RED HOOKS???

[Tony Lain]

Since this is a fishing forum, let me get this debate started... Red hooks, do they really make a difference???

[DanWarme]

Absolutely.
For hanging Xmas ornaments, I use nothing else.
Farmore festive on the tree than black or bronze.

[DanWarme]

On a more serious tone,
It depends, for shallow water fishing, they can definitely help.
However, if you're fishing deeper than 10' then most likely not.

The reason is that water filters out the red wavelengths of sunlight very quickly. By the time you get about 10 ' deep there is very little red light to reflect so anything with red will just look brown to black in color.

On the flip side, Blue penetrates the deepest so your bluish colors will still reflect available blue light far deeper than the others.

Of course no one knows exactly what a bass sees. They have very good vision. Entirely possible they can detect red at far deeper depths than instrumentation or our eyse will indicate..

[Bill Brown Jr.]

I replace the front hooks on most of my crankbaits and lipless crankbaits with red hooks. It seems to have improved my strike/hook ratio greatly. It may not necessarily be because of the red hook, but because the more I throw them the more I get bit. But I have more confidence in a bait with a red front hook than I do with a bait without one so I throw it more thereby getting more bites.

[Pred]

I replace the front hooks on most of my crankbaits and lipless crankbaits with red hooks. It seems to have improved my strike/hook ratio greatly. It may not necessarily be because of the red hook, but because the more I throw them the more I get bit. But I have more confidence in a bait with a red front hook than I do with a bait without one so I throw it more thereby getting more bites.

An old pro told me one day. If you have confidence in a biat you WILL catch fish. No confidence NO fish. It really holds true.

[Kelly Ripa]

While I know that the red is gone at the depths I use it....I won't fish my spoons without them. Confidence???? No...the smallmouth eat the paint off of them so I'll just stick with what works and not ask why. I use red on and off all year round on everything from swimbaits to dropshot. Could it be better ?...it hasn't hurt.

[DougH]

I thought red was supposed to "disappear" at depths past 10 feet...

[Kelly Ripa]

Doug.....Doug....It does dissapear after 10 feet...It's actually the first color in the spectrum to go..............that's why it can't matter and I use them religiously on my spoons

Rip

[Scott Robertson]

I always dropshot with red hooks, the only drawbacks i have found on some lakes it tends to attract trout instead of bass so i have to switch them out. Scott

[DeltaBound]

translucent red is the color that fish cannot see. The red hooks the can see.

[mark poulson]

Doug.....Doug....It does dissapear after 10 feet...It's actually the first color in the spectrum to go..............that's why it can't matter and I use them religiously on my spoons

Rip

Does this mean you use them because they're invisible? Clever devil!!!

[DougH]

translucent red is the color that fish cannot see. The red hooks the can see.

Well, if I could spell translucent red, I'd buy some o dem !

[Gerryjig]

always at Havasu on reactions, smallies love them........not sure why, but my kid caught this smart and experienced 14-1 out of LMV on a white lizard and a red wide gap hook, yes this fish was semi-suicidal but,.......his choice......his fish....I don't think they can really hurt to use.....my .02

[Gerryjig]

always at Havasu on reactions, smallies love them........not sure why, but my kid caught this smart and experienced 14-1 out of LMV on a white lizard and a red wide gap hook, yes this fish was semi-suicidal but,.......his choice......his fish....I don't think they can really hurt to use.....my .02

[jsoregon]

Gerry...can you please post a picture of a big fish? I mean I can barley see that darn fish in the picture. :op

Red hooks...I use them religiously.

[bassholeaz]

I use red hooks on DS and started using them on t rig but stopped because the red will get worn off of the hook too quickly then you are left with a shiny brass hook. DS only now.

[some guy]

i only use red hook for trout or in the ocean..too many people throw them at here in so cal. Havasu all day, i just think way too many people are throwing the red hook.i do better on reg hooks. I was all abotu the red hook 3 years ago but that slowly died out when it got so popular.

[Tony Lain]

Thanks for the replies... Did my own test on red hooks last Friday and Saturday at DVL. Test was all with the drop shot nose hooked worms. Test was 50/50. Caught four fish on red, four fish on black… I do think red hooks on cranks, jerk baits and top water baits make a difference though. My 2 cents.

[Oldschool]

How bass see color is a good topic on it's own and one nobody has a good answer for. The eye construction having both rods and cones leads people to believe bass see colors like we do. There is too much evidence that bass see colors very differently then we see them. How many times have you experienced the difference between a specific color worm fished in very deep water that had red flakes for example out fish the green or whatever? The bass can't see that red flake in 50 feet of water?, but if the worm doesn't have it, no bites!
My favorite story with the color red is Eppinger Daredevil spoons changed their paint supplier and the red/white spoon sales fell off dramatically and the original red/white spoons became a hot item.
The red color was exactly the same color chip to the human eye, however when looked at with infrared scanner the pigments where very different. The paint was changed to match the original infrared tones and the sales increased to nomal.
This makes me a believer in the infrared theory and supports why a bass can see a smoke with red flake 4" finesse worm fished down in 50 feet of water and catch bass.
Red hooks, why not, as long as they are high quality and sharp.
Tom
PS; a little secret; white tail hooks.

[tunaman]

Regardless of whether they see "RED" as we see red, or whether you're talking topwater or at depth (which makes a HUGE difference), the variation of the shade certainly makes a difference. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence supporting that claim.

For topwater, it makes sense as it would be perceived similar to the gill flair...

For depth, most everything turns into variations and shades of gray, so it is still an explicit shade which would be recognizable, regardless if the actual color is present.

Roger