using ecogear vx hooks on bent minnows

[Ribskull]

Is this a common thing, yet to try it

[Piranha]

Originally Posted by Ribskull

Is this a common thing, yet to try it

I know a few that use them, I find single decoy's much better because they don't straighten easily like the VX

[Ribskull]

Originally Posted by Piranha

I know a few that use them, I find single decoy's much better because they don't straighten easily like the VX

Can you link me to the to have a look, the vx does look good.

[Slazmo]

I know a certain someone who swears by the stinger hooks being placed in the middle tow point - and he gets results in the field. I am yet to try this however.

[Simonosy]

I think you meant Zx hooks not Vx - if we are talking about the stingers. I have used a bit of both. On really small top waters I will sometimes use a single but normally stick to fine gauge trebles. On my mid to large topwaters I normally change the back treble to ZX stingers. It seems to pin more of those fish that are only swirling on the lure and not fully committed. Haven't used the bents so I don't know how it would go on them but can certainly say I like the hook up rate of the stingers.

[Yak_Hak]

I use these:

https://www.fishin.com.au/

Never had a problem with them straightening out on bream, and I have caught some big yellowfin with them.

For normal surface walkers I will attached them to the back, for the bent minnows the middle is definitely the way to go.

[redfinfisho]

Works great especially if the bream aren't smashing the lure and just slurping at them. If they are hammering the lure I'd probably stick with the trebles also if you a having a lot of smaller fish come up the zx hooks seem to pin more of them too.

[FTP]

ZX hooks are tiny little things that often bend, get crushed or don't hold properly when using top waters in my experience. They are great on little vibes and metals as they usually don't attract anything too big however the topwaters stuff can get some much bigger hits. The decoy dancing jacks are great as they are a bit bigger and are gold plated which lends some erratic flash to your lure. They do tend to weight the lure down a bit which results in a slower rise which can work well.

Definitely give some assists a go as they do work and not just on bents but all lures especially faster moving lures as the fish often investigate only to find a small swinging hook stuck in the side of their head...

[Simonosy]

Originally Posted by FTP

ZX hooks are tiny little things that often bend, get crushed or don't hold properly when using top waters in my experience.

I can't agree with that at all. I have caught a massive number of bream, including a lot of 40+ fork, on the ZX stingers and I don't think I have EVER seen one crush.

The only time they bend is if you're rough pulling the hooks out with pliers, pretty much never in fish. The way that assists work mitigates it from happening.

[olistevo]

They do break/snap/bend but not very often.
I don't fish topwater without stinger hooks. I use the fishin.com.au stingers as they are much better then the zx.

For lures that sink at the back (walkers, stickbaits, poppers) I put the stinger at the back so it sits low in the water which gets the fish that swipe just underneath the lure. For Bents I put then in the middle.

[redfinfisho]

The zx hooks aren't that bad and FTP down south when surface fishing for bream we don't have the array of bigger by catch that you guys have so the hooks are fine for bream. The hooks are made from very high tensile steel and when bent outwards they don't like being bent back into shape and usually just snap they are quite strong though.

[Klinkerfish]

How hard are you pulling if your snapping and bending out hooks?
Must be some Heavy snags your fishing if you need to pull that hard

[Sloth]

So if you're thinking of adding assists in vic ... Does that mean you have to take both trebles off?

Vic regs are 2 hooks per line so I'm assuming that means if you add a set of ZX hooks to any lure they can be the only hooks on there...... Or have I misunderstood the regs?

[TheChief]

Originally Posted by Sloth

So if you're thinking of adding assists in vic ... Does that mean you have to take both trebles off?

Vic regs are 2 hooks per line so I'm assuming that means if you add a set of ZX hooks to any lure they can be the only hooks on there...... Or have I misunderstood the regs?

Your throwing 1 lure I wouldn't worry about it. No one is gonna care is my guess.

[The G factor]

The regs don't apply to lure fisherman, the comps are testament to that.


But seriously I don't think that's the case sloth, the regs are two baited hooks. Lures are not baited hooks and the same goes for sabiki rigs which allow many more hooks than 2.

I've used the ZX hooks on a range of lures and gotta say I don't reckon hook up has been better than on normal trebles for surface fishing. Just my experience but when the fish are hitting hard, as they usually are, the trebles kill it. Probably because they are hitting the lure and not just sucking them in, which is where the ZX would shine