I’m asked a lot about how to pick the right style of treble hook. The answer is pretty easy, really.
There are three basic styles of treble hooks. There’s the traditional round bend where the hook point is away from the shaft. That’s the first one. Then, there’s the extra wide gap (EWG) style where the hook point is bent back towards the shaft. That’s the second one. And finally, there’s a hybrid design. I use all three depending upon what’s happening with the fish, and regardless of what type of lure I’m using.
The round bend is at its best when the fish are not very active or when the water’s cold — below the lower 50 degree mark. A round bend has a wide gap between the point and the shaft of the hook. That’ll hook a lot more fish when their bite is tentative or when they’re slapping at it.
At the other end is when the fish are really eating your bait and the water is maybe 75 degrees or better. The EWG is the way to go here. A hook point that’s bent in towards the shaft will still give you a good hookset and it’ll hold like glue when there’s heavy cover around and the bass are fighting like crazy.
For those in between situations—that’ll be most of the year and most of the time you’re fishing—go with the hybrid design. It’ll give you the benefit of most of the good features of both designs and do you a good job
overall.
If you’re on a tight budget or can only get one style, make sure it’s the hybrid one. It’ll never be a bad choice no matter what conditions you’re facing.
As for brand, there’s no way you’ll ever go wrong with a VMC hook. They’re all I use. They make a ton of different sizes, shaft lengths and strengths in all three designs, with different wire sizes to boot. Check them out. You won’t be sorry.
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Click here Mike talk about VMC treble hooks.
Click here Mike talk about a range of hooks
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