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Old 12-11-11, 12:12 PM   #1
pro reel
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Default Dean Rojas tip for hooks for soft plastics

I had a great opportunity to visit one on one with Dean Rojas yesterday. One of the things we discused was the hooks he uses for soft plastics. He had a few packs of EWG hooks laid out and had some baits rigged up for demonstration. I recently had talked to a jig designer about hook choice and we had discused the different hook styles and bends. This guys opinion was that the EWG hooks had a flawed design in that the hook point was in a direct line with the line tie. His thoughts were that the hook point can easily be pulled through the fish's mouth without grabbing anything . This guy only uses round bend hooks with a wide opening. That style of hook has a leverage advantage that drives the hook point into anything it touches. I asked dean about his thoughts on that and he just grinned. At first I thought he was thinking I had said something stupid. Well, I was wrong. Dean picked up a rigged bait with a 3/0 EWG hook and then told us that he agreed with that statement, but that he still preferred the EWG hook for the way it sits texposed, but only after he tweaks it. He said that he tweaks every EWG hook he owns and does it as soon as he gets them and before they go in the boat. What he does is to grab the hook point behind the barb and bend it out just a bit so that it has a slight leverage effect away from the line tie. He then uses 2 pairs of pliers to tweak the hook sideways at the throat so that the hook wont lay flat on a table. That puts the point of the hook angled up just a bit but also out just a bit and causes it to grab and drive home better on the hookset, he said he has to have every advantage he can get and he firmly believes that his tweaked EWG hook helps him land more bass. I didn't think to ask him, but i bet he does the same thing to jigs.
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Old 12-11-11, 12:31 PM   #2
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There have been a couple hook brands out there to come with the point offset to the side. I tried some a while back and found that they cause the bait to spin while retrieving it. I got tired of the line twisting up from them and stopped using them before I ever really got to give them a good workout.

I've heard the same thing about EWG hooks, so I recently got a pack of Owner Wide Gap Plus hooks. If you haven't seen them before, they like like a standard EWG, but the point of the hook is about 1/4" above the plane of the eye.



I wonder if this would have a similar effect to bending the point up.

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Old 12-11-11, 01:05 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBassin144 View Post
There have been a couple hook brands out there to come with the point offset to the side. I tried some a while back and found that they cause the bait to spin while retrieving it. I got tired of the line twisting up from them and stopped using them before I ever really got to give them a good workout.

I've heard the same thing about EWG hooks, so I recently got a pack of Owner Wide Gap Plus hooks. If you haven't seen them before, they like like a standard EWG, but the point of the hook is about 1/4" above the plane of the eye.



I wonder if this would have a similar effect to bending the point up.

BB
The way to tell is to drag it point down across some cardboard with the eye and the point on the cardboard. If you can slide it, then the point is still in line, just offset. If the point grabs and pulls itself into the cardboard, then it has the leverage he is talking about. As for twist, the tweaks he's doing are not nearly like that of a tru turn hook or similar hooks, it's just enough that the hook won't lay flat. It's also just at the flat section of the hook after the bend, the part that would be texposed. The shank doesn't get bent, so it's still on an even keel.
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Old 12-11-11, 01:36 PM   #4
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Kevin, I'll give the cardboard thing a try with some various hooks I've got including the Owner Wide Gap Plus and Twist-Lock hooks.

The hooks I used also had a slight bend, nothing as drastic as the tru-turn. I'll see if I can find them and get a picture or at least a name.

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Old 12-11-11, 01:52 PM   #5
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I'll have to give that a try, it sounds like a good idea. I have used the Youvella hooks before but they are hard to find. They have a funny bend in them:
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Old 12-11-11, 02:07 PM   #6
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Quote:
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I'll have to give that a try, it sounds like a good idea. I have used the Youvella hooks before but they are hard to find. They have a funny bend in them:
Those were the ones I had tried! If I'm not mistaken, they are under a different name now.

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Old 12-11-11, 02:29 PM   #7
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Interesting. I've always favored straight shank and round bend hooks for worms. They really seem to come through grass better then EWG hooks. I'll have to try tweaking my EWG's though, interesting technique.
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Old 12-11-11, 02:33 PM   #8
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That's another really good tip. I have never heard or thought about bending the hook to the side. That makes sense though. The ability to rig a bait perfectly straight has kept me using EWG's even though I do believe offsets have better hookup rates. I will definitely try bending my hooks slightly.
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Old 12-11-11, 03:04 PM   #9
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here is what the tweaked hooks look like. You can see the difference between the stock hook and the tweaked one.
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Old 12-12-11, 01:37 AM   #10
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I gave that test a try with the Owner Wide Gap Plus. It didn't stick... However, I think it may have a lot to do with the slightly curved shaped of Owner's Cutting Point. I'll be doing some more testing on this this winter. I'll report my results and take pics.

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Old 12-12-11, 09:42 AM   #11
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It has been a while, but if I remember correctly the hooks with the point sticking out at a slight angle are harder to texpose and do hang up a little more in the weeds. I do tweak the hooks on my frogs and if they roll over they do hang in the pads. That is just an issue when fishing around here in Michigan, where the weed lines are thicker than a jungle.
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Old 12-18-11, 01:03 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pro reel View Post
here is what the tweaked hooks look like. You can see the difference between the stock hook and the tweaked one.
how do you know which way your tweak sideways is going to laying in the fish's mouth??? just aking. wanted you to think about that one for a bit.
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Old 12-18-11, 10:22 AM   #13
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how do you know which way your tweak sideways is going to laying in the fish's mouth??? just aking. wanted you to think about that one for a bit.
just wanted you to notice that the hook point is not lined up with your pull line any longer. right???
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Old 12-18-11, 10:33 AM   #14
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Never thought about this until I saw a vid on T-rigging large plastic swimbaits,(Mickey from 3:16), makes sense though, no matter which way you pull it the hook grabs the top or bottom of the fishes mouth, because the swim bait lays flat in the fish's mouth. Not sure I would use it for other baits like worms, or creatures that aren't very wide. Definitely going to start doing this.
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