What hooks are you using for creature baits and worms? Round bend, EWG or straight shank? I seem to be having poor hook ups with too many fish. Thanks

3/0 EWG for most things, 4/0 for bigger creature stuff – smaller round bend for trickworm/finessier stuff.  

In colder water, I try to use lighter wire hooks to pierce through the mouth a bit better (vs. summer when a bass’s mouth will be softer).

Though the things that have helped my plastic hookups the most have been: finding a more senstitive rod to feel bites better, always having my thumb on my line to feel any twitch, uncoiling my flouro on the first cast to remove memory, and switching to tungsten (bigger weight in clear water, lighter in dirty, adjust for wind accordingly).  

I know from reports that guys like Mark Daugherty use alot of worms at a bunch of different places and are really good with them so teir advice is likely gold.  

Hope that helps!

I used to use EWG hooks for everything but this year I moved to round bend worm hooks for weightless senkos.  This has improved my hookup ratio considerably. 

I've heard good things about the new Gamakatsu G-Finesse Hybrid Worm Hook.

Are you having issues hooking up from the initial bite or losing them once the fight starts? 
 

Ditto what everyone else said. I primarily use a 4/0 EWG. For wacky rigging I like a 1/0 or 2/0 wide gap hook and been feeling pretty good with the Fusion brand. I like to pick apart the weeds and like the option of a plastic weedguard to make it somewhat weedless. 

I am having more trouble after setting the hook and having the fish on. It just seems like I'm not getting the hook penetration necessary to keep  them hooked. 

Thanks

So either you're skin hooking them with the ewg(thus what I moved to round bend worm hooks) or you're rod is under powered or has too soft a tip to drive the hook in. The gap from the eye to the hook point has a greater angle on the round bend hooks which makes it easier to drive the hook through. The below pics help illustrate.

This is great information. I may never miss a fish again. Thank you

I use EWG #4 most times. I tried some special Spearpoint brand of hooks earlier this year since I won a big assortment of them from Fishing Tackle Unlimited and at first I liked them with good hookups. That was until I lost a huge gass at Bennett Lake due to a straightened hook. They are thin wired hooks and it bent out to easily. I was using 18 lb flouro so the flouro should have broken before hook bent. I switched soon after. I kept some #mall hooks for crappie fishing but after crappie was straightening out those smaller hooks, I threw all of the Spearpoint hooks away in garbage. Crappie should in no way straighten any worm hook but did. Just a warning to others to not go there!

Originally Posted by Charles McCallum

I used to use EWG hooks for everything but this year I moved to round bend worm hooks for weightless senkos.  This has improved my hookup ratio considerably. 

I've heard good things about the new Gamakatsu G-Finesse Hybrid Worm Hook.

Are you having issues hooking up from the initial bite or losing them once the fight starts? 
 

I have found the same thing.

I use round bend on virtually everything except mag flukes or larger swim baits. I switched to round bend almost exclusively and my hook up ratio really increased. Primarily 4/0 and 5/0 Owner. I like the heavy wire Owner hooks. But should experiment more with the light wire Gamakatsu hooks. You can make the argument using a light wire hook may help. But something about using a heavy wire hook makes me feel more confident. 

Thanks for all of the responses. After talking to some fisherman that are much better than me, it sounds like round bend hooks are becoming much more popular and successful.

I think it depends on the technique you’re using.  If you’re flipping and pitching, more vertical hooksets, you can’t go wrong with a round bend flipping hook.  When I’m swimming something or fishing a more horizontal presentation (carolina rig), I will use a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG, it all depends on the lure.  At times I’ve thrown a mag fluke on a carolina rig and I will use a big worm hook.  I think it’s hard to go wrong with gamakatsu or owner hooks.

If you aren’t feeling the bite, I think you have to look at your rod setup.  Spending money on a good rod with the power necessary to set the hook is critical.  If your rod doesn’t have power, you’ll never drive the hook through their head.