Adding a Treble Hook to a Swimbait

FLW Pro Fishing Tip of the Week
Chevy Pro Jay Yelas, Corvallis, Oregon

Sometimes fish will hit at a swimbait as it goes by, but not get the hook inside their mouths because of the angle of their approach. When that happens consistently, I’ll add a Size 2 treble hook to the bait and let it dangle under the belly as a stinger hook. If you rig a swimbait Texas style, just put the hook point through the head, bring it down and turn it, and before you reinsert it up through the lure’s body, put the point through the eye of the treble. Then you go ahead and reinsert the point into the swimbait. That’s all there is to it. As long as the eye of the treble is free on the shaft of the single hook, it won’t affect the action of the bait. If fish are smacking the swimbait pretty good anyway, you don’t need a stinger hook. Otherwise, you don’t want to use this rig in water that has a lot of snags in it. In open water where you’re dealing with short-strikers, though, it works great.