I love STS magazine and was excited to see it in my mailbox this morning, but the photo on page 61 confused me. Are treble hooks necessary on spoons and spinners to catch fall salmon? I thought it was illegal in some places. In fact, on some rivers the single hook has to be barbless.

I'm not picking on STS, again, I like the magazine and the people involved with it. And I'm not picking on the author of the article, but as a "single hook" angler it bothered me. Am I alone on this or do any of you feel the same way?

Depends on the regs for the specific river that was targeted. There are lots of waters where trebles are legal and widely used.

Did the article happen to mention which river, or in what State the author was fishing?

Trebles on spoons?

Why would you even want to?

Three hooks are NOT better than one, imo.

I'm sure it is legal to use trebles in the river the article mentioned, but as I was saying, is it necessary? There must be a reason that some rivers(in some states/countries) only allow single hooks. Personally I think that single hooks allow an angler to release fish easier, reduces the chance of accidental snagging, and the fish stays on the lure better because it can't pry itself off by using one of the three trebles.

I have modified my plugs to single hooks, too.
Again, I'm just curious how many "single-hook" minded anglers are out there.

I have lost more fish with treble hooks on spoons.......finally figured it was worth the time to change 'em all out for single siwashes.

I got mine yesterday also and noted that they quote someone saying that a particular fishery has been under utilized for too long, or something to that effect.

I'm sure that'll make the day of the folks that plan their vacations around THAT fishery every year.

Snake my friend, the Pandora's box you are about to open with this question will undoubtedly be as, if not more dangerous than both of your previous escapes!

i havent seen the magazine, but i hope to god they're not pulling a F&H lies debacle on the nisqually, only this time with salmon

So... Chum Man, let me get this straight, are you sayin' that there's good salmon fishin' on the Nisqually that you don't want anyone to know about?

Naw, it was a Vancouver Island Chinook fishery...honestly I can't remember where it was.

4salt - nahhhh, havent caught a fish in years out of the nisko...it's an untapped uhhhh sucker fishery there that the locals dont want ya to know about

regardless of whats legal or illegal no one should be using treble hook in any situation wherefish that have to be released may be caught. That includes spinners spoons plugs etc. It's time we as sport anglers look out for these fish ourselves WDFW isn't doing it. singles hold better anyway

The river in the Article is the Umpqua. On most rivers here in Oregon it is legal to use treble hooks. You may use up to 3 if you like.
I use trebles on my Kwik Fish and spinners But on my Wiggle warts I run singles.

Another thing In Oregon you can use barbed hooks on everything but sturgeon and salmon in the Ocean

Snake and Rob

you will likely be as surprized as most anglers and study participants were that single siwash hooks on lures do more damage to salmon and steelhead survival rates than treble hooks do.

Several studies were done on various hooking and releasing methods for their effect on survival rates prior to the National Marine Fisheries Service decisions were made on allowing spring chinook and other anadromous specie seasons on the Columbia River. The studies were done to determine what the Fed ESA fish were able to withstand. The ODFW was one of the main study groups, under supervision by the NMFS (who's main job is to protect endangered stocks of wild salmon and steelhead).

Studies surprisingly revealed that siwash hooks were more often taken deeper and into the gills than trebles hooks were. The trebles were found to more often have one of the 3 tines stick somewhere in the outer mouth area before it went deeper toward the gills. And being of a much larger profile than siwash's made them less prone to deeper penetration. The study did reveal a bit more damage of mouth tissue from the removal of trebles than removal of single siwash hooks, but that was most often in less mortal effecting tissue. The gills, which get hooked more often by the siwash's, are much more survival affecting tissue.

That was surprising for me to hear and read about. But these studies are apparently available thru the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Your posted statement above that "singles hold better anyway" seems to go hand in hand with their findings, and gives it more credibility.

Sandpiper has it right. Numerous studies have found that trebels are no more damaging to fish than singles. I do agree that they are less effective than a single siwash for keeping a fish hooked.

This has been a consistent finding from ocean salmon studies to Yellowstone cutthroat studies. The single largest factor effecting hooking mortality is bait.