Hook Maintenance

Hook maintenance starts with buying quality hooks for both your soft plastics and other lures. My personal favorite for plastics are Gamakatsu hooks. They are very sharp right out of the bag and don't require any initial sharpening. In fact if you sharpen them at 1st, you will probably make them slightly duller than right out of the bag.

After catching a fish, or getting stuck in heavy reeds, grass or timber always check the point of your hook to make sure that it is sharp. It could be damaged i.e. the hook tip could be bent. In this case, discard the hook and get a new one. If it is only dull from rubbing/friction, sharpen it.

I prefer a hook file over a stone. The main reason is the speed at which I can sharpen my hook. A stone takes much longer. I prefer to start the hook at approximately a 30-40 degree angle to the file blade with the point of the hook pointing away from the handle. Start the stroke near the handle side stroking away from your body with moderate pressure. File one side for 4-5 strokes, then flip the hook and repeat. If you start the hook from the far side and bring it toward you, you will form a weak hook tip with very little steel if the point of the hook is pointing away from the handle. If you prefer to stroke towards you, make sure the point is pointing towards you.

After some time, it will become very difficult to sharpen the hook due to the cross sectional area of the hook point is becoming larger. At this point, discard the hook and start with a new one.

For treble hooks, the process is the same. You still need to sharpen these hooks as well and Gamakatsu also makes some fine treble hooks for replacements. In fact, on my Rattletraps I replace the hooks with Gammies before I even fish with them.

Now that you sharpened your hook, how do you tell if it's sharp enough. What I like to do with the worm hook is to hold the hook point at a 45 degree angle to my thumbnail and apply a small amount of pressure to the hook and try to drag it to the tip of my thumb. It should grab your nail almost immediately. If it doesn't, a few more strokes of the file is needed on each side of the hook point.

One final tip for hooks. Always remove your soft plastics from your hooks. Many of today's soft plastics have salt and other chemicals that readily attack and corrode tempered steels. This will severely weaken your hook and damage your hook point!

Keep your hooks in good shape and your sure to do more catching with less fishing!

The Largemouth Herald