It's Slamin time again. Alot of spinners being thrown.
I've heard both sides, off this board, trebles hook more fish, and singles hook more fish.

Which do you think you have the most success with?
Lets say, it's legal to use either in a river for salmon, which is more productive?

I think they both work effectively well.
I tend to believe my confidence in hooking and landing a Salmon goes up when I have a Treble.

I'm the opposite, singles hook and hold better, particularly when push comes to shove and you bave to shut that fish down or rootwad him. On a spinner, I use a #4/0 commercial mustad SS - short shank, long point, and point to shank right out to the legal limit. These look just like the hook that comes with a 4" Coyote. I pinch the barb always but with that long point the hook stays in just fine, and I can file them razor sharp. And these work particulary well with my homemade SS springwire weedguard, so I don't lose spinners. The only thing I ever use a treble for is on a jig in the saltchuck, and I'm not sure they help that much - maybe hook a few more but they don't stay on as well. And I sure don't hook many cutthroat or smolts with that huge hook. Trebles are for snaggers :p

Been reading this board for sometime and thought i had better share what info i know. ive been fishing s.w. wa rivers since i was 15, not an expert at all but i can put fish in the boat (sometimes).. anyway the treb and siwash debate....me personally i go with the siwash, why, simply for the ease of releasing fish.. i think both are effective,, its just that rare time when you get a native and all three barbs got his mouth wired shut.

look in the regulations book, if it says "non-bouyant line restriction" for the river that your fishing, that means any lure that sinks (spinners, spoons, etc.) can not have a treble hook on it. if you have lures with trebles, just cut them off and add a siwash hook.

When it is required single hooks , I like the octo. hooks better then the Siwash, smaller.

If you want to try a great treble hook, try the Mustad Triple grip. These trebles hook and hold. I replaced all the stock hooks on my plugs with them, once you hook a fish you can count on it not throwing the hook.

One of my 'secrets' is replacing my trebles with the 'new' colored hooks (maily octo). Especially in the low clear water, the dull grey and green seem to help in this situation. The reds and hot pinks are also a good way to spice up a lure. Sometimes I'll even att a small bit of yarn wich I add scent to. - oops - there's 2 'secrets' I think it may also help a little when the fish try to spit the hook quickly (yarn catches in the teeth...). Between the added color, scent, and possible teeth catching, yarn seems to be a good move. Just don't put on too much on a spoon (unless you are purposely trying to slow down the action...).

I think this works will when the fish have been more pressured and get gun shy around anything that is too 'shiny'.

Only problem I have with the octo vs the siwash is that I have to either bend the hook or add a split ring to the octo - most siwash have an open eye for quickly slipping on and clamping to your spinner\spoon.

Since most of the waters I fish (trout, salmon, steelhead) require single\barbless (like the snoqualmie and its forks), I tend to do this as soon as I bring the spinners\spoons home.

What about Hot Shots? Treble or single?
I've seen both on them, is there a advantage to one over the other?
I own abunch of Hot Shots but don't really use them.

Remember, we are talking about in a river where it's legal to use either.

I have a lot of my plugs rigged with single hooks. All of my kwikfish get them, even in rivers that dont require trebles. I'm absolutely convinced they work just fine.

On wiggle warts, I use singles a lot of the time, but don't always change them out like I do on the kwikkies.
I don't use hot shots much. They don't seem to catch fish for me like the warts do.

on the topic of plugs, I have another trick a guide taught me years ago and it will increase the holding power by threefold. Just after you cut the treble hook off and throw it away, install a split ring on the plug body at the eye where the hook was attached to and place a GOOD swivell (I prefer McMann style) on the split ring with another split ring on the other side of the swivell. Now install the new Siwash on the outward split ring and crimp the eyey of the hook closed. This makes it nearly impossible for the fish to "shake "free of the plug. When he /she throws their head and body violently around the hook will move freely and will not bind, get the picture? This works killer for any type of plug and I loose about 1 in 10 fish now compared to an average of 3 or 4 that held untill I started to practice this method.

After having probably a 50% hook up rate using K-15's with trebles last year. I decide to switch to 3/0 siwash with swivels this year.

So far so good, one day fishing with K-15's two strikes and two fish in the net. We'll see how things go the rest of the year.

Trebles catch,trees,rocks,weeds,SMOLTS,and everything else you will not want!

Siwash catch FISH.

I hate trebles and every now and then I will fish one just to remind my self why!

Just bought some Pink Wiggle Warts for HO's. Taked to a guy on the Sack, he kills the Ho's on them!!!

Should I remove the front hook completly and replace the rear with a swivel and a siwash?

Do trebles on shots or warts snag up?

Like I said, I don't fish plugs much.
Thanks, Gee

Both work, no question. But how many with trebles are you willing to lose is the question?
If your bouncing them of the bottem which one will hang up first
I have found that this is a very productive way to fish them for both Salmon and Steelhead. When they are not on the move for the most part they are holding to some kind of structure, so if you realy think about it snigles are the best, for me anyway

G-MAN
As far as the weedless goes, you got it going on.

i like to use both treble and single. i use singles for spoons and bait, and i use trebles for spinners and jigs.

Got almost all my gear set-up with single siwash hooks. Thats spoons, spinners and plugs too. Catch rate is staying the same and the fish I choose to release aren't near as torn-up as when using trebles....C/22