Swim bait hooks Swim baits are hot and anglers are seeking the perfect hook.
April 17, 2008
Swim bait hooks Swim-baits are hot and anglers are seeking the perfect hook.
Swim-baits present the same challenges that jerk-bait anglers battled for years;
1. The bait slides down the hook and 2. The front of the lure prevents solid hook-ups.
The perfect hooks are the CopperHead™ and its weighted cousin, the ButtDragger™.
It’s the same hook that better anglers have been using for Toads and Jerk-baits for some time now.
Why do CopperHeads and ButtDraggers, hook more fish than “X-Wide-Gap” hooks?
To really understand this, we must first learn what fish do when they eat; first, the fish turns (competition) and the second thing they do is crush the bait as they dart away. (BIG fish don’t turn, since they needn’t worry about the smaller fish taking a meal away.)
Four things will determine the angle that the hook will travel; the crushing action by the fish, (Compression) the hook shape, the shape of the lure and the direction of the hook-set.
Figure 1 Swim-baits rigged with a FATGap and CopperHead hooks.
In the first photo; the top lure is rigged with the hook-point, “Tex-posed” and the other lure is rigged with the CopperHead.
The second photo illustrates the lures after compression by the fish. Note how the X-Wide-Gap style hook points back towards the plastic while the CopperHead hook point is clearly exposed to hook flesh.
Figure 2 Swimbaits after fish crush the lures.
It’s easy to see the advantage of the bend in the front of the hook instead of the back. The HitchHiker® coil firmly holds the plastic while it increases lure life. Both the CopperHead and ButtDragger hooks allow the angler to pre-rig Swimbaits, before the fishing trip begins.
Figure 3 Swimbait rigged with ButtDragger hook.
