About to start tossing around the deps 250 for the first time. Best terminal tackle?

[Morph808]

2 hours ago, AnthonyCatlow said:

You’re right I’m definitely off with a #2 lol but I do agree with the whole smaller hook theory!

Compromise gentlemen - size #1s for replacement.

[BrettRay81]

Ryugi Piece double hooks. Tacklewarehouse has them in all different sizes. Pretty much does away with a big portion of hook rash and they are every bit as good if not better with keeping fish pinned. 

[M.Krys860]

Gamma round bend bronze

[maiti]

Far from an expert on Deps 250's, but they have shown me a ton of nice fish/ followers over the years that I (sometimes) caught on other baits. Anyway, here's a tip that hasn't been mentioned.

OG 250's come in 3 weight classes, 6.2 oz, 6.5 oz and 7 oz. The 6.2 oz will stay near the surface with 1/0 ST 36's (that's the hook I like) without trying hard at all. The 6.5 oz is about an ROF 5. You can fish both from the shore just fine (I do a lot) if you're careful about where the bait is in the water column and know potential snags etc. Got to know your water well.

I have no idea about the sink rate of the new 250s. Never had one.

[Morgan Y]

Having fished a 250 for a while and consulting with Butch I can say that as far as landing fish and hooking them the 2/0 up front 1/0 in the back Gamakatsu round bend bronze deal works quite well. Now a caveat to this is that on occasion when you’re dead sticking a deps, after a glide, the hooks dangle down and without question can turn a fish off of your bait even if they are minimally reflective. The theory behind smaller hooks seems to apply more to this scenario because they are much less obtrusive when hanging. Now also something that shouldn’t be forgotten is the type of hook you use, a thin wire, matte finish hook like bronze or the recently introduced teflon nano coated hooks, will be far less visible in the water, and also will tuck up under the bait much more quickly than a normal 2x or 3x hook would. I’ve watched first hand the difference between a 2/0 stx-58 on a deps and a 2/0 gammy bronze with a fish’s interest and the difference was huge, in multiple scenarios the fish would avoid the 58s but would hit the bronzes without as much attention to the hooks. Downsizing would make the likelihood of a bite even higher. The only issue with downsizing is hooking up because there will always be fish that nip and a bigger hook has a lot more surface area to grab with than a smaller one. (When they inhale it it makes no difference what hook you use for the most part)

[Michael Ray Looney]

Ha.....I put #8 gold amberdeen pan fish hooks on mine.  Sometimes you just have to down size......

[Morgan Y]

Oh another thing I thought of is that even though you said you wanted to keep the bait up in the column, it seems like 250s often do a lot of their damage in slightly deeper water which is one of their big advantages over most modern glides, also the slow sinking action seems to often land on fish’s heads that are underneath the bait which at least in trout fisheries is often how they eat in dang near every experience I’ve had. On top of that, when you run a heavier bait you will get it to glide a lot further. After having my baits tuned and using 22 lb tatsu with 18 or so lb diameter at that strength I can get my 250s to glide probably close to 6-7 feet at the end of a super long cast. (Truth be told it could be even more on my heavier ones) 

[urbanhick]

Best to find a hook combo to tune the bait how you want it to sink. Round bend 2/0 gammies are  lighter than the stock hooks which will obviously effect the sink rate,.

[Morgan Y]

8 hours ago, urbanhick said:

Best to find a hook combo to tune the bait how you want it to sink. Round bend 2/0 gammies are  lighter than the stock hooks which will obviously effect the sink rate,.

Throw some lead in the weight chambers to account for the change. Front or back chamber depends on if it’s nosing up or not.