I love my Whoppers, but I have to say that the hooks are pretty intimidating. It so often seems that a bass will somehow get five of the six hooks embedded in it. A lot of times it's all three hooks of one treble deep into its mouth and two of the other hooks caught on the outside down near the gills or somewhere.

Trying to unhook that mess while the fish is flopping can be dangerous, not to mention the stress on the fish. I've never had hooks into me past the barbs but the thought kind of scares me. I'm thinking about switching a few to barbless. Can't bring myself to pinch the barb on factory hooks.

Who has switched the factory hooks to barbless? Where did you buy them? Have you gone from treble to single? Any other advice?

Thanks.
Tom

I've replaced rusted hooks with split ring pliers. You'll definitely want a pair of those.

Another thing is to remove treble hooks on lures with multiple treble hooks. Just retain the tail hook.

There are several options and, like so many things in life, it's all about tradeoffs. How do you value the cost of each decision vs the benefit?

The downside to modifying your lures in the ways described is perhaps altering the natural motion of the lure and the attendant risk of boating fewer fish. If you can get past that then by all means modify away. Lots of benefits there...ease of hook extraction leads to fewer injuries and less fish mortality particularly when you're practicing catch and release.

Barbless hooks are mandatory in Quetico and I believe you'll find that a lot of folks who pinch down their barbs never bother replacing their hooks when the get home.

Always switch out trebles for single hooks on any lure I use up there. Much easier on the fish, and my hands….

When the Q went barbless I switched out a lot of my lures with barbless trebles. Not hard to do.

At this point I just pinch the barb down though. Not sure it was worth the effort…but back then…I had free time and it was a fun afternoon project.

T

Grind the barbs off with a Dremel tool. You won’t lose many fish on a barbless treble hook.

walllee: "Always switch out trebles for single hooks on any lure I use up there. Much easier on the fish, and my hands…."

+1

The hooks on a whopper Plopper are about the sharpest hooks on the planet. There are Facebook posts that are nothing but pictures of multiple hooks in their body. I only fish these for bass but an occasional pike takes one too. That is exciting to get the hooks out of a pike.

Personally I will not be removing the barbed hooks because I see zero reason to do so. I only bend the barbs down when in Canada. But if you want to remove the treble hooks, be sure to get a split ring pliers. Makes the job easy and fast.

On other lures I have used in Canada, I have just bent the barbs down. Just go on Amazon and buy barbless Mustad treble hooks.

I replaced all my trebles with singles, specifically, Owner 1X strong single replacement hooks. I then pinched down the barbs. You may know that the single hooks are larger, but if not, here is a link to a conversion chart .

When I started out replacing my trebles with single hooks I bought a few packages of name brand hooks in packages of 5 or 6 at a time, a rather pricey endeavor if you have a lot of baits. Then I discovered these generic in-line hooks in bulk, bought several sizes and replaced all the hooks on my crankbaits and spoons and have not looked back. The hooks are sharp and beefy and I have not had one break or bend out.



Generic In-Line hooks

Ausable: "I replaced all my trebles with singles, specifically, Owner 1X strong single replacement hooks. I then pinched down the barbs. You may know that the single hooks are larger, but if not, here is a link to a conversion chart ."

Good info, thank you.
Tom

After fishing Quetico the past two years with pinched down barbs I found it much easier to unhook fish especially if tangled in the net. A barbed treble hook in the net makes it harder to release fish and a real time killer. Also who wants a barbed hook in their hand.

I-Hawk: "After fishing Quetico the past two years with pinched down barbs I found it much easier to unhook fish especially if tangled in the net. A barbed treble hook in the net makes it harder to release fish and a real time killer. Also who wants a barbed hook in their hand. "

agree 100%. Also much easier to remove from your own hide.

Ausable: "You may know that the single hooks are larger, but if not, here is a link to a conversion chart ."

Super helpful. Is there an easy way to tell what size treble hook I have on my lures?

Chuckles: "

Ausable: "You may know that the single hooks are larger, but if not, here is a link to a conversion chart ."

Super helpful. Is there an easy way to tell what size treble hook I have on my lures? "

I apologize that I did not see your question earlier. One fast way to determine treble size is to check the lure manufacturer's web site for a particular lure. Often the hook size will be among the specs for the lure in question. I have a 2016 printable brochure from Jann's Netcraft that shows life-size pictures of various hooks. I still use images in that brochure to check my hooks if I have questions.

Argo:

Barbless hooks are mandatory in Quetico and I believe you'll find that a lot of folks who pinch down their barbs never bother replacing their hooks when the get home."

100%!