 |
Replacing round bend treble hooks with wide bend treble hooks like pictured here is one of the ways serious crankbait fishermen get the most from their lures. Also note that running double split rings allows the hook to rotate more freely and eliminates a rolling and thrashing fish from gaining leverage and tearing free.
By
Mark Romanack
About the only
time my collection of crankbaits sets idol is when ice covers my favorite
fishing destinations. Crankbaits are about as close as it gets to year around
walleye lures and my collection of these lures has gotten a little out of
control over the years.
I currently own
so many baits it has become almost a full time job keeping track of them and
making sure those baits remain in top working order. Here’s a little food for
thought on how to keep crankbaits working at peak performance.
CLEANING LURES
I bet there are
a few anglers out there raising their eyebrows and wondering if Mark has lost
his marbles. Who washes their crankbaits? I do and regularly because I use a
lot of scent products like Pro-Cure when trolling for walleye and other
species. Scent products do a great job of setting up a desirable “scent stream”
in the water that gives fish more confidence that those wobbling baits are
actually good to eat.
 |
|
Fish scents like Pro Cure are great fish attractants,
but they are also greasy and leave a oily film
on lures that must be washed off with a
mild detergent such as Joy dishwashing liquid.
|
The problem with
fish scents is they are greasy and leave behind a film that must be washed
away. I use an odor free dish soap like Lemon Scented Joy because it cuts the
greasy grime and leaves behind zero scent on my baits. When cleaning lures it’s
critical to avoid soaps that have bleach in them. Bleach is a good cleaning
agent, but it leaves behind an unnatural odor and can also damage the paint
finish on valuable lures.
The best way to
clean crankbaits is to put a few drops of Joy in a plastic bucket, add a little
water and take a scrub brush to each bait. After the baits are washed, rinse
them in clean water and set them aside to dry before putting them back into
their utility boxes.
I work hard at
cleaning my lures every day while using them. Not only does this regiment
insure my baits hit the water without the baggage of unnatural odors, the natural amino acids in
fishing scents can damage the paint finish on lures if left unattended over
long periods of time.
HOOK SHARPENING
Getting fish to
bite is hard enough. Having those fish escape because a dull hook slips free at
the most inopportune moment is inexcusable. Sharp hooks stick and hold fish and
dull hooks are a bad day waiting to happen.
Spending a
little time with a file sharpening hooks is arguably the single most important
step an angler can do to insure the fish that bite end up in the bottom of a
landing net. I like to sharpen hooks
using a double rattail file because it removes material from two sides of the
hook on every stroke. I grab the hook with the point facing away from me and
push the file parallel to the hook point two or three strokes.
This creates a
knife edge on the hook that cuts deeper and stays stuck better than the round
needle points that come on most of the hooks found on crankbaits. Flat diamond
stones that have a groove cut in them to accept fish hooks are another great
way to sharpen a fish hook.
Metal files tend
to remove material faster, so it pays to tread lightly when sharpening hooks
with files. Metal files also rust easily and must be lubricated with a light
oil often.
A flat diamond
stone takes a few more strokes and a little more work to sharpen hooks, but
these stones last for decades with virtually zero maintenance.
CHANGING OUT HOOKS
A few crankbaits
on the market come factory supplied with premium hooks. Most of these baits
however are equipped with “adequate” hooks and hardware at best. Re-hooking
baits using premium after market treble hooks is a great way to not only insure
these baits have razor sharp hooks on them, but also hooks that function better
than the run of the mill trebles generally provided on crankbaits.
Premium hooks
are sharper out of the package. A good example are Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp
series of needle point hooks. Chemically sharpened these hooks are “sticky”
sharp right out of the package and affordable enough an angler can justify
using them generously.
In the Lazer
Sharp series anglers can pick from wide bend Kahle hooks or traditional round
bend style trebles. Wide bend Kahle style hooks tend to hold a little better
because the inward angle of the hook point applies more pressure at the point
which in turn drives the hook home a little better than round bend, straight
shaft hooks.
 |
| Eagle Claw Trokar TK310 |
Because the
Trokar and other super premium hooks are expensive many anglers use them only
to replace the tail treble. This option makes sense because most of the fish
caught on a crankbait are going to come to the boat hooked on the tail treble.
DO COLOR HOOKS MATTER?
A growing number
of anglers are also switching to brightly anodized color hooks. Many anglers
feel that using brightly colored red or chartreuse hooks helps in attracting
fish to their favorite lures. The jury is still out on whether colored hooks
attract fish or not, but confidence is a big part of fishing success. If using
colored hooks gives an angler more confidence I can see no reason not to.
HOOK SIZE MATTERS
When I go to the
trouble of replacing factory supplied hooks on my crankbaits, many times I’m
also going to opt for a replacement hook that is slightly larger in size. Going
up one hook size is a good way to improve the hooking ability of most
crankbaits. This rule of thumb applies primarily to round bend treble hooks.
Wide bend or Kahle style hooks already provide a wider hook gap and in turn
hook and hold better. In the case of Kahle hooks go with the same hook size
provided by the factory on most lures.
Increasing the
hooks used on crankbaits more than one hook size is risky business. Most crankbaits have a delicate
balance that can be easily destroyed by using too large and heavy a hook.
Some anglers
like to replace the tail treble with a hook two sizes larger and then remove
the belly treble hook to compensate for weight and balance. In snag ridden
areas it may be a good idea to remove the belly hook on some crankbaits, but
it’s also important to monitor the action of these lures closely to insure they
are still wiggling the way they should.
SPLIT RING ISSUES
The split rings
used to attach treble hooks to crankbaits are also an issue. Sometimes these
split rings are so small they bind on the treble hook, especially when
switching out hooks for models one size larger. Using a larger split ring
insures that the hooks will hang and swing freely.
A few industry insiders
go a step further and use two split rings on the trebles of their prized
crankbaits. Using two split rings gives the hook more freedom to twist and
works to prevent fish from leveraging against the hook during the fight.
When using two
split rings on a crankbait, be sure to match those lures up with short shank
treble hooks. Otherwise the overall length of the split ring and treble hook
can lead to problems like the tail hook catching on the belly hook.
A good pair of
split ring pliers makes it easy to replace split rings and hooks without poking
your fingers in the process! I keep a pair in all my boats and also a spare
pair on my work bench I use often when tackle tinkering off the water.
LURE STORAGE
Most anglers who
own a lot of crankbaits store them in utility boxes. In a typical 3700 style
utility box I divide the compartments into six spaces and place four lures of
the same color in each compartment for a total of 24 baits per box. If I have a
lot of faith in a particular lure, I’m going to carry on board with me three or
four utility boxes designated for that particular brand and lure model.
For most lures I
feel confident carrying 24 to 48 baits of a particular brand and model. When I
buy new lures I have not yet fished with, I normally start out with 12 baits in
six different color options. Then if this lure starts catching fish, I expand
on the number of baits I carry and also color options.
I also like to
print labels to stick on my crankbait boxes so I can identify what brand and
model of lure is stored inside at a glance.
 |
|
The author has an extensive collection of crankbaits that he uses to target
all types of fish. Keeping those baits in good working order requires
annual maintenance many anglers don’t think about.
|
SUMMING IT UP
Crankbaits are
fish catching machines and with a little “tweaking” these lures can be even
more deadly. Modifying crankbaits in the off season is almost as much fun as
fishing and a great way to hit the water ready for action come spring.
