Treble Trouble

Just found this site a couple of days ago so I thought I’d jump in.
I’m in the process of replacing the treble hooks on a couple dozen of my crankbaits. I’ve read that it can be a good idea to upsize the hooks from the factory originals. The down side is that some cranks are finely tuned for the original size hooks. However most factory trebles are lower quality and can be easily upgraded and upsized without affecting performance. Anyone have any Ideas on which ones can be upsized and which ones should’t Thanks

Welcome to IDA Gunflint …wish I could help but there’s plenty of knowledge just waiting to read this post.

welcome to the site gunflint.I know a few guys who change out the hooks for bigger or better hooks. Myself the only time i change hooks is when a hook gets destroyed. I dont have a problem with the factory hooks and go by the old saying if it aint broke then dont fix it. I think alot of fish are lost on crankbaits cause of stiff rods.In other words the hooks are getting pulled out as you fight the fish. If you use a rod made for cranking it will make all the difference in the world. Ofcourse i have been wrong before

Welcome to IDA Gunflint! I’ve replaced trebles after they’ve been destroyed by fish (which doesn’t happen enough!). I try to use the same size but even if they aren’t the crankbait usually seems to work. Sometimes you get differnet action with different sized hooks and that isn’t all bad either.

Man, I haven’t been on the Gunflint in years. The last time we were up there we got kicked out of the Windigo Lodge because my buddy’s dog puked on the floor.

Rootski

Larger, more aggressive and heavier cranks won’t be as effected as much as a smaller, lighter and more shallow running plug if you upsize the hooks. A #7 rattlin fat rap deep diver is going to run fine with upsized hooks where I can tell you from experience that larger hooks on a #5 balsa bodied shad rap pretty much kills the action. The same goes for most stickbaits like original floating raps and smaller husky jerks. With a little experiementation you’ll be able to know which ones you can do this too and get away with the larger hooks.