Single Hook Lures for Trout

Single hook lures for trout just make sense. Most trout anglers release their catch but releasing a fish doesn't guarantee its survival. Scientific studies have shown that spin fishing causes slightly greater post-release mortality than fly fishing. I am sure the type of rod and reel have nothing to do with it. It's the treble hooks that are the problem. Treble hooks cause more damage and take longer to remove than single hooks. The longer a trout is out of water the greater the chance it will die after release - even if it looks fine swimming away. Single hook lures save trout (or so I thought *).

Lures with barbless single hooks are better yet. They often come out by themselves in the net, making the release very quick and easy. Until you get the fish into the net, though, they hold very well (for fish over about 7" - I cannot keep the 5-6" fish from wriggling off single barbless hooks).

If you plan to keep your catch, and if treble hooks are legal where you are fishing, then of course there's no need to go to a single hook - that is, as long as you can be sure you won't catch any fish that are too small to keep!

After decades as a fly fisherman, I started spin fishing for trout again just a few years ago and also started fishing with an ultralight baitcaster. At first, I used the lures I still had from years and years ago - all of which of course had treble hooks. One of the first fish I caught on my new baitcaster was this little wild brown trout. It had to be wild because New York state doesn't stock fish that small.

Somehow it managed to get all three of the hook points stuck in its mouth. I eventually got the hook out but I probably killed the fish in the process. Even though it swam away, I was pretty sure it had been out of the water too long. I thought it might die, but I couldn't keep it because it was too short to be legal. I decided right then to fish single hooks instead of trebles!

Well, just like a New Year's resolution, that decision lasted a while (but only a while). A few months later I was fishing in Montana and had some new Japanese plugs I wanted to try out. They worked very nicely - maybe too nicely. Like most of the minnow-shaped lures in the US, they had two sets of treble hooks. The rainbow in the photo above managed to get four out of the six hook points - two from each hook - firmly embedded in its mouth. I thought I'd never get the hooks out. I probably killed that fish, too, but I was staying in a motel and had no way to cook it. I released it and hoped for the best.

Right then I renewed my resolve, and that time the resolution held!

Since then, I have made it a point to find and import single hook lures for trout, and single barbless replacement hooks for spoons and plugs. Single hook lures are not at all common here in the US, but they do exist in Japan, mostly for fishing in "Areas." Areas are managed, stocked, pay-to-fish lakes, although some Areas also have pay-to-fish streams. 

Pay-to-fish places are not that popular in the US, but they are quite popular in Japan. The ones I know of here are run very differently than the ones in Japan. Here, as far as I know, you pay for the fish. You are expected to keep (and pay for) every fish you catch. In Japan, as I understand it, you pay for the privilege of fishing, but you must release the fish. "Areas" prohibit treble hooks because they do too much damage to the fish. "Lip rippers" are NOT welcome in the Areas!

Single Hook Lures - Jigs

Jigs are probably the simplest single hook lures that you can cast easily with an ultralight spinning rod or an ultralight baitcaster. Although jigs are generally associated with bass or panfish in the US, they have a following among trout anglers as well. Simple marabou jigs have caught trout for years and years. Jig heads and small plastics are more recent, and are just as effective.

There is no question that small jigs and plastics work for trout. I've had trout grab them near the end of the retrieve, with only a few feet of line still beyond the rod tip - and then start jumping! As exciting as that is, I have found that spoons and plugs elicit an even more dramatic response. When fishing a pool that has more than a few trout in it, it is not unusual for several to race each other to get to the lure first. I don't know if it is the flash or the action or a combination of both, but something about both spoons, spinners and plugs draws strikes from fish that have ignored a jig and plastic.

Single Hook Lures - Spoons

Shimano Slim Swimmer spoons come with single barbless hooks.

Areas require single hook lures, mostly single hook spoons or plugs that might have a single hook or a pair of single hooks. The hooks on lures that are designed specifically for Areas are all barbless. The Shimano Slim Swimmer spoons work as well in streams for wild trout as in Areas for stocked trout. They have barbless hooks and come in 1.5g, 2.5g 3.5g and 5g weights.

Although in Japan spoons are used primarily in the Areas, I have done very well using spoons in streams.

Micro spoons are the most popular lures for fishing areas. Most are small, smaller than the spoons that are available in the US. Some are very small. The Daiwa Micro Lumion, above, is only 3/4" long.

The  Tenryu Alter RZA61L-T is rated for lures that weigh down to "almost zero." Small, light, single hook spoons cast nicely with the Alter and they do catch fish!

I have been fishing these single hook spoons for a few years now, and I am very impressed with them. Fish smash them. I've seen fish chase them for at least 15 feet before catching them. I've seen three or four fish go after the spoon at the same time. I've seen fish miss the spoon because of the wobble and come back again and again until they got hooked.

Single hook lures hold quite well. Sure, some fish come unhooked, but I think that is because the hook caught just a little bit of skin rather than catching well in the mouth. When a fish is solidly hooked - it's hooked. The single hook spoons don't come out with jumps or head shakes or runs.

However, small trout - the 5-7 inchers - just will not stay on a barbless hook. At least, they won't for me. They wriggle way to much and they wriggle their way off the hook. Largely for that reason, I added single barbed replacement hooks to the shop. The barbs are small and do not cause much tissue damage when you remove the hook. If you are fishing in an area that requires barbless hooks, the barbs are easy to bend down.

There is a huge movement toward barbless hooks, which I support, but I also recognize that scientific studies have shown that the use of barbless hooks does not significantly reduce post-release mortality.** Follow your conscience.

When fishing larger spoons for larger trout, I remove the barbed factory hooks  and put on replacement single barbless hooks (C'ultiva SBL-35 hooks). With the replacement barbless hooks, the spoon often comes out by itself when you get the fish in the net. Releasing a fish couldn't be easier or quicker.

Single Hook Lures - Plugs

Minnow-shaped plugs are excellent trout lures. My focus at Finesse-Fishing.com is on stream fishing more than lake fishing, but nearly all the Japanese plugs I've seen that are designed for use in streams come with treble hooks. The only exceptions I've found to date are from Palms.

I'm very impressed with the Palms Alexandra. I've only had a chance to fish it a few times, but it drew strikes well and held fish well despite having barbless hooks.

Single Hook Lures - Spinners

So far I have found only a few single hook spinners. Luckily, the ones I have found also have built-in swivels and cause relatively little line twist.

I had been curious why Japanese trout anglers rarely use spinners. They generally use micro spoons for stocked fish in lakes and minnow plugs for wild fish in rivers. On a trip to Japan I learned the reason. Two different anglers told me the same thing: spinners are too easy. They said Japanese anglers want more of a challenge. They prefer to impart action to the spoon or plug by twitching the rod tip. Learning just what action the fish want that day is part of the challenge.

That said, there a few Japanese spinners, (and the ones I've used are very good indeed). Also, there are a few Japanese YouTube videos showing spinner fishing for trout in mountain streams.

The Smith Niakis spinner was recommended to me by an angler who has fished all over the world. He said that he didn't understand why I didn't stock the Smith Niakis spinner. I replied that I had a bias against spinners because they cause line twist. He said the Niakis doesn't. In his words they "genuinely don't twist line and are lethal on panfish, bass, trout you name it. Clever design, built in power swivel and offset bodies. These Smith spinners are the real deal, fished them lots on mono, no line twist."

Smith also makes the AR-S single hook spinner. I've found it to be extremely effective, particularly in smaller streams, and it did not cause a problem with line twist. Like the  Niakis, it has three features I really like in a spinner: 1) it comes from the factory with a single hook, 2.) the hook is attached with a split ring, so you can change it if you wish (I replaced the factory barbless hook with a minibarb hook on the one above because I was fishing a stream full of 5-7 inch trout), and 3) the built in swivel really does reduce line twist.

Daiwa Silver Creek Spinners come in other colors.
You don't need other colors.

I have also fished quite a bit with the Daiwa Silver Creek Spinners, and have found them to be quite effective, but they come with treble hooks (which I always replace with single hooks).

Replacement Single Barbless Hooks

As mentioned above, for my own fishing I replace the factory hooks on the Daiwa Silver Creek Spinners with single barbless hooks. A number of hook companies offer them. The ones I carried were the C'ultiva brand, made by Owner and the Presso "Speed" and "Multiplug" hooks by Daiwa. Use the size 8 for the 2 or 3 gram Silver Creek spinners and size 6 for 4 gram spinners or spoons.

Mepps and Panther Martin both make single hook spinners, but the hooks are nowhere near as good as the Presso Speed hooks or even the C'ultiva hooks. Neither of the companies attaches the hook with a split ring, so you would have to cut the hook (no great loss) and install a split ring before attaching the replacement hook of your choice. Easier to buy spinners that attach the hook with split rings, or better yet, come from the factory with high quality single hooks.

The Japanese plugs designed for trout fishing in streams, like the minnow plugs shown above, are really quite effective. Unfortunately, nearly all come with two sets of treble hooks. I remove the front treble and replace the rear one with a single C'ultiva SBL-55M, size 8 or Daiwa Presso Multiplug size 8.

The replacement single barbless hooks for plugs are different than the hooks for spoons. Replacement single hooks for spoons have horizontal eyes. Replacement hooks for plugs have vertical eyes (ie, in the same plane as the hook bend). However, if you add a second split ring, as seen in the photo above, you could use a replacement spoon hook on a plug.

The plugs draw strikes from some very impressive fish. Despite having only a single barbless hook rather than the two trebles, the plugs still hook and hold quite well.

As with the spoons, the plugs with the replacement single barbless hooks often will come out by themselves as soon as you get the fish into the net.

Replacing hooks on plugs is straightforward although it is not as easy as on spoons, and it is not always painless (even with split ring pliers). To me it is worth it though.

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* Although it would seem logical that a single hook lure causes less post-release mortality than a treble hook lure, the science does not support that view.

Most scientific studies are not freely available online. A few years ago, a paper entitled "The Truth About Hooks and Lures" was published in the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Digest. Unfortunately the article is no longer available online. According to the article, the results are clear. Quoting from the article "The data is based on two major scientific papers which reviewed multiple studies; Taylor and White (1992, review of 18 hooking studies); and a review by Mongillo (1984). Both concluded that the number of hooks did not show a statistically significant relationship to hooking mortality"

However, there is a difference in hooking mortality based on the size of the fish. Single hooks resulted in increased mortality of larger fish, as they were more likely to take the lure deeper into the throat, increasing the chances of hooking the gills or being unable to unhook a lure lodged in the gullet. Treble hooks resulted in increased mortality of smaller fish, owing to the increased time out of the water necessary to remove multiple hook points from the smaller mouth.

**By the way, the scientific studies reviewed in the article also conclude that there is no statistically significant difference between barbed and barbless hooks with respect to post-release mortality.

The conclusions are not what I would have expected. I guess you have to follow your conscience.

For me, that will mean single hooks - barbless unless I am on a stream where nearly all the fish are under 7", which I find to be almost impossible to keep on barbless hooks.

There is another reason for single barbless hooks, though. I doubt ultralight spin fishing for trout can ever achieve the cachet afforded to fly fishing, but to be accepted even as "almost-equals," spin fishermen will have to get rid of their barbed treble hooks. Even though the science doesn't support the need, this is clearly a situation where perception outweighs reality. Fly fishermen who fish barbless hooks and release all their fish will never accept the thought of fishing with barbed trebles. Perhaps you don't care what others think, and that is a perfectly valid stance. However, I do believe that replacing your barbed treble hooks with barbless singles will help elevate spin fishing for trout - and that will help everyone.

One last piece of advice: If you are going to hook yourself or your fishing partner, be sure to replace the barbed hooks first.

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Finesse-Fishing Home > Single Hook Lures

Header photo: Tenryu Rayz RZ4102B-UL, Shimano Calcutta Conquest BFSHG ('17)

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