I'm sure most of you are familiar with the effectiveness of these baits for all species of fish.

 

 

The biggest problem with properly presenting blades with an on/off bottom retrieve, is that they have a tendency to hang up quite a bit. This can get costly, so I've been playing around with various hook options.

 

First I tried just one treble on the rear split ring. This worked as far as hook up ratio goes, but hooked on the bottom just as frequently as when using the two trebles. (BTW, I've tried lure retrievers and they bend the heck out of blade baits, so I gave up on them.)

 

Next I tried a single Siwash hook that is used for salmon and other trout species in Canada quite a bit.

 

 

This is a dramatic improvement over using treble hooks for this bait. You will still get hung on the bottom from time to time, but with much less frequency than any other option I've tried thus far. And they hook fish quite well - on par with however many lakers and/or salmon my fishing partner has taken. I also crimp down the barb on these hooks as lakers can be difficult to unhook, as you probably know.

 

Have not tried this set-up on smallies yet, but I'm confident that if the lake trout and salmon have no problem taking them, neither will the bass. Thought some of you might be interested in trying this out.

You're a brave man going with that single hook set up.  Don't know if I could commit to that one.

 

Be very interested in your results with the smallies though . . . .

 

A-Jay

Owner makes a single replacement hook for treble applications. It works pretty good. Shorter shank than those siwash hooks or spinner bait trailer hooks. Owner Single Replacement Hook X Strong.