Catch and release lure prep... While I enjoy eating some of my catch from time to time, I also enjoy the fun of catching a fish and trying my best to release it unharmed aside from a...

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

While I enjoy eating some of my catch from time to time, I also enjoy the fun of catching a fish and trying my best to release it unharmed aside from a pinhole in the chin...so to speak.

A number of fellow Stagers have added their two cents worth on this topic, and some old posts from Fredfish really hit home with me a while back and I have been slowly converting all my best and favorite lures to single hook modes.

Our local smallmouth bass seem to enjoy the Berkley Flicker shad's in size 7 as attached...so this represents my latest batch of conversions. They have been working successfully on many other lures I have modified, and the fish catching ability of the lures has not been affected in a negative way.

It is amazing how much tackle options are out there if you know where to look and listen as you research and keep an ear to the ground.

A fresh batch of lures converted for better catch and release scenarios. I am still leaving the barbs out, as they do not seem to cause much of an issue with un-hooking fish. Maybe that will be my next advancement!?

These inline hooks from VMC are the best fit for the job. Lot's of sizes to choose from for various lure body size matching. For some reasonI have been saving the treble hooks I take off...not sure why!

OJdidit Loc: Oak Creek Wisconsin

Nice looking mods.
Good question on saving the old ones, but I would do the same…just never know when you may need to replace one on another lure.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

OJdidit wrote:

Nice looking mods.
Good question on saving the old ones, but I would do the same…just never know when you may need to replace one on another lure.

Thank you OJdidit...yeah...good idea about maybe replacing some on other lures that are set up with trebles!

OLDNDN Loc: Merced County, Calif.

Nice job at replacing the hooks. As far as saving the trebles it’s hard to toss away sometimes that’s still useable.

NJ219bands Loc: New Jersey

Nice 👍

Djsowards Loc: Roseburg OR

fishyaker wrote:

Thank you OJdidit...yeah...good idea about maybe replacing some on other lures that are set up with trebles!

I like you approach Fishyaker. I do the same with several of my Daiwa and Yozuri striper lures. While fishing the Sacramento River it is not uncommon to tie into a school of undersized fish. The single hooks can prevent a lot of injuries to the species. Go ahead and crimp down the barb if you are a brave soul. Keep’em tight.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

OLDNDN wrote:

Nice job at replacing the hooks. As far as saving the trebles it’s hard to toss away sometimes that’s still useable.

Thank you OLDNDN...Agreed! No sense throwing good tackle away!

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

NJ219bands wrote:

Nice 👍

Thank you NJ219...It also makes the lures easier to get in and out of the small "Plano" tackle boxes that I take out with me when fishing too!

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

Djsowards wrote:

I like you approach Fishyaker. I do the same with several of my Daiwa and Yozuri striper lures. While fishing the Sacramento River it is not uncommon to tie into a school of undersized fish. The single hooks can prevent a lot of injuries to the species. Go ahead and crimp down the barb if you are a brave soul. Keep’em tight.

Thank you Djsowards...So many times I'll have a treble hook where 2, and sometimes even all three hooks are in a fish's mouth or surrounding area and it makes it a challenge to carefully remove them all. No big deal when your plan is to keep them...but sending a fish back to the water with tears and rips makes me feel awful!

Djsowards Loc: Roseburg OR

fishyaker wrote:

Thank you Djsowards...So many times I'll have a treble hook where 2, and sometimes even all three hooks are in a fish's mouth or surrounding area and it makes it a challenge to carefully remove them all. No big deal when your plan is to keep them...but sending a fish back to the water with tears and rips makes me feel awful!

I agree…10/4 good buddy.

bknecht Loc: Northeast pa

Nice modifications FY, I don’t fish a lot of crankbaits but if I did would certainly follow suit.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

bknecht wrote:

Nice modifications FY, I don’t fish a lot of crankbaits but if I did would certainly follow suit.

Thank you BK! For me, the crank baits seem to be a fairly large portion of my tackle so it started to make sense for me to consider options like this.

I have plans to visit a brand new lake to me in the morning...so these babies will all be getting put to the test!

CamT Loc: La Porte, Texas

fishyaker wrote:

While I enjoy eating some of my catch from time to... (show quote)

I have for years cut off the hook that points down on the treble hooks, I mainly started doing it to make the lure less likely to get hung up and a little weed free. It also helped in the c & r as it was one less hook to worry about.

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

CamT wrote:

I have for years cut off the hook that points down on the treble hooks, I mainly started doing it to make the lure less likely to get hung up and a little weed free. It also helped in the c & r as it was one less hook to worry about.

That is another good idea!

JOS Loc: Florida

Smart move Yaker, I use those same hooks on all my offshore trolling plugs for Wahoo and Dolphin. I also use them on my slow pitch Nomad lures for groupers, snappers and tilefish. I found that they are easier to sharpen as well.
SOB