Keeping Your Live Bait Hook In Place

Simple tricks for keeping your livebait hook where it belongs.

Soft-plastic bait bead keeps the hook from sliding through and re-entering the bait.

How many times have you made the cast, watched your bait slide into a hole, felt the thump, set the hook and…nothing, because the hook point went into your baitfish and not the predator? How about the times when the hook simply turns into your bait and you reel in a helicopter?

Thin-wire hooks allow baits to swim more naturally, but there's a drawback: They have a tendency to push or slide through the hook hole and then turn back in to the bait. Missing strikes or prematurely killing baits is frustrating, especially if you don't have a lot of bait to start with.

If your hook turns into the bait and sticks it anywhere near the gills, the baitfish will likely bleed out within one cast. And, because the original hook hole has been enlarged, the hook is likely to twist around again, so even if you get a bite on that one cast, you'll likely miss the fish because the hook once again turned and penetrated your bait.

To combat this problem you can turn to several commercial companies that make soft-plastic hook beads. Slide the bead onto a hook and then hook your

bait, making sure the bead is placed tight enough against the baitfish to hold the barb tight to the bait's head. The odds of the hook moving or turning into the bait now decrease significantly.

You can buy these commercial beads in most tackle shops that cater to livebait anglers, or you can make your own hook protectors, either out of rubber bands or any hard plastic container like a milk jug or yogurt cup. - FS



First Published Florida Sportsman July 2011