Travis Manson AKA SmallmouthCrush shares some awesome tips to show you HOW to choose the right hooks for bass fishing. Next time you hit the water, use these tips to have more success catching big bass. Choosing the right hooks to increase your hook-up ratio can make the difference between a prize winning catch and the one. 

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Video transcript:

Travis:
Hey guys, SmallmouthCrush on behalf of Monsterbass. I want to make a video talking about the different style hooks when it comes to terminal tackle, when it comes to the different baits that I use, what hooks I'm using this time of year in the fall. And there's a lot to cover, so I'm going to try to go real quick and give you guys some pointers when it comes to your hook selection. That's all coming up. Okay, when we think fall, especially here in the Northeast, of course there's a lot of reaction baits. So those are moving baits, as opposed to baits that we fish slowly on the bottom, although there's still a time and place. When it comes to fish location this time of year in the Northeast, it varies on the body of water. We'll have fish that are going to go deep and we're going to have fish that are going to be up shallow. And then we're going to have fish that are deep and shallow, and fish that want to get to their wintering areas and fish that don't really have winter in areas as goofy as that sounds.

Travis:
Some of these bodies of water are just not made for that type of pattern. And so I want to be able to carry a wide variety of different baits, different applications to catch these fish this time of year. So I'm going to start out with some of my favorite ways to fish, which is reaction baits and that's casting moving baits. And so, we look at say a spinner bait, for instance. So it's a great bait for covering water, it's a great bait to work it around an area where you find a lot of fish that are schooling, that are chasing bait fish. That can happen a lot this time of year in the fall. And so I'm going to try to use something a little bit natural, right? More of your whites, your chartreuse, your shad, colored patterns. But wait Travis, I thought you said this video is about hooks. It is.

Travis:
So, standard hooks on a spinner baits are great, but what you want to do more oftentimes than not, and I have a box full of terminal tackle and different hooks and different applications, so I actually pull out a trailer hook that I'll put on my spinner baits. And so you want to pick yourself up some trailer hooks that are designed to go on spinner baits/buzz baits, they'll work great too. So, that's just going to allow you to increase your hookup percentage. When that fish short strikes, swiping at the bait, perhaps you can catch him with that stinger hook. And if he comes in and engulfs the whole thing, you have a better chance at catching that fish. So this time of year, I'm going to be using a trailer hook on my spinner baits quite a bit. So also the fall is a great time to catch fish on top water. A lot of people feel that a top-water bait is designed for those summer months, warmer weather conditions. I'll throw this even when that water temp is in the 40 degree mark, especially in the fall.

Travis:
Now in the spring time, when you have a 40 degree water temp, I normally won't start throwing top water until it's in the mid 50s, if I do. But during the fall, when these fish are feeding, when they realize that the colder winter months are ahead and they're actively, and there they're more aggressive in that 40 degree temperature, and so I have no problem throwing these in my area well into December, if I can get away with it. And so what is there to talk about when it comes to top water? Well, it's a standard treble hook, right Travis. Well, not always. Not every top water is created the same, not every hook is the same. So when we think of top water, there's a lot of different scenarios. There's fast moving baits, there's walking baits, there's pop bars, there's baits that chug and bloop, bloop, bloop. Stuff like that. So for instance, we'll take one of my favorite baits this time of year. Your whopper plopper. And so that's just basically a top water bait with a little prop on the back.

Travis:
So more often than not it's just a straight retrieve. But the problem is... And so here I have a brand new one and you can see it comes with... Actually, I must've changed this out too. Well, let me find another one. Let me find one I didn't mess with yet, which probably isn't going to happen. Yeah. That has the bigger hooks. Okay. So I'll tell you what I do. I actually do it with all the baits I get. And so a lot of times when I'm using the walking bait or a whopper plopper like this, I'm actually going to change the treble hooks. I'm going to change out the front and put red. Now, is it a confidence thing or does it actually work? More oftentimes than not, when I have a red hook on the front, at that last split second when that fish comes up to grab it, I feel they're going to keen in on that red hook and hopefully bite it head first. And that'll allow me to hopefully get the back hook in that fish as well. So I'm pretty consistent when we're talking about putting red hooks.

Travis:
Now, I use these baits a lot. You can see the red, sometimes doesn't last too long. And this... I mean, this look probably needs to be replaced. It's worn down, but I do do that to all my top water baits. And that goes for baits like a spook. Again, red hook on the front. So here's something really cool. So this is actually a bait that I got from Monsterbass's the patriot 3.0, and it's a great top water bait. A great bait for walking, especially when you got fish schooling, busting. Anywhere you have fish up that are going to be chasing on top, this is a great looking bait. Look how realistic that looks. Even the paint job on it is perfect. But look at closely, I did not have to change this hook out. They actually come with a red hook in the front and it does have a treble hook with a feather tail on the back, which is pretty cool, which is what I would recommend. So I don't even have to change that one out. So the same goes for their popping bait. So this is the mad max, same deal.

Travis:
If you open it up here, we can see that that bait has a red treble hook in the front. But I do that to all. And if I can show you some of my other. And there's an oldie but a goodie with a red hook in the front. I've caught thousands of fish on that bait. Hopefully I never lose it because I don't know what I'd do with myself. So that's pretty much it when it comes to top water baits and hooks. I really want to change that out. So this time of year I'm throwing a lot of swim baits also. And so you want to take your favorite swim bait. There's a lot of different sizes. This is a 3.8 size, so just under four inches. Pretty standard size that I'll throw quite a bit. But the hook that I recommend with any type of swim bait is some type of screw lock. So you can see here, there's a screw built right down the shank of that hook, which is actually going to allow you to secure that swim bait on your hook.

Travis:
And when a fish does bite, a lot of times, these baits tear off that hook really, really easy and it can be frustrating because you can go through so many baits. But if you have some type of screw lock hook, that's going to allow you to keep that bait on there a little bit longer, and it'll actually help protect that bait. Oftentimes you're going to see me throwing a screw lock and it's really easy to rig it. You just want to line that up perfect. You want to move it up to the top of that screw lock and just start screwing that in. And it's that simple. And you just move that tail around the hook as you turn that. But there you go. This is probably one of the best bait fish imitating baits to throw in the fall. I'll definitely have one of these tied on all the time. So we covered the spinner bait of course, adding the trailer. We covered top water, the importance of changing out, in my mind, red hooks. Yep.

Travis:
Let's talk a little bit about some of the hooks I'm going to use when I'm fishing some different soft plastics. So in the fall, a lot of the fish that I catch are going to be moving up shallow. And a lot of times it's right along some grass edges. Now the grass is certainly starting to die, but there's a lot of bait fish that are still utilizing what's left of that grass. A lot of perch in these lakes that I fish. And because of that, a lot of these fish will go up shallow for a couple of weeks at least, before they head out into their wintering areas to feed up on these perch and other bait fish that can be found in the grass. And so, a lot of times this grass is in 10 feet of water or less, and I'm going to target those fish with some type of soft plastic stick bait.

Travis:
So this is a senko, and any time I'm going to be fishing it in 10 feet of water or less on the grass edge, so if I'm going to be using a five-inch stick bait like this senko here, five-inch senko, I'm going to use a size four odd extra wide gap hook. And I'm going to rig that Texas rig. So real simply, you just want to line it up straight, bring it through, of course your line will be tied to that, and then you just want to bring your hook back and then bury it just a little bit so it's weedless. So now I can throw this in that grass edge. I can actually put a little bit of weight in the tail. So if you get a little finishing nail or some type of weight, they make weights that are designed for this as well, you can put that in the tail of that. That'll give that a little bit more weight.

Travis:
But if you can get away with it, this size four extra wide gap hook gives this bait just enough weight, plus all the salt that's in it, to really, really have a great action as it's falling down and allow you to catch those fish out of that grass, with this technique. This is something I use all the time. Now I will put a smaller bullet weight, a tungsten bullet weight on here as well. But most of the time I am just going to throw it without a weight. So this is just a standard wide gap finesse hook with a weed guard, which really comes in handy when you're throwing any type of soft plastic in grass. So I'm just going to rig this stick bait like so with that weed guard, and throw that around in the grass. It's a really, really good technique that... It's a wacky rig senko. I mean, it's popular because it works. It will get you bites. It will catch big fish, it'll catch little, it'll catch everything. It'll catch a bunch of fish, and it's one of my favorite ways to actually fish a senko.

Travis:
I love getting a bite on the wacky rig senko. If we're talking fall fishing, we have to talk about a tube. A lot of the times these crayfish are also going to be hanging out in that shallower water. Of course, the fish are going to follow. And one of the most effective ways to mimic crayfish and cover a lot of water, and fish fast or slow it down... I mean, a tube is so versatile we could literally do a two hour show on just different ways to fish a tube and how to fish it. But a lot of times when I'm fishing in the fall, I'm going to use an exposed hook. So I need some sort of tube insert. This is my favorite style. And I'm going to have anything from an eighth ounce, a quarter, all the way up to three eighths and perhaps even a half ounce. But this is a three eighth ounce size. Pretty standard size for me, especially if I'm fishing in that eight to 12 foot range.

Travis:
And all you do is you take your tube and you take your tube insert, and you just stick it up inside the tube and work that plastic all the way to where you just put a little bit of pressure on that top part of the tube there and the area where you tell your line pokes out and your hook is right back there. And that's it. That's how I rig the tube 90% of the time during the fall. And it's a real effective way to cover some water. You can slow it down, you can fish it fast. There's so many different ways you can fish a tube, but you got to get it right around the right structure. It's important to be throwing this in the right kind of stuff. I like a little bit of rock mixture with some grass transitions, clear spots, sand spots, things like that. That's where you're going to want to throw a tube with an exposed hook. Man, the fall can be a great time to go catch some fish. Lot of activity, a lot of fish feeding up for the winter.

Travis:
It's a sad time for me. It means winter's coming. Ice is coming, right. We've got a few more weeks yet. So, not to worry. A lot of great ways to catch them. A lot of variety of different baits that are going to work right now. Like we said, reaction baits, slowing things down too. We talked a little about the tube, but you can't forget a Ned rig, a typical Ned rig on a little Z-man head. This is a Z-man TRD, and I'll fish a Ned rig quite a bit. And it's just a nice little finesse presentation. And you don't have to use Z-man plastics either. I have a bunch here. I'll use a three-inch senko and put that on a Ned rig, and drag that around. I've been experimenting with a lot of different plastics. That's one of my favorite techniques because it's extremely effective.

Travis:
I've caught so many fish on a Ned rig that it is great in the fall, but it's really year round. There's not a day that goes by when I'm out fishing and I do not have a Ned rig tied on for any of the situations I encounter. There's a lot of soft plastic bait companies out there that make their version of a Ned rig. Here's another one that I've been messing around with, which has been great. Yeah, I could go on and on, and on and on, but I hope you guys enjoyed the video. Don't forget to subscribe to the Monsterbass YouTube channel. Also check out some of my other fishing videos on my YouTube channel, SmallmouthCrush. And as always, until next time, we'll see you guys on the water.