Best hook for cutbait rigs will be discussed in this post. Notice I said hook and not hooks! It’s my opinion as well as several of my charter Capt. buddies, that a single hook offers the best opportunities. So what hook do we use and recommend?
Single Treble Hook
The single treble hook is our go to choice for cutbait rigs regardless of cutbait head brands. Our hook of choice are Mustad EWG trebles in sizes 2/0 through #2. Depending on time of year, and trolling speed, determines the hook size that we use! Generally speaking, larger hooks are used earlier in the season and at a faster trolling speed. Smaller hooks are used at a slower speed and later in the season.
Trolling Speed
Trolling speed is a contributing factor in choosing hook size. The larger the hook, the more heavier it is, simply because there is more of it. Also, because a larger hook has more mass, there is more resistance as it travels through the water . Hence, a larger heavier hook slows the cutbait head roll down which allows more speed to be had while maintaining a proper roll.
Early Season Hookups
During the start of early season , salmon are agressively feeding. Because of this, they will chase baits effortlessly! They then inhale the baits attempting to swallow them upon attack. Trolling faster allows us to cover more water thus upping the odds of coming into contact with more fish! We run 2/0 and 1/0 EWG trebles during this time. These hooks accell at burying deep down inside the fishes mouth ensuring they have much less of a chance of escaping! Note that early season salmon’s teeth, although being there, are much smaller in size than they are later in the season.
Mid Season Configurations
As the season rolls on, salmon’s teeth become larger as they grow! One of the tell tail signs to look for to change hook size is when an increase in bite-offs occurs! Kings are still agressively feeding at this time and inhaling baits. The difference is now they have bigger teeth. Picture the fish with a bait down its throat thrashing its head, back and forth. The fishing line is literally getting sawed off as it drags across the rows of sharp salmon teeth! As soon as we start experiencing this, we immediately down size our treble hooks to a size #1. As the salmon begin to develop kypes, we down size to size #2. In extreme instances, we have used size #4 Gamakatsu 4x strong trebles!
Smaller Trebles
Smaller trebles typically do not stay attached to the skin inside the salmons mouth as well as larger hooks do. During mid season and on into staging time, this is an advantage. When the smaller hooks do hook up, they tend to attach to the corner of the fish’s mouth! This keeps the line away from their razor sharp teeth. The inside of a salmon’s mouth is much like the top of your head, There is a thin layer of skin over the top of bone inside the fish’s mouth. A smaller treble size has a hard time staying attached to this thin layer of skin. This allows the smaller treble to work its way out towards the corner of the mouth area where we want to hook up to avoid their teeth.
Other Configurations
We have tried most other hook configurations in search of a better mousetrap, but have yet to find one! These have included double trebles, double singles,single J-hook, single circle hook, and tournament ties ( single and a treble). Rest assured we have caught fish on all of these setups as well, but nowhere near as good as a single treble with the right sized hook and model. What we have noticed is that we get many more bites and opportunities with the single treble. This may have a lot to do with stealth(less hook to see) and tunability at speed! Check out a related post below!!!
Further Info
If you have any questions , feel free to contact us at 413-346-7675 or via our contact form with any of the questions you may have . We will be happy to answer them. If you would like to book a trip please call 413-346-7675 or feel free to use our contact form as well!