Hook selection

[Flippin4Biggins]

Hey guys… so after a full day of fishing on the S waver 168 and antidote I’ve truly realized stick hardware blows!!!  Is there a page or site that has a lot of common hook replacements or like when do you choose say a st36 over a 56??  I was thinking the st36 would be best for light medium sized baits and and smaller and a 56 for heavier medium to larger baits.  Any help would be appreciated.  I’ve been finding all kinds of answers and the hook list on here that I found doesn’t have anything o have or want to buy.   The yanks in advance

 

[GavinDH]

I run st-36s on everything with one exception. I prefer smaller hooks on my baits; smaller in size and wire. St-36s are plenty strong and have a thinner wire. I mainly run size 2s and 1s. The only exception is for glide baits. I’m not sure how much hook size will affect an s-waver, but on the custom baits, hooks and split rings make a huge impact. Depending on water temp and how boyant the glide is, I’ll run gamakatsu round bends (size 1 and 1/0), owner st-36 (size 1), and st-41s (size 1). In order from lightest to heaviest they are: gamakatsu size 1, st-36 size 1, gamakatsu size 1/0, and st-41 size 1. I may in the future go even heavier, but at this moment those cover all my water temps! Hope this helps! Have a great rest of your weekend!

[SumoNinja]

For smaller baits, 56 for me only. 41 and 36 bend too easy in my experience. After I lost a big one I went to 56 and never looked back.

Haven't had a 56 bend yet and I flip everything 6 to 7 lbs and under. Just my 2 cents 

[chevro1et]

A lot of hook selection is trial and error, and personal preference. I've switched to STX-45ZN for all my hard baits. The Mustad Triple Grips or Gamakatsu Bronze round bends are also popular choices. If you're looking for something extremely stout, the ST-56 or some of the BKKs are well regarded. 

[Flippin4Biggins]

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.  Most of the info I have is random stuff people say or the tactical bassin guys.  And as much as I love those guys I’m always skeptical and like hearing the everyday fisherman like myself a opinion.

[DEPS_250]

Does anyone happen to have any experiences or reviews for the VMC 1x Hybrid treble hooks? How do they compare to an Owner ST-36? Are they considered inferior and lower quality? Are these at least a little better and higher strength/quality from the stock hooks that you find on mass produced baits other than the ones on higher quality/higher priced Japanese baits?

I usually swap out stock hooks to Owner ST-36. But I can't seem to find Owner ST-36's in stock at my local tackle shops or online right now. I had to resort to getting some VMC 1x hybrid trebles since that was the only hooks I could find in store that looked decent and comparable to the Owner ST-36. Even though the hooks look decent, they are really CHEAP! 3 bucks for 4 hooks. Therefore, I was kind of skeptical since they are half the price of Owner ST-36s. You know what they say, you get what you payed for, therefore I feel like these may just be a waste of time and money since they are priced so low. Even though they are cheap, I did do a somewhat hard pull/hookset test on them and they seemed fine. The hooks feel fairly sharp, sharp enough to stick fish no doubt but I can tell that they are not at sharp as the Owners. I guess I will see how they hold up against fish and how they compare to the Owner's since this is all I have to work with. 

[bassbass]

21 hours ago, SumoNinja said:

For smaller baits, 56 for me only. 41 and 36 bend too easy in my experience. After I lost a big one I went to 56 and never looked back.

Haven't had a 56 bend yet and I flip everything 6 to 7 lbs and under. Just my 2 cents 

This. I have bent out many 36's and a couple 41's, may be going to the 56's.

I did unlock my drags and set them to about a 9lb pull seems to be working better.

[SumoNinja]

2 hours ago, bassbass said:

This. I have bent out many 36's and a couple 41's, may be going to the 56's.

I did unlock my drags and set them to about a 9lb pull seems to be working better.

I found that a 2 or 3 lber can bend the 41s even if I land the fish. And it didn't happen often, but i have lost smaller fish due to hooks bending. But once i lost that big one it hurt a lot more and i decided then that i wasnt gonna gamble anymore. If you've never used 56, it does have a very small affect on certain baits from the hook's weight since they are thicker. Some baits that are kind of a heavy float may sink super super slow, or they'll float because of surface tension, but once u twitch the bait and break the surface tension it'll go under and almost suspend in place or sink really really slow. 

[B_larkin3]

11 hours ago, chevro1et said:

A lot of hook selection is trial and error, and personal preference. I've switched to STX-45ZN for all my hard baits. The Mustad Triple Grips or Gamakatsu Bronze round bends are also popular choices. If you're looking for something extremely stout, the ST-56 or some of the BKKs are well regarded. 

Those STX-45ZN are really great hooks, love them on my DRT baits in size 1 and 2. Should work fine on the baits mentioned

[bassbass]

51 minutes ago, SumoNinja said:

I found that a 2 or 3 lber can bend the 41s even if I land the fish. And it didn't happen often, but i have lost smaller fish due to hooks bending. But once i lost that big one it hurt a lot more and i decided then that i wasnt gonna gamble anymore. If you've never used 56, it does have a very small affect on certain baits from the hook's weight since they are thicker. Some baits that are kind of a heavy float may sink super super slow, or they'll float because of surface tension, but once u twitch the bait and break the surface tension it'll go under and almost suspend in place or sink really really slow. 

I agree on the 41's was thinking it was me. They are thick and had to cut or bend with pliers. 

Even the ER Dr had a hard time getting the 41 out my finger....

Will the 56's thanks man.

[Flippin4Biggins]

I’ve been using the st-36 and do enjoy them before I even started this post.  I used them because of tactical bassin.  This spring I have used them exclusively on all squarebills and and medium diving and I’d say 90% of all fish I’ve felt swim through my bait and swiped it  have come back to me stuck in the face somehow.  I did get my first true hard swimbait bite on the antidote running a #2 in the front and a #1 in the rear and it was pinned not going anywhere.  I’ve been out quite a bit and like the results so far

[chevro1et]

11 hours ago, Flippin4Biggins said:

I did get my first true hard swimbait bite on the antidote running a #2 in the front and a #1 in the rear 

Typical size offset configuration is the larger hook in the front and smaller in the rear. I'm curious how you decided to set yours up that way. 

[stkbass]

Another alternative to st36s are the Ryugi Pierce. They are coated and super sharp. 

[Flippin4Biggins]

16 hours ago, chevro1et said:

Typical size offset configuration is the larger hook in the front and smaller in the rear. I'm curious how you decided to set yours up that way. 

I didn’t It’s a typo lol

[bdpettit]

36's on all glides for me. Wakes and cranks get 56's. Prefer 41's on my punkers. Can't explain the logic, but NEVER had a fish pull off a punker with them.

It's funny, some will say 41's will bend. I've never bent one, but broke a few.

Have the 45ZN's on some bigger baits that I want a smaller hook on. Seem pretty solid, but limited use so far