Trailing Trebles

[Flipflopjoe]

Got a couple Fox Replicant Wobbles and SG RealEel lures to try out and was scoping them out in my garage thinking “those bottom trailing trebles are gonna be a pest!”
Loh and behold, a few casts in a weir pool where I know the snags to avoid, it gets stuck and I had to snap it off as I haven’t got the umph to bend the hooks out (I’ve still got 15lb mono on my baitcaster, I’m waiting for my 50lb braid to come through the post)
£7.50 down the pan with no scalps !
So I got to wondering if anyone removes these trailing trebles and just rely on the big single on top to hook up ?
I normally try to fish with as few hooks as possible with singles on my traces and hard plastics and single hook jig heads for a lot of my soft plastics but these lures are a bit bigger than all my others so didn’t know if it would reduce its effectiveness ?!?

Next purchase is a snorkel to retrieve my lost lures ! ..................although I might wait till the summer now

[alan behenna]

Must be the small(er) reps and RE's right? No wonder you lost them on 15lbs mono.

Wait until your braid arrives, use split's which will give before the braid, braid main line strong enough to have a good chance of pulling out, and/or hooks which would bend out before the mainline snaps. One or two of those should put you in a better position. How about mounting that trailing treble on top of the body..........or you could fish them shallower by holding the tip up a bit.

[Woodchucker]

50lb might not be enough to straighten a lure treble, downgrade to 30lb split rings or up to 80lb braid

[Flipflopjoe]

Yeah, 50g Rep and 38g RE, lost an RE
Yeah I knew I would never pull it out with the mono but was to eager to try them out ! I’ve not snagged there for a while now as I sussed where a lot of the structure was but I’ve not ran lures with trebles trailing underneath so I must just been bouncing over the top of them.
So no one ditches the trailers then ?!?

[pete webster]

Yeah, 50g Rep and 38g RE, lost an RE
Yeah I knew I would never pull it out with the mono but was to eager to try them out ! I’ve not snagged there for a while now as I sussed where a lot of the structure was but I’ve not ran lures with trebles trailing underneath so I must just been bouncing over the top of them.
So no one ditches the trailers then ?!?

No most ditch the top hook.if you ditch the treble you will catch nowt on them tbh.

[Chico 48 PAC]

So you thought

“those bottom trailing trebles are gonna be a pest!”

But did nothing. I think there lies the problem. If you are unhappy with anything sort it before it using it be it hooks, split-rings, braid rod or reel.

[Flipflopjoe]

Yeah, 50g Rep and 38g RE, lost an RE
Yeah I knew I would never pull it out with the mono but was to eager to try them out ! I’ve not snagged there for a while now as I sussed where a lot of the structure was but I’ve not ran lures with trebles trailing underneath so I must just been bouncing over the top of them.
So no one ditches the trailers then ?!?

No most ditch the top hook.if you ditch the treble you will catch nowt on them tbh.

Oh right, that’s interesting ! How do they do that then ? Snip it off ???

[Flipflopjoe]

Must be the small(er) reps and RE's right? No wonder you lost them on 15lbs mono.

Wait until your braid arrives, use split's which will give before the braid, braid main line strong enough to have a good chance of pulling out, and/or hooks which would bend out before the mainline snaps. One or two of those should put you in a better position. How about mounting that trailing treble on top of the body..........or you could fish them shallower by holding the tip up a bit.

Yeah I think that’s probably the best option, mounting the trailing treble on the top instead.

[Flipflopjoe]

So you thought

“those bottom trailing trebles are gonna be a pest!”

But did nothing. I think there lies the problem. If you are unhappy with anything sort it before it using it be it hooks, split-rings, braid rod or reel.

Harsh
I did nothing because I searched on here and couldn’t find any evidence of anyone removing them and seeing as they were bigger thought they were most likely necessary.
I like to do at least a bit of my own trial and error before I hassle other people for their views and advice.
Now I’ve learnt a bit (the costly way ), I’ll experiment with different set ups.

[Chico 48 PAC]

I didn't think it was harsh.

Top single,in theory the big single is the eye you clip onto and therefore can come loose in the lead so if snipped off could pull through. Much better then to bend the big single down and ito the top of the bait where it can do no harm. It will take some effort though.

[Slug]

I didn't think it was harsh.

Top single,in theory the big single is the eye you clip onto and therefore can come loose in the lead so if snipped off could pull through. Much better then to bend the big single down and ito the top of the bait where it can do no harm. It will take some effort though.

In theory yes it’s possible but there is still a curvature to the hook which makes it impossible I’ve tried working the shank loose on old ones stripped down with real force. So many have been used with the hook cut off and not one report of it ever happening that I think it’s safe.

[Steve Dennington]

I didn't think it was harsh.

Top single,in theory the big single is the eye you clip onto and therefore can come loose in the lead so if snipped off could pull through. Much better then to bend the big single down and ito the top of the bait where it can do no harm. It will take some effort though.

I agree that it could happen in theory, but I've been routinely cropping the top hooks off Dawg/Rep style lures for years and it's never happened, even when pulling for a break with 100lb PP

[Flipflopjoe]

I didn't think it was harsh.

Top single,in theory the big single is the eye you clip onto and therefore can come loose in the lead so if snipped off could pull through. Much better then to bend the big single down and ito the top of the bait where it can do no harm. It will take some effort though.

I was only jesting about the “harsh” thing, I’m not quite that thin skinned
I see what you mean if you were to snip the tip hook, may not happen but there’s always the possibility.
I’m definitely removing the bottom treble, I’m sure Fix an Savage Gear have only attached them to boost sales
I’ll either re attach it via a stinger trace along the top or I might just run the gauntlet with the single single on top and see how that goes.

[Steve Dennington]

I’ll either re attach it via a stinger trace along the top or I might just run the gauntlet with the single single on top and see how that goes.

My prediction is that your hook up ratio will be awful and your lure will have its tail bitten off very quickly

[Porphyrios]

I replace trebles and split rings, along with 80lb braid snags are no longer a problem!

[Flipflopjoe]

I’ll either re attach it via a stinger trace along the top or I might just run the gauntlet with the single single on top and see how that goes.

My prediction is that your hook up ratio will be awful and your lure will have its tail bitten off very quickly

I take it you just mean if I use the single single ?
with a treble mounted on top it should be fine shouldn’t it ?!?

[Steve Dennington]

I’ll either re attach it via a stinger trace along the top or I might just run the gauntlet with the single single on top and see how that goes.

My prediction is that your hook up ratio will be awful and your lure will have its tail bitten off very quickly

I take it you just mean if I use the single single ? with a treble mounted on top it should be fine shouldn’t it ?!?

Yes. Using the single alone will mean you'll miss all the fish that grab the lure behind it, and there's quite a lot of lure to grab there. It also makes losing the tail much more likely.

On the other hand, if the pike are really in the mood, the lure would be more easily taken to the back of the throat, where that ridiculously large single hook can cause real problems, which is why I snip them off.

Fishing weirpools though, you're always going to get snagged on stuff that wasn't there the week before, and the more snag-resistant you make your lure the worse your hook-up percentage becomes. As mentioned earlier, heavy braid (80 or 100lb), and either trebles that aren't super strong or rated split rings will reduce losses to an acceptable level.

[Mark Phillips]

Good advice from Steve. Personally, when fishing weir pools or anywhere you are likely to encounter some lure eating snags, I tend not to use lures that are prone to snagging. So, spinnerbaits are usually my 'go to' choice or if I want a soft plastic, a big Sandra with the stinger treble on top of the lure.

[Mike J]

All the above plus.

Chop off all the makers hooks and fit your own. Tip; you need bolt croppers for the top single on Chinese Castiacs.
Use 100lb braid, I use yellow Spiderwire 8 and carry a breakout bar made from a section of wooden broom handle wrapped with soft cloth or chamois, never ever pull for a break using the reel.
Use quality split rings that you have tested yourself, so you KNOW they will open at 50lbs or so.
(If you want to know what weak line and mouthful of chinese hardware can do to a good fish look at the pic I posted)

Lastly,
Dont even think about swimming in a weir pool unless you want to die!
You only need a short length of barbed wire fence and you will be there until the Police Dive Team remove your body.

[fishder]

I always cut thoose large singles seen on once go straight through the head off a jack killed the fish think it was a bulldog lure never used them after that.