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Spring 2025
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Author, and tournament angler Glenn Walker, gives you his TroKar hook choices, and Bass Pro Tour Pro, Brent Ehrler, gives you his Gamakatsu hook choices:
BRENT EHRLER’S - GAMAKATSU HOOKS
WACKY/NEKO: G-Finesse Weedless Stinger – “There is not a tournament I fish, where I don’t have this hook tied on,” said Ehrler. He’ll use it for a wacky or Neko Rig, and even use it on a drop shot when I’m wacky rigging the plastic. “For me it’s all about efficiency, by simplifying the amount of gear I use and have to pack, so this hook covers multiple basis.”
ALL-ROUND TREBLE HOOK: G-Finesse Treble – “This is the best treble hook, you can put on a hard bait, for multiple scenarios and baits,” stated Ehrler. This treble hook is very thin, but it is a stiff hook, so it doesn’t bend, and the rigidity helps with hook penetration. It has a slight O’Shaughnessy bend that helps land the bass and Nano Smooth Coating acts like a lubricant, so you get better penetration in the fish’s mouth.
FLIPPING HOOK: G-Power Heavy Cover Worm Flip and Punch Hook – If you are flipping or pitching a soft plastic on Texas-rig, you’ll land more bass with a straight shank hook, than you would an offset or EWG bend hook. “You get more direction penetration when setting hook, and the wide gap O’Shaughnessy works well with the beefier plastics. “This hook I can fish on braid or fluorocarbon, and I have enough power to get solid penetration,” explained Ehrler.
GLENN WALKER’S - TROKAR HOOKS
WORM: Pro V Bend Worm Hook – I like the Pro V style from TroKar, as I feel they have a little more room for the plastic to slide on the hook set, resulting in increased hook ups.
FLIPPING: Pro V Flippin’ Hook – Based off the original TK130 Flippin’ Hook, with the Pro V barb that keeps your plastic securely in place, the Pro V bend helps keep bass buttoned up.
DROP SHOT: Pro V Drop – The NEW Pro V Drop Shot Hook helps keep the bait in place when wanting to keep a horizontal presentation and enhances the baits action in the water.
WACKY/NEKO: Pro V Bend Finesse Hook – Unique pro v bend design, which keeps your soft plastics in place, resulting in less time rigging baits and more time with your bait being properly presented in the water.
fluorocarbon line. You’ll want to keep a selection of both standard Extra Wide Gap and MagWorm models ranging from 1/0 all the way up to 6/0. When making longer casts or fishing a bait on a Carolina-rig, a preferred choice is the standard. The MagWorm gets the nod when fishing in heavy vegetation.
TIP: I use Extra Wide Gap hook on a creature bait in lieu of the below mentioned flipping hook, when I’m making longer pitches or casts to a target, such as a weed line or point. I like how a plastic bait looks on an extra wide gap when making a cast, compared to a flipping style hook.
SPECIALTY HOOKS: Hook manufactures have developed their line of hooks based off input from anglers; so, don’t overlook specialty hooks that allow plastic baits to perform better in the water and will increase hookup ratio.
• Tube baits: A specific hook for a tube bait is a must as
this bait has two walls of plastic to get through when
setting the hook. The design of these hooks put the
hook point right in the sweet spot and allow it to be
rigged smoothly.
• Flipping: Without a doubt one of the most sought-
after specialty hooks on the market is a flipping
hook. These stout hooks are straight shank hooks,
which increase the hook up percentage when flipping.
Securing the bait on the hook is very important
because the proper presentation is crucial when
dropping a bait in front of fish’s’ face.
• Swimbait: The soft plastic swimbait has grown to be a
mainstay lure in many bass anglers’ arsenal. The key
characteristics of a swimbait hook are a plastic keeper, an angled hook eye, and possibly a weight on the bend of the hook. These hooks are especially designed to allow a swimbait to swim naturally in the water. If they aren’t swimming naturally, it is likely a bass won’t show interest in it.
• Drop Shot: Finesse fishing for bass is becoming more
crucial for an angler’s success, primarily because bass
are seeing more and more pressure on our lakes and
rivers. Since these hooks are predominately small an
extremely sharp hook is even more important now
than ever. A preferred size is 1 or 1/0.
• Finesse: A newer style of hook to the bass fishing
market in the last few years, which is being used by
anglers for wacky-rigging stick baits, drop shotting
or Neko rigging. Some brands also offer a weedless
version, that features hand-tied weed guards. These
work well for skipping boat docks and fishing shallow
water cover.
As you look to stock up your tackle box for that next bass fishing trip, be sure to have a wide variety of hooks for your plastics, the styles above will cover any soft plastic bait that you may have and by keeping hooks in a wide array of sizes, you’ll be able to select the right hook to match the size of your plastic bait.
Glenn has been in fishing tournaments for over twenty years, spreading his passion and knowledge of the sport via articles and videos. •