Am I the only one that has trouble rigging soft plastic on the straight shank hooks? I’ll admit I don’t fish this type of hook enough due to my difficulty of getting the bait hooked correctly (straight). I’ve watched a few videos tonight and they make it look so damn easy.
Try a straight shank with a keeper on it.
In my opinion almost every manufacturer that makes a good straight shank hook and I mostly use either the owner jungle HD or the Gamakatsu super heavy Cover hook puts the hook keeper way too low on the shank. It is a pain in the butt but I remove the hook keeper and move it up the shank about an eight of an inch from the hook eye and put it in a fly vise and tie it on, I only put the plastic on just past the barb this will help to keep the bait straight. Hope this helps good luck.Originally Posted by Shuck Grass
https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/eagl...cf2b&gclsrc=ds
Pretty much the only straight shank I use and mainly in beaver type baits. No issues and do seem to get better hook ups at least with the beaver style baits.
3/32 and 3/16 inch heavy duty shrink tubing with adhesive interior lining may make it easier to rig by locking the bait to the hook. I use the 3/16 size for punching hooks, chatterbaits, and swimbaits. You can also add an Owner CPS centering pin to your hook, although not as clean since the hook eye is not buried in the bait. You don't really tex-pose with a straight shank that makes it hard to rig the worm straight because of the angle of the hook point to the hook eye. You rig it old school Texas with the hook point buried in the bait without poking the point out.
Last edited by smokewagon; 02-14-2024 at 02:12 PM.
2012 Stratos ChampioN 183 Elite
Mercury 175 ProXS
I have the same problem, I’m really ocd about getting my plastic straight and I can’t seem to get it right with straight shank hooks. Especially the ones with the large plastic keepers those are ridiculous. I just stick with ewg hooks, however I did find a decent hook with a good keeper, just quit using them because of the price.
The only straight shank hook that I use is the Hack Attack Flipping hook and I only use it when flipping/pitching with 50 pound braid. I tried using it on Beaver style baits, but had a hard time rigging them straight. So, I went back to the EWG for Beavers. One problem with the keeper on most straight shank hooks, particularly the hard plastic keepers, is that it will pick up grass it not rigged exactly right. I solved the problem by cutting off the hard plastic keeper and tying on an Aaron Martens style keeper on the inside of the hook. This way, the keeper won't catch grass. It looks exactly like the hook in post #6, above, but with the keeper on the other (inside) side of the shank.
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Hayabusa FPP straight shank hook is tough to beat. Excellent keeper too.
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Haya...page-FPPS.html
I always feel like my hookup ratio is crap with them and always end up switching back to an EWG after a few misses.
From the master
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