What kinds of hooks do you spoon chuckers prefer--Siwash or treble? I've read that spoon guru Bill Herzog prefers Siwash, but I'm curious what the rest of you think.

Definitely go with Siwash and run your hooks so that they point up. A spoon will generally flutter with the convex side of the spoon down, so you want the Siwash facing the concave side of the spoon.

Well, I'm not MUCH of a hardware guy, except in the summer, and I can tell you one thing. Based on my, and others, experience, Siwash hooks snag a LOT less, you get more snagged lures back, and the fish tend to stay on the hook longer, as a steelhead especially, will use the treble hook to it's advantage, and will roll it in it's mouth, working the hook out. Now as Bob claims, the siwash hooks do more damage to a fish that is going to be C&R, because you have a single hook ripping trough it's mouth, tearing tissue that would not be torn with a solid two or three hook set. Trebles are nice, but if you want to save money, go with Siwash. Unless you are fishing for nates, or have a GOOD possibility of hooking them.

Just my .02

Tom

The damage issue is interesting. Most C&R regs. call for single, barbless, baitless hooks, which means no treble hooks. I'd like to hear more regarding the argument that treble hooks cause less damage than Siwash.

I use Siwash simply because I use hardware the most on nates and regs. require single barbless during the spring when most nates show up (at least on the Skykomish). My success rate at landing fish is high enough for me. Generally the steelhead slam it so hard that the fish isn't going anywhere unless it snaps your line. Hatch brats don't seem to be as receptive to hardware so I rarely break them out during the winter.

I do know a couple of spooners who have considerable experience and success using hardware for summer run who prefer trebles to single. Say they hold better. They also say get very high quality and large enough treble hooks because steelhead can straighten out ones that are cheap and/or undersized (which come with most hardware).

I believe the hook damage is directly related to the size of the hook you use. The worst hooking on fish I have caught has been on hardware with siwash.(Damaged eyes and deep gill hooking) Siwash definately snag less and at .50 to $4.00 spoon, hook type becomes a important issue. I use siwash on spoons and spinners because you need to bounce bottom. Plugs should be rigged with trebles. I would recommend the gamakatsu siwash hooks for your spoons and spinners. VMC hook points don't hold up to the rock beatings. Not sure about mustad and eagle claw since I have tried those siwashes.

Just a note:

Lennox Dick, MD, writes a column called "Interesting Fish Facts" in STS mag. In an issue a while back they had an article on this very subject. Their study stats showed single point hooks make more lethal wound than trebles, size for size. I think the state regs reflect the notion that it is easier to unhook a fish from a single than treble hook, therby minimizing how much you have to handle them.

I KNOW this much. The wounds I inflicted on some of the silvers I caught on the Satsop this year would surely have been fatal, leading me to keep a couple bleeding natives I would normally have released. But since the regs reuire it, I had no choice but to use them.

I like using siwashes on spinners and spoons, but I've always preferred trebs on my plugs. But this year, they were replaced with siwashes and they do make DEEP wounds.


Fish on..........