeper. I never used them before and I know they were like 5 bucks a pack and this guy had 4/0 size, exactly what I could use for 3 dollars a pack, so I bought 5 packs. Anyway, I come home and see TW has the 3/0 at clearance price for $1.88 but that is it so I don't feel too bad. I don't use Mustad  worm hooks, I use their trebles and jig hooks but no soft plastics so I'm curious to what you think about these. The hooks seem fine but since I haven't used an offset shank work hook with a keeper before, I need to ask if there are problems I should know about. Any information you guys can give me would be helpful, I'm guessing it holds the soft plastic pretty well but taking them off probably tears them up to the point they are no longer useable, but let me know what you like and don't like, thanks.

They work as good as any as far as hook penetration goes. I bought some for cheap as well last year. The keeper works good but not great. It's drawback, like you expected, is that is tears the heck out of the bait if it comes through it. Plastics doesn't last as long as say a skip gap type. Something i found with that grip pin keeper is after you catch a fish or however many it takes for the grip pin to tear through, that pin can basically be buried into the plastic which helps longevity.

i bought some of those on clearance myself a year or so ago. As far as fish catching abilities the hook is fine, Mustad updated the keeper on the new hooks which is a little better IMO. the main difference is the welded keeper will tear plastics a bit more, and if you fish an area with very fine hair-like vegetation the keeper will grab it every-once in a while, whereas the new keeper design is a bit more streamline and comes through better.

 

conclusion-still a great hook when you get it for a few dollars off, but i prefer the new model.