Walking bait questions

[Jrob78]

Some walking baits come with a dressed rear hook and some don't. I was curious if you thought that the feathers effected the action of the bait. The reason I ask is I saw where Larry Dahlberg recommended cutting the feathers off his R2S Wide Glide bait. He said that it was one thing that got lost in translation when that bait was produced. It makes sense that any drag at the rear of a walking bait would negatively effect that action.

This is actually out of the review section at TW.

Larry here. Honestly, the lure will do just what I say it will do, but it's a little more difficult to catch on to than the average glider. MOST IMPORTANTLY I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU CUT THE FEATHERS OFF! People have been creaming stripers, tunas, muskies and pike on the big one. Bass and tarpon on the small one. (a local guy in Surinam caught 14 tarpon in one day a couple of weeks back, using the small sinking version with a hand line! ouch) You will see it in action catching tarpon in Colombia and the large size sinking one catching stripers in Cape Cod on this years HFBF shows. I did not approve of the way the feathers were added but in the rush and translation it just happened somehow. If you want an added "tail" the best way I've found is to thread some flashabou through a tiny duo lock snap where you'd normally tie your line, secure it with a tiny drop of crazy glue, then attach the snap to the rear hook hanger. Otherwise, like I said, loose the feathers!

My other question is about how to attach the bait. Most walking baits don't have split rings, just a tie directly on the nose of the bait. Are these meant to be tied with loop knots, Duo Locks or just straight to the bait? I am not a fan of snaps, I always tie directly to a bait, normally to a split ring. It struck me today that tying directly to a walking bait with a tight knot, might not be the best way to do it.

[carolina-rig-01]

I tied up some dressed treble hooks a few years back to add to a few walking baits that didn't have dressed trebles on them. I ended up taking them back off and replacing them with regular hooks because I couldn't get them to walk near as well with the dressed hooks.

Also I always tie to the nose of the bait and I don't use a loop knot. But to be honest I have given a loop knot a lot of consideration and I will probably be using one in this application one of these days to see if I can get any more action out of the baits.

[Tavery5]

Joe, most walking baits have better action when tied with a loop knot, but don't take my word for it, prove it to yourself. I have also found that hollow bodied frogs like the Spro or Koppers can be made to walk easier if you trim some of the legs off, kinda the same theory as the feathers on the trebble thing. I have also noticed that line makes a difference in the ease of walking a bait. I find that mono in easier to use than braid, can't explain why, just seems to be easier to me.

[keithdog]

I tried the dressed treble and didn't like it either. I definately either will add a split rong or a duo lock snap to my walking baits!!!!!! I get much better action that way.

[Jrob78]

Thanks for the responses. I guess the key is going to be trying a few different things on the water. This gives me a good excuse to learn to tie a loop knot.

[keithdog]

One more thing I meant to add to my answer. Most of the pros who fish walking baits add a split ring to where the hook is attached to the lure. This is supposed to aid in hookups and make it harder for the bass to throw the lure. I've never done that myself but if you find your loosing fish on topwaters, it might be worth a try.

[walkeraviator]

I use DuoLock snaps on my spooks. The only downside is that on occasion it give the hooks a chance to get tangled in the line.

[DaveW731]

I put split rings on all my surface baits. Got sick and tired of line getting tangled in the front hooks of not only my walkers, but EVEN MORE with my prop baits.
Dressed trebles are great on chuggers, maybe OK on some prop baits, but not on walkers.

[carolina-rig-01]

Here is a tip that I use on all my walking baits to keep fish from throwing the hooks, Joe I hope you don't mind if I post this in your thread but it seems to kinda go hand in hand with the subject. Some walking baits have a split ring that attaches the hook to the bait and some don't. I will always add split rings so that I have two split rings between the hook and the bait, this way when a fish jumps and turns, the hook will actually just spin rather than give the fish leverage to throw the bait. I had a problem a few years back with losing fish on a spook and I read this tip I believe in an issue of Bassmaster and since then I have had a lot better success with keeping fish buttoned up.

Also topwater baits are the only baits that I don't add Triple Grip treble hooks to. I used to but I had problems with schooling fish just slapping at the bait and not getting hooked. I saw a video that said that the hook points on a Triple Grip being turned in a little will hurt hook up percentages of fish that just slap at the bait. It said to use big round big treble hooks and these fish will hook themselves more often when they just slap at the bait and again this drastically improved my hookup percentages.

[Jrob78]

Good tips Kory! I saw a fishing show where John Crews said basically the same thing about the hooks. He said he uses Gammy EWG's on most everything but uses round bends on topwaters and 1 or 2 other things, for the same reason you describe.

The 2 split ring idea would probably translate well to other big hard baits too. I will have to remember that.