Not to be confused, of course, with the Start Trek episode of nearly the same name: "The Trouble with Tribbles". I spent the weekend organizing and digging through my crankbait boxes, largely due to the Risto Rap sell-off on E-Bay, which is going better than expected. I've got a nice cache of custom and older specialty cranks that have won me a lot of money over the years. Since I haven't been tourney fishing of late, these guys had sort of been kept in the closet so to speak, as the risk of losing them in a 'fun fishing' session was a little too great. But I think it's time to reorganize and pull some of these baits back out and see what I actually have.
One thing I noticed right away was the need to replace many of the older stock hooks with new trebles. Ironically enough, it seems like the long standard treble hook sizes just aren't quite appropriate for many of my baits. I'd get ready to rig and it would seem like a #2 was too large but a #4 wasn't quite right either. Several baits would appear to be perfect with nothing but #5's on them. Used to be you could only find even numbered trebles in any quantity or easily available supply. Times are changing though.
I went online and placed a good sized order for all sorts of odd-sized trebles, especially #3's and #5's this weekend. A search of the Internet revealed that most manufacturers now sell odd-sized trebles. Rapala even has their own treble replacement kit over at Cabela's, Rapala having a big penchant for using the odd sized trebles on many of their most popular baits. So next time you read an article about upsizing your trebles on cranks, don't just jump up to the next even sized hook. Take some time to really fine tune your crankbait hook setup, even different sized fronts and rears if necessary. It will pay off in the long run.
hello,have you been to waveland lately,looks like the shad are coming on very fast,do you know if another shad kill is coming up,thanks
Posted by: jim spears | July 29, 2008 at 08:19 PM
Jim, Been about 2 weeks since I've been, but have a friend who has been there weekly. Pretty much been whacking fish now for close to 2 months. Haven't heard anything specific as to another shad selective. They usually don't do them yearly, so my guess would be not another one until at least next year. That said, next time I talk to Rhett I'll ask him what the plans are. I know they have been treating for weeds pretty regularly as you can probably tell. So far though everything is looking good fishing wise. There was an 18 pound sack weighed the weekend before.
Posted by: Big Indiana Bass | July 29, 2008 at 08:35 PM