Trebles

[five bellies]

I have caught some Big toothy fish from the sea useing Chemicaly sharpend modern micro barbed hooks, on both dead baits and live so why is it genraly when I and most other anglers, fish for Pike we go straight to the trebles. when I would have thought a pennel type set up would land as many fish with less fuss unhooking? easier on the fish and the Angler I would have thought! even useing pirks over wrecks I now use singles.

Now is out of habit we reach for trebles or is there a reason For instance a better hold limits tearing the fishes mouth, if this was the case why did useing a treble in a par boiled potato go out of fasion For carp ? a practice that is better off in the past I Hasten to add. I catch loads of Pike on the fly rarely missing a pull on singles,

 

Im not being jugemental, I have posted this as a piont for discusion hopeing that I learn somthing.

So please dont think I am having a dig at pike Anglers

Edited July 17, 2007 by five bellies

[Dick Dastardly]

Heres my veiws on it Fivebellies-

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.p...hl=Treble+hooks

[ColinW]

There is no problem getting a treble out of a massive mouth like a pike has. The only time I have problems is when a particularly ambitious school bass gets a plug intended for its grandmother into its mouth.

[Steve Burke]

I can't comment on sea fishing with trebles as, apart from lure fishing, I've not done any. However this is what I posted when the subject last came up on the Coarse Fishing Forum:

 

"My choice depends on the circumstances, including the species of fish I'm after.

 

For perch I never use trebles when bait fishing. This is partly because the throat of the perch could be stitched up with a treble. With pike it's relatively easy to extract the hooks in this situation. However with perch it's difficult to do so without damaging the fish.

 

Perch have vital organs near the surface of the throat and so a hook penetrating here can be fatal. For this reason my choice is as small a single I can get away with. Wide gape hooks are useful here as for a given size they can't penetrate so much. And of course the hook must be barbed, although with as tiny a barb as possible, so it stays in one place.

 

Apart from jigs, most of the pike and perch lures I use have trebles as it's rare for lures to be taken down deep. I've tried barbless hooks on lures but have had too many pike come adrift, especially if they tailwalk.

 

For bait-fishing for pike I prefer trebles, both from the safety point of view and for efficient hooking. I agree with Budgie that there's less risk of damage with small trebles than with large singles. The problem isn't so acute as with perch, simply because the baits we use for pike are smaller in relation to the size of the quarry. Nevertheless there's more risk with the larger size of hook you need for efficient hooking when fishing singles.

 

Having said that, I have been experimenting when piking with the circle hooks that Newt and Ian Cresswell kindly sent me. I've used these to lip hook smaller baits. Unfortunately on the days I've tried them the blasted pike have taken the bigger baits equipped with trebles! However I'll be continuing with the trial.

 

Talking of trials, like many long-time pikers (in my case over 30 years now), I've tried a huge number of different types and patterns of hooks (single, double and treble) plus umpteen hooking set-ups. I have a natural inclination to experiment for myself rather than take as gospel what others have advocated. I've therefore dreamed up armchair theories and then put them to the test in the field by comparing results with the new idea on one rod whilst using another rod as a control. After all these trials I've come to the conclusion that on standard-sized pike baits a twin treble rig is overall the most efficient. Most of my friends have also come to the same conclusion. Quite apart from hooking efficiency a twin treble rig also allows quick-striking and so I agree is safer for the pike. I'd that for speed of unhooking I prefer semi-barbless trebles in this situation.

 

All of the above is of course just my point of view. Although it's based on many years of experience it doesn't make it any more valid than anyone else's. As with many things in angling, there's probably no "right" answer.

 

Boards like this enable the finer points to be discussed and ideas exchanged far more quickly than in pre-internet days. Certainly I've learned from this Forum and this is an example where a topic has made me think and rationalise my ideas. So thanks, fellas! "

[Neil G]

Interesting thread

 

I often asked myself the question about why we pike anglers always go for trebles.

 

Maybe it's just tradition but I haven't had too much luck using singles and hair rigging chunks of fish.....single treble always seems to work so I just stick to what I know.

 

I'm sure someone will have some more scientific theories on this though.

[bluerinse]

I have fished single hooks for Zander for the past year, I would say that my catch rate is higher than with trebles, it seems I get less dropped runs so have more fish to strike at and as a result catch more fish, I have of cause picked up pike on a single when fishing for Zander, but I can't say if its better or worse as I don't know if the missed take was a pike or not. (Does that make sense?)

The benefit is far easier unhooking, no hooks caught in the landing net and less weed and detritus snagged on the hooks.

 

several years ago I was living in the Ukraine, Most pike anglers (not all some still use trebles and live bait) use large single hooks, Not only that but they bait them with bits of fish no bigger that say a 50p.

It works; they catch plenty of pike large and small,

 

They do still use trebles but in a very different method, they tie about 6 trebles on a line with a large lead on the bottom, they then cast let it sink and rip it back in short jerky movements, this is repeated until they either foul hook a fish snag up on the bottom or retrieve it empty. Horrific I know but they are fishing for food!

[noodle996]

staying out of this one already done this but singles do have their uses

[Houseplant]

controversial, but my experience after half a season of using nothing but large single circle hooks (1/0 - 5/0) for small to medium sized live/deadbaits and waiting a little longer before "striking" is not one single deep hooked fish.

[Tony U]

I am thinking of using a Pennel type rig this winter for my deadbaiting I will try one type with circle hooks and the with O' Shaughnessy J type hooks, it will be basically a much scaled down Shark Rig.

The only problem I can see will be that the hook sizes will have to be increased over my standard size 6 trebles to a 1-1/0, which may or may not cause more damage to a Pike's mouth other views on this would be appreciated.

 

Tony

[five bellies]

I am thinking of using a Pennel type rig this winter for my deadbaiting I will try one type with circle hooks and the with O' Shaughnessy J type hooks, it will be basically a much scaled down Shark Rig.

The only problem I can see will be that the hook sizes will have to be increased over my standard size 6 trebles to a 1-1/0, which may or may not cause more damage to a Pike's mouth other views on this would be appreciated.

 

Tony

 

 

I have found hook size preferance Regional the langstone Langstone skippers I use promote huge meat hook type hooks

And 250lb BS mono for tope fishing But I have caught eqaul sized fish in the Thames Estuary on 3/0s and lighter mono(sorry Folks back to course fishing now) I think its what you feel confident with. The worry is fish Gourging the hooks I have found carefull hook placement helps some way with this but it is a problem that concerns me.