Hooked Up: A Guide To Hooks
By David Hart

It was a hard lesson for Curt Lytle, but the Virginia pro has become a better, more efficient angler because of it. Something as simple as his choice of hook style not only cost him a bunch of bass, but also a sizeable check.

He was fishing on the Alabama River during a major tournament in 2003, and he was on bass. Lytle, a self-described power fisherman who prefers close-quarters pitching and flipping, was working laydowns along the main river channel with a creature bait rigged on braided line. For every bass he boated, he lost at least one that either he never sunk a hook into or came off before he got it out of the water.

His partner, who was using the same bait and same technique, didn't miss a single fish. The only difference was the hook. His partner's bait was rigged on a straight-shank hook. Lytle was using an offset hook.

The difference was subtle and one that Lytle never considered up until that day. Instead of placing in the top five and taking home a fat check, Lytle's hook choice during that event knocked him down to 23rd place.

"I went out and bought some Owner straight-shank hooks after that tournament, and I've been using them ever since," he says. "My ratio of hook-ups to lost fish has gone down so much since then. I use them for pretty much all my pitching and fishing applications now."

The plethora of hook choices may seem like just another way for tackle companies to pry a little more money from your wallet, but many of the new styles of hooks actually do help anglers catch more fish. Even the throwback styles like straight-shank hooks should have a place in any dedicated bass angler's tackle box.

Straight Or Bent?
Straight-shank hooks, which are as simple as a hook can get, don't have the Z-bend typical of an offset-shank hook. They are, as the name implies, little more than an eye, a shank, a bend and a barbed point.

While Lytle admits that the physics behind hooksets are tough to describe, he says the point of a straight-shank hook will sort of "wander" when it is pulled on a hookset. This means it tends to find its mark, no matter how that hook and bait are positioned inside the mouth of a bass.

"The point of an offset-shank hook sort of follows the eye on a hookset," says Lytle. "If the fish's mouth isn't closed all the way, the hook may just slip through its lips if it is in the wrong position when you set the hook, especially when you are pitching and flipping."

Offsets have a very useful place in any tackle box. They are, hands down, the most popular hook style sold now. The advantages are obvious. The offset bend allows for easy rigging with a variety of soft-plastic lures. Simply thread the bait up the hook point about 1/4 inch, bring it out and push the bait up and over the bend and the knot. That 1/4 inch is just enough to cover the knot and the hook bend.

The offset bend also helps hold the bait high on the hook, which not only prevents the bait from sliding down the shank and killing the look and action of the lure, it saves on plastics, too. You don't have to change baits as often.

"To me, the biggest advantage of an offset hook is that it allows you to rig the bait in a straight line much easier than with a straight shank," says Virginia pro John Crews. "That's very important for baits like lizards, worms and soft stick baits."

The gap between the shank and the hook point is also an important factor in deciding which hook to use. As a general rule, thicker baits such as flukes, grubs and tubes demand the extra space of a wide-gap hook. This is because soft plastics tend to slide down the shank on a hookset. A wide-gap hook prevents a bulky bait from interfering with the point, a critical factor and one that has cost plenty of unknowing anglers lots of bass.

"A wide-gap hook allows me to fish most baits Tex-posed," adds Crews. "I prefer to bring the point all the way through the body of the lure and then skin-hook the very tip of the point back into the lure. It's tough to do that with a standard round-bend offset hook."

Thick Or Thin?
Plenty of professional anglers don't use straight-shank hooks, and they certainly catch plenty of fish. But they do pay close attention to the details of their hook selection. A hook's wire diameter can make the difference between a good day on the water and a frustrating one, agree Lytle and Brad Smith, a tournament angler and boat-dealership owner. Both experts switch from fine-wire hooks to heavier gauge hooks as they change situations.

"As a rule, I use heavier hooks whenever I use tactics that call for line heavier than 14-pound test," says Smith. "Thin hooks can and will open up if you use line that is stronger than the hook itself, especially in heavy cover or with heavy line."

That's why both experts favor heavy hooks for all their close-in, thick-cover applications. In fact, Lytle jokingly calls his straight-shank hook choice a gaff because it's such a heavy, strong hook.

So why not use a thicker hook for all applications? Thicker hooks paired with small or slim soft-plastic lures can rob the lure of some of its action, especially with unweighted soft-plastic techniques. Some pros use thick hooks to help increase the rate of the lure's fall, but Lytle prefers to use a weight to control the sink rate of his soft-plastic lures.

In addition, thicker diameter hooks don't penetrate the tough cartilage of a bass's mouth as easy as a thinner diameter hook.

Lytle's rule for using light-wire hooks has as much to do with line diameter as with the technique he is using at the time. Like Smith, he favors thinner hooks for light-line applications, but also uses them for long-distance fishing.

"As a rule, if I'm casting something like a Texas-rigged worm, I'll use a thinner hook because I won't get the penetration I need from a thicker hook," Lytle explains. "The line is going to stretch, which will really impede penetration, particularly on long casts."

Wacky Hooks
One of the most effective techniques, especially in clear, shallow water on pressured waters, is a wacky-rigged soft plastic. While the term applies to virtually any non-traditional rigging method, to most bass anglers, a wacky rig is simply a soft-plastic stick bait or finesse worm impaled through the middle of the bait. The hook point is exposed, and the shank of the hook acts as a sort of keel, which keeps the bait on a steady, even fall. A variety of hooks will work, but Crews prefers a Gamakatsu wide-gap finesse hook.

"It's basically a short, straight-shank hook," he says. "I prefer the lighter wire for most finesse baits, but if I'm throwing a wacky rig around or over heavy cover, I'll go with the heavier diameter wire. I like the finesse-style hook because there is less wire showing. In clear or pressured waters, I want all the help I can get, and a smaller, more subtle hook is less likely to spook fish."

Keeper Hooks
With the increased interest in unweighted soft plastics comes the constant headache of a lure sliding down the hook shank. If you try to extend your cast a few extra feet with a little more power, virtually any soft plastic will ball up on the bend of the hook. However, there are numerous options to prevent this.

Keeper hooks, which have either a coil spring, barbed needle or clip attached to the hook itself, give longer life to unweighted soft plastics by keeping them in position for more casts. Which one you should use depends not only on the bait you use, but also on your personal preference.

Daiichi's Copperhead hook, which uses a coil spring attached to the eye of the hook, is best for bulky baits like fat grubs, soft jerkbaits and frog baits. Owner also offers a coil-spring keeper hook designed for soft-plastic frogs like Zoom Horny Toads. Mustad makes a hook with a barbed insert attached to the hook. The insert simply sticks into the nose of the bait, and the hook point is pushed up through the body of the frog.

Daiichi and Mustad also offer weighted keeper hooks for fishing such baits as Zoom Super Flukes under the surface or on the bottom. This hook style is also good for other Texas-rigged baits. The weight on these hooks can be moved forward or back on the shank, allowing anglers the ability to control the angle of the bait's fall.

Keep It Simple
Confused by the endless hook choices at your local tackle shop? There's really no need to get bogged down in the multitude of styles, says Smith. He keeps his hook box pared down to a few basic styles. He agrees that it's perfectly acceptable to use specialized hooks for pinpoint techniques, but prefers to use Xcalibur EWG hooks for virtually all his soft-plastic presentations.

"Aside from extra-wide gap hooks, I really only use an Owner Down Shot hook for drop-shotting," Smith says. "Other than that, an EWG will work for every technique that I use. I just switch sizes and hook wire sizes to match the bait and conditions."

Crews agrees that the vast assortment of hooks can be confusing and intimidating. Like Smith, he relies on a couple of styles for virtually all his fishing.

"Don't make it more confusing than it really is," Crews says. "Use what you have confidence in, but don't be afraid to try new things. You might find something that works better for you."