Gary and Mac had an action packed morning catching stripers on topwater. The wind was such that we couldn’t get out on the big water, so we opted to stay up in the river where we could find some protection. Check out the pictures below of the new hooks we are using on our topwater baits. I have removed the treble hooks from most all of my topwater baits and replaced them with the VMC In-Line Single Hooks. As you can see in the first and second photos, the hookup ratio is just fine. These hooks are specifically designed to replace treble hooks on hard baits. The eye is in-line with the bight of the hook instead of perpendicular, as with most other hooks. This prevents you from having to double up the split rings in order to get the correct hook angle and exposure under the bait. The eye is also larger, which allows it to swing freely from the split ring. I use the 2/0 size for my Zara Super Spook Jr’s and Rapala Skitterwalk Size 9’s. You can up the size to a 3/0 for the Super Spooks and Size 11 skitterwalks or for any other larger sized topwater bait. They also make them up to a size 7/0 4x strong for larger lures. We are using some of the 6/0’s and 7/0’s for the giant red drum topwater baits. The hookup ratio is nearly the same as using treble hooks. I’ve found it to be about 90-95% as effective as trebles, which is good enough for me, considering the J hooks are far less invasive on the fish, especially for the stripers during the summer where they are already a bit stressed from the hot water temps. In addition, on big number days where we are catching 100+ fish, it’s far easier and quicker to unhook your fish, getting the fish back in the water faster with less damage to their head and mouth area and also getting your bait back in the water faster to take advantage of a hot bite.
Next open dates: Sept. 26 Oct. 2, 4, 20, 24, 27, 30, 31 Nov. 1-2
