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Location: SE Wisconsin | For as long as I've been throwing Dawgs, I've always snipped the dorsal hook. I believe snipping these solid (un-swinging hooks/no split-ring) hooks improves hookups and keeping them pinned.
That said, on occasion I've had some fish clamp down on the soft rubber, including the back (shown by the tooth tears) and when I set the hook, never drove the hooks home, which forces me to second guess my choice to snip the dorsal hook. I always assume it's easier to get their mouth around the bait and feels less foreign... We all know ski's don't like spiney baitfish. Secondly, if they are hooked by that top hook, it's un-swiveling stability allows little to no play when the fish is headshaking. . . Possibe losses ensue.
This may be a win/lose v.s. lose/win adjustment, meaning you win some and lose some due to either option, but for now I'll keep snipping away. . . Unless someone has some solid points to address that would have me leaving my knipex in the pocket.
Thoughts?
Edited by Sam Ubl 5/18/2010 11:53 AM
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Posts: 444
| I've been debating snipping the top hook on some of my rubber, I lost two fish last year with the Top hook in place....Really hesitat to cut that top hook though.. |
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Posts: 540
Location: MN | Cut that sucker off. Like you said the top hook is solid no movement when there head shaking it just tears a big hole then falls out. My Shack Attacks don't have top hooks and neither do my dawgs. |
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Posts: 427
Location: Wausau | Very true Sam: risk/reward. This past late summer-fall I used both examples you stated. In my experience, I have lost more fish when I did not cut the top hook. I've also noticed the "bite" seems less aggressive or maybe the lure is dropped quicker. I've had this conversation with others and can recall only two fish others told me they caught on the top hook. Since, I have cut the top hook on all size dawgs I toss. Plus, less chance of a foul cast and they store easier 
Sam - PM next time your on the 3 Lakes Chain, I'll be fishing there more this summer b/c we're building a garage at the cottage...and maybe a dock extension. |
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| top it
you will get less restriction when you set the hook,and you will save some life |
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Posts: 43
| I've seen posts about this before. I too used to cut them off. As for my partner and me we'd NEVER cut them. Have caught many a fish and large ones with just the single hook thru the roof. I think todays super lines and longer rods can drive the hook home. I went so far as rigging a treble hook back on the top of a bulldawg years ago after hacking it off. It was the best dawg I ever had. She's now retired as it got chewed up and turned hard, probably from the magic marker color changes. Big Joes are the same, see more fish hooked with the back hook.
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | How many other lures out there have hooks on the top? Does it need it? If it doesn't need it is it going to cause lost fish? IMO yes.
Roof of the mouth hook ups lead to lost fish. There isn't much gap in those hooks until you get to the pounder. Unless you wait for the fish to turn away you're going to put that hook somewhere that it won't stay for very long. Simply one of the best baits ever invented and nearly as versatile as a spinnerbait.
Edited by Will Schultz 5/18/2010 3:40 PM
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Posts: 294
Location: Bloomer, Wi | Ihave cut every top hook on my mag dawgs, mainly cause the flouro leader will eventually get hung up on it when ripping the bait back to the boat, and because it is too small/ not big enough gap. Now I do keep the top hook on the pounders, they are over sized with wide gap and there is times when I think it improves hook ups because it is stationary-when you pull it has to move and cant be pushed into the side of the body of the bait like a hook on a split ring. |
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Posts: 536
| I have never caught any huge fish on them yet but caught big northerns and some muskies in the 30-40" class and there was a couple hooked but the top hook only. going from bulldawg brand to superd to savage gear or whatever the brand is the top hooks are all different sizes so it may depend. I have never heard of this myself but makes me nervous maybe I should clip mine! |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | I haven't cut the top hook at all on any of mine. If anything, I've just upsized the trebles on the bottoms. I haven't had any issues that I know of due to the top hook, and have only caught one fish on the top hook that I can remember (and that was on a regular dog). Of course, you'll miss a few fish on dawgs throughout the year, but I haven't lost enough to warrent cutting the top hooks.
That being said, I've thrown more and more of the hardheads in the past year and that doesn't have the top hook, and is a great hooking bait with the hard sides so maybe the top hook on the dawgs isn't necessary. Does that change the action on the dawgs at all? I see the top hook as almost being a rudder for the bait. So I could see it rolling more. Maybe I'm over thinking, but I hate when my dawgs roll when you rip them. They get tuned when that happens, but if the top hook makes for easier tuning, I may have to leave them be. I'm open to opinions though, and may have to snip a few hooks to see how that impacts the hooking and action of the baits. |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | Joel - No change in action at all. Also, on many of mine I simply bend the top hook down into the top of the bait. This helps keep the head locked in, especailly on the older models with the 7-strand.
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Good to know Will. Thanks for the info. I'll definitely change a few up to see what happens. |
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Posts: 229
| I have hooked a couple on the top hook on the regular dog. I believe I have hooked one or two on the magnum. I always widen the gap on the top hook and bend it out slightly from the body. On advise from others, I usually cut the top hook off pounders.
John |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | More of a gap? Can you explain a little more - there seems to be a pretty large gap already, those hooks are huge on the dorsal.
Joel, as I mentioned, I've always cut them off - a word of advise given to me when I started throwing them from Neil Barnett. Absolutely no difference in the straight glide on the rip or sweep that I've noticed, and I'm on your page - I hate it when they don't ride 100% straight on the pull.
It seems to me that if the fish hooks up to the bottom trebles and the stationary top hook, the two variables may fight eachother, so to speak, and possibly cause the fish to come un-glued. I personally feel that when the fish clamps down and is hooked up with the bottom trebles, the soft rubber back helps keep their mouths shut as they have something to sink their teeth into (more natural). You hear of skis being caught with no hooks in them, they were just clamped on to the sucker, what have you. Too often, when you fish with a hard bait, you see them come to the surface and head shake - mouth wide open trying to spit the hooks... Risky and scary.
For now I think I'll continue to snip away, but I'll leave them be on the Joe's.
PS: I'll say this, I had a LARGE fish eat a Magdawg whole right in front of me from the tail, not T-boned. I reared back into a hookset and the fight was on for about 3 long seconds before the fish got off. . . Both trebles were in her mouth, but something tells me the amount of rubber helped protect her from getting hooked. My point is that her teeth must have been stuck so well to that rubber, when set the hook, it didn't rip or give enough to drive the hooks home. A couple open mouth headshakes and she was free to go... I can't help but wonder if I would have had a better chance with that dorsal hook...
Edited by Sam Ubl 5/19/2010 12:29 PM
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Posts: 229
| To widen the gap, bend the point and barb away from the bait body with a pliers or vice grips. A stock bull dawg will have the point/barb parallel to the shank, bending the point this way moves it away from parallel. This makes the point stick out more and I think your chances of hooking one with it become better. This is a good trick on single hook spinnerbaits as well.
John |
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| +1 for no dorsal hook on mags but leave it alone on the bigger stuff. I landed two four-footers hooked on the dorsal only of two-pounders last fall! One down side: fish hooked well on the dorsal hook (ie. all the way thru the jaw) can be very hard to unhook w/o cutting the hook! |
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