Lure trouble

[john step]

I have started catching on light lures recently. I have a rubber mesh net which is fine for avoiding too many snarl ups but today I found the treble hooks on a Rapala lure a right s*d to extract from a couple of small pike without harming them.

Has any one experience of using barbless hooks on these or even singles.

It is one of those floating jobbies that sink upon retrieve. I always used to call them plugs.

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

Try crushing the barb down, John, with a pair of needle nose pliers. Try to just catch the barb bit that's exposed. If I remember, the hooks on Rapalas are quite malleable unlike others where the hooks are brittle and the barb will simply break off.
With a malleable one, the barb should bend back in towards the hook and with others, if it breaks off it's almost just as good. You not only end up with a hook that can be more easily extracted, but also one that won't move around too much in the hookhold.
Hope this helps.

 

[Another Dave]

I swap the trebles for barbless singles on my tiny plugs but i'm mainly getting chub.

 

[Finzky]

I`m using hobby drill to file off all barbs, also I`m changing treble hooks to single ones or at least one "back one" and leaving only one treble on double treble lures. It`s very important to change trebles to singles on larger spinners (mepps etc), because pike sees spinner smaller in the water than spinner is and usually swallows it very deep, by the time you will strike treble hook will catch (poke in) pikes deeper part of the throat top and bottom - what you will do then? It`s all about leaving fish alive.


I`m using simple net and don`t really have problems with lure hook tangling in it.

 

[Philip]

I dont know ifs its the case for you John but I think part of the problem is there are often 2 trebles..and trying to extract one without the other hooking up to something can cause problems.

Take one off an fish with just 1 treble may help although I have seen some people say it can unbalance a lure (I suppose you could put on a hook free compenating weight if that was a real issue) ..or like Another Dave mentioned just use single hooks.

Barbless will help with unhooking for sure.

 

[john step]

Thanks for the replies. I will take on board and experiment.

I have to say thanks again for help in this new venture after a lifetime of fishing. Variety is the spice of life after all.
I am grateful for help from Another Dave, Kevin Perkins and S63.

 

[Another Dave]

agm do the 'barbless spinner hooks', don't bother with the smaller ones, 2's and 4's work best.

 

[steve2]

It`s very important to change trebles to singles on larger spinners (mepps etc), because pike sees spinner smaller in the water than spinner is and usually swallows it very deep, by the time you will strike treble hook will catch (poke in) pikes deeper part of the throat top and bottom - what you will do then? It`s all about leaving fish alive.

Having lure fished for years I have never changed the size of hooks or changed over to singles and had very few problem of pike swallowing lures. I have had problems with perch on soft rubber single hook lures.
I have in some cases increased the size of the hook, and unless the rules state otherwise do not fish them barbless.

 

[Finzky]

Having lure fished for years I have never changed the size of hooks or changed over to singles and had very few problem of pike swallowing lures. I have had problems with perch on soft rubber single hook lures.
I have in some cases increased the size of the hook, and unless the rules state otherwise do not fish them barbless.

Lucky you...

When Chuck Wood invented the Beetle Spin in 1963-1964 it was called a BAIT and not LURE. I assume you fished on lures for years but not spinners (baits)... What I said is that Pike sees spinners smaller than they are and that can cause all mentioned above... just to make it clear ;-)

I do apologise if it made some confusion here, but it`s definately good to mention. + On my personal lures with changed single hooks I did manage to hook up few pikes the same as with trebles... so it`s working no doubt.

Thanks

 

[steve2]

I assume you fished on lures for years but not spinners (baits)... What I said is that Pike sees spinners smaller than they are and that can cause all mentioned above... just to make it clear ;-)

I have in fact fished every type of lure, plugs of all shapes and sizes, spinners, spoons,flies, spinnerbait I normal fish these with a stinger hook attached. What ever the lure is it will most probably been on my rod at sometime. On top of that wobbled deadbaits which are really just another form of lure.