1 hour ago, JHoss said:

It would 100% wreck my confidence too

 I've never been plagued by this, fortunately.

Surface temps were dropping in the last couple of days.  Caught 1 on a Hybrid Hunter with circle hooks, rear hook in corner of mouth.  The best bite was on weighted sluggos and stick worms in 6 fow.

Surface temps went down to about 60 and have not warmed in the last week.  The best bite has been on stick worms in 6 fow and small squarebills.  So far, circle hooks are getting about a 30 % hookup, J hooks are about 70 %.  I'm gonna try a double J hook on the rear.  I have pretty much canned the circle hooks in favor of the J hooks.  I'll report how the double J hook thing works, good or bad.

I hate trebles; on my kayak I can’t be dealing with hooks flailing around. I avoid buying stuff with 3 sets. I replace the tail with an inline single. But you can leave on the front treble since most hookups are there and if you do hookup with the rear single you can control the lure still and release is easy. 

Yesterday caught a pile of dinks on sqarebills with double J hooks on the rear hanger.  Well hooked and easy unhook (mostly).  The bigger fish were sloppin' a pink Caffine Shad and a stick worm with a BB shot.

I put the crankbait down after about 25 10 inchers ate it.

Respect for the experiment and sharing the results.

A 4-10 on a topwater Rouge with double J hooks on the rear.  One hook in corner of mouth the other in tougue.  The best bite was on a sluggo.  Only caught this one on a hardbait.

I've switched a lot of my BFS and trout lures over to barbless singles.  Trebles beat up trout too much.  Thus far, barbless hooks seem to penetrate deeper and it more than makes up for the barb.  

@MontanaBasser 

11 hours ago, MontanaBasser said:

I've switched a lot of my BFS and trout lures over to barbless singles.  Trebles beat up trout too much.  Thus far, barbless hooks seem to penetrate deeper and it more than makes up for the barb.  

Are you missing any strikes due to the singles?  Are you losing hooked fish due to the barbless hook?

Thank you for your input!

2 hours ago, Lottabass said:

@MontanaBasser 

Are you missing any strikes due to the singles?  Are you losing hooked fish due to the barbless hook?

Thank you for your input!

 

It's too early to tell if I'm actually missing fish because of the hooks.  For me, this type of fishing is 10 minutes here and there at park ponds.  I'm often focused on the birds,the clouds, or simply not doing anything.  Plus, these ponds are filled with two types of fish - dumb young stockers and older fish that have seen everything under the sun.  I've had stockers swipe at it and miss, but it's not clear to me that they are actually trying to eat the lure or just curious. 

 

As far as losing hooked fish, it hasn't been a problem.  I've had 3 'good' sized fish on these hooks - too rainbow and a smaller LMB.  All three had deeper hook penetration than I've ever seen in a barbed hook.  All three hooks were buried to the bend - roof of the mouth, corner and corner hook placement. None of the fish jumped or thrashed much.  

 

To be clear, this is all finesse-ultra finesse.  4lb leader on 10lb braid.  Heaviest lure I'll throw is a 3/16's Thinfisher.  

 

 

18 hours ago, MontanaBasser said:

 

It's too early to tell if I'm actually missing fish because of the hooks.  For me, this type of fishing is 10 minutes here and there at park ponds.  I'm often focused on the birds,the clouds, or simply not doing anything.  Plus, these ponds are filled with two types of fish - dumb young stockers and older fish that have seen everything under the sun.  I've had stockers swipe at it and miss, but it's not clear to me that they are actually trying to eat the lure or just curious. 

 

As far as losing hooked fish, it hasn't been a problem.  I've had 3 'good' sized fish on these hooks - too rainbow and a smaller LMB.  All three had deeper hook penetration than I've ever seen in a barbed hook.  All three hooks were buried to the bend - roof of the mouth, corner and corner hook placement. None of the fish jumped or thrashed much.  

 

To be clear, this is all finesse-ultra finesse.  4lb leader on 10lb braid.  Heaviest lure I'll throw is a 3/16's Thinfisher.  

 

 

Excellent info!  Please provide future experience with these hooks.  Thank you for enjoying the total fishing experience!

The fishing is always good.  The catching...

Yesterday caught 3 on double J hook baits.  1 on a spinstick and 2 on a topwater rogue.  The spinstick was sideways in the mouth, all hooks penetrated.  The rogue fish were hooked on the rear hooks.  The best bite was on a frog and a wacky worm.  Surface temps in low 70's.

Catching some good ones on topwater Rogue with double J hooks on the rear hanger.  Most of the fish have come on a wacky rig the last few days.

Looks like some excellent work you're doing there! Thanks for keeping the reports coming.

Really nice fish! 

That's a smart workaround, especially given the circumstances. Glad to hear it's working so well so far — curious to see if it holds up with bigger fish later in the season.

2 hours ago, EchoHorizon23 said:

That's a smart workaround, especially given the circumstances. Glad to hear it's working so well so far — curious to see if it holds up with bigger fish later in the season.

Thank you!  Looking forward to summer when one reliable pattern is fishing large squarebills (2.5, 4.0, and 8.0) in brush and standing timber.  Will the double J hooks be less likely to hang up?  Will they hook fish as good as treble hook baits?  I intend to find out.

BTW, I fish these big squarebills on a short, stiff rod with a long handle and use 25# mono (to keep these baits from running too deep).  The water is dingy and thermocline is usually about 5 ft.

Last summer sqarebill bass!

21 hours ago, Lottabass said:

Thank you!  Looking forward to summer when one reliable pattern is fishing large squarebills (2.5, 4.0, and 8.0) in brush and standing timber.  Will the double J hooks be less likely to hang up?  Will they hook fish as good as treble hook baits?  I intend to find out.

BTW, I fish these big squarebills on a short, stiff rod with a long handle and use 25# mono (to keep these baits from running too deep).  The water is dingy and thermocline is usually about 5 ft.

Last summer sqarebill bass!

Sounds like a blast! That setup with the short, stiff rod and 25# mono makes total sense for keeping control around all that cover. I'm really curious how the double J hooks work out for you — would love to hear the results once you've tested them.

Also, that bass from last summer? Absolute unit. Gotta love squarebill season!

@EchoHorizon23  I will report results with the double J hooks, good or bad.  This setup allows me to make short pitches to specific targets like a limb coming off a standing tree or a horizontal log.  This bite is pure reaction due to deflection.  A cast that doesn't contact wood is a wasted cast.

Not sure why you need a double hook on the rear. I find a single hooks up just fine on the tail. Are you catching fish on the upside down hook? I worry about missing fish on the front more that the rear. Those front hits are often the big hits say a top water and its a bummer to have tgat and then miss the fish. That can happen with trebles too. 

@michaelb  As far as the double hook on the rear it is just something I'm trying.  I'm having about a 70% hookup on the rear hook with a single and I was gonna see if the double made any difference.  Most of the hookups have been on the rear hooks.  I've only used the doubles a limited amount of time but both hooks have been stuck.  The single hook on the front hanger is not getting much use for some reason, maybe because of the colder water.  Maybe this will change post spawn as the water gets warm.

Stunna with double J hooks on the rear caught a few but the best bite was a wacky worm.  Water temps have dropped due to cool, cloudy weather the last few days.  Had to put on longjohns again!

Maverik jerkbait with single J hook on the rear and front hanger caught 6 good ones yesterday.  Had 2 bites with no hookup.  All were on the rear hook in the corner of the mouth.  A stick worm with a BB shot provided a lot more bass.

Due to poor performance with the Gamakatsu Circle hooks on my hardbaits I am using those hooks for wacky rigs.  Use 6 inch stickbaits and Flik Shake worms and all bass have been hooked in the corner of mouth with this hook.  I've never had a problem hooking bass on a wacky rig but I wanted to find a use for those circle hooks I bought.