Single or Double Hook Hoochie

[Breakin"even]

I was at Pacific Net and Twine yesterday buying hoochie supplies and they have single hook with a barrel swivel
rigging for hoochies. I have always use double hook. They look better for releasing fish and way quicker to tie.
I was wondering if anyone is using this setup and how well they worked?

 

[Kildonan]

I run singles on a barrel swivel. Works great. Fish twisting and spinning on the line close to the boat stay on better. I find easy release for the tandem setup to be a pain in the butt sometimes.

 

[IronNoggin]

I was at Pacific Net and Twine yesterday buying hoochie supplies and they have single hook with a barrel swivel rigging for hoochies.

Standard commercial set-up for trollers.
Obviously that works rather well.

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Fish Camp]

If you have had a good fish half in the hoop and the forward hook catches the mesh ,or lost a fish and upon inspection you have one hook and not two .then you will find better ways to fish hoochies.

 

[Rockfish]

Consider myself a plastic specialists and only use a quality Single stainless hook on an internal swivel. Has much better fish holding ability and equal hook up rates. They are also far easier to gaff release a salmon beside the boat.

I don't buy and pay a premium for plastic pre-rigged with cheap tandem single hooks. They are designed to catch fishermen, not salmon and often use too light and soft a leader to provide the best transfer of motion from the flasher to the lure to insure it has the best possible lively action and protect against line teeth abrasion.
They are also subject to teeth saw through and lost salmon, as the teeth often saw on the line rather than the hook and swivel with the single. If you use the tandems, pull the hootchie up and check for teeth abrasion damage on the leader between the first and second hook after every fish hooked or strike, especially with Chinook and Coho with their strong sharp teeth.

 

[ericl]

I use a single siwash only - I make sure the location of the hook/barrel swivel is where the hoochie body changes from solid to tassels - I believe that the momentum of the swinging hook gives more action, but have no proof - use a heavy stiff leader 50# minimum 4x the flasher length. Don't be afraid to go fast.

 

[silversands]

Single..and WAY easier to release unclipped coho or undersize chinook at the side of the boat without net.

 

[fishbadger]

What's the single hook model of choice? I'm still searching. Have tried the commercial stainless mustad hooks and found them a bit thick gauged to get good penetration, and really poor landing ratio's on coho. Have tried Gammy's standard siwash, seems fair. Their big river siwash seems a little big in the guage too, worried about dampening the whip of the hoochie. What do other folks use?

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[tubber]

These are good on hoochies and spoons, but you have to wash and hang to avoid the eventual rust discolouring the tentacles.

https://www.sportfishingbc.com/foru...-like-the-new-barbless-hooks-from-pn-t.72862/

 

[Ringo]

I use Gammy Big River siwash or Owner open eye 4.0. I like the Owner ones better as they take a lot of abuse and still remain sharp and sticky.

 

[hambone]

I fish hootchies a ton and rig them both ways depending on where I’m fishing. My ideas are based solely on personal experience and confidence.

I find the barrel swivel/siwash method better anywhere I’m trolling fast (maybe with a spoon on the other rod), expecting to release a mixed bag of fish and/or expecting more aggressive hard hitting chinook. Once hooked up, the siwash is definitely the better option.

However, I fish tandem 4/0 hooks when fishing slower and usually deeper. Call me crazy but I find that lots of fish hit hootchies very, very lightly almost out of curiosity. The tandem 4/0 octopus hooks just seems to do better for me in these situations. I’ve witnessed several tyee class fish not pop the release clip!

Hard to argue with how a commercial fishermen rigs their gear! ...... But I do think the tandem 4/0 rigging method has its own advantages, being smaller wire for easier lip piercing on small hits and two hooks for increased odds.

 

[RBL]

I prefer the single hook setup and always use it. However one time I was fishing Chums in Browns Bay and used single on one side and tandem on the other. The tandem had way better strike to fish in the boat ratio. The tandems are just too much of a pain in the butt for releasing fish for me though

 

[Karlo]

I like tandems, with a #4 octopus hook for a stinger. If the stinger breaks off in the net, I still have a single-hook rig to put back down, so no harm done, and I consider every fish I get on the stinger to be a probable short strike and missed fish, if that trailing hook wasn't there waiting.

 

[Whole in the Water]

Single stainless steel siwash hook, on a barrel swivel is the way to go IMHO.

 

[Rain City]

Doubles for Sockeye only.

 

[Rockfish]

If you want to experiment with hook position with the single hook rigs, Put a large orange or glow bead in the hottchie head with a broken off tooth pick in it against the line. Now you can adjust the hook position within the body of the hootchie or out the back of it, if you want. Works the same as the tension toothpick in a teaser head. I have found that having the hook back as far as it will go without any of it showing out the back of the hootchie, is my preferred location.

I have been testing and working with plastic for close to 50 years and spent countless hours with various modifications and hook configurations. My current experiment is a modified single Siwash with swivel, that I have turned into a semi-circle hook. Not as extreme as a full barbless circle hook design. I am hoping it will have a better hook up rate than a full circle hook but significantly better holding capabilities than a standard barbless siwash. Time will tell.

 

[Dogbreath]

My current experiment is a modified single Siwash.... that I have turned into a semi-circle hook. Not as extreme as a full barbless circle hook design. I am hoping it will have a better hook up rate than a full circle hook but significantly better holding capabilities than a standard barbless siwash. Time will tell.

I have some Hootchies and Spoons done up like that and they held well on Coho-you know how they thrash around.

 

[donnie d]

Those spoons look good.

Somewhat related to your post, I pulled out a skinny g out of the package and was going to drag it around Nanaimo and I stopped before tying it up as the hook out of the package is pure garbage...

Ran a big eye instead as that hook was better out of the box. I need to swap out all those hooks as you have done. Oh got a nice 14 lb with that big eye derby winner spoon so it may have been a good choice anyway!

Hoochies I run a mix of both. Had great hook sets with the double octopus set up this year...very tough on releasing coho though but most of my fishing areas were void of coho this summer.

I have some Hootchies and Spoons done up like that and they held well on Coho-you know how they thrash around.

 

[paulo]

If you want to experiment with hook position with the single hook rigs, Put a large orange or glow bead in the hottchie head with a broken off tooth pick in it against the line. Now you can adjust the hook position within the body of the hootchie or out the back of it, if you want. Works the same as the tension toothpick in a teaser head. I have found that having the hook back as far as it will go without any of it showing out the back of the hootchie, is my preferred location.

I have been testing and working with plastic for close to 50 years and spent countless hours with various modifications and hook configurations. My current experiment is a modified single Siwash with swivel, that I have turned into a semi-circle hook. Not as extreme as a full barbless circle hook design. I am hoping it will have a better hook up rate than a full circle hook but significantly better holding capabilities than a standard barbless siwash. Time will tell.


What Rockfish said. (Haven't figured out the quote system yet)
That is what I do with a bead and toothpick. I bring the lowest part of the bend of the hook to about 1/8" below the skirt. I am experimenting as well with swivels and siwash.

 

[Jones]

I usually use 2 hooks on my hootchies, mainly cause I buy the pre tied setups.

I was just reading the gear restrictions on the dfo website and it sounds like in tidal waters it is illegal to use 2 hooks? Am I interpreting it wrong??