Were you using octopus hooks, or the open eye siwash, Big River Bait hooks? An octopus hook is a no-go for attaching to the bottom eye on a spinner.

I've been rollin hardware to anadromous fish for way too long, and looking at log book info from before I started using siwash hooks, compared to now... It's a fairly noticeable difference, in favor of a siwash. Just what works for me I guess, as everyone's results will vary.

When I first started really pounding the deschutes with hardware as a kid, I lost a ton of fish. Took a decent break out there, and fished hardware on the closer waterways. As I got more experience with them, my hook to land ratio has steadily increased. Over the last 5-7 years it has stabilized pretty nicely. Last season I landed or boated a hair over 75% of the fish that climbed on. Not just head shakers. I don't count those in my logbooks. It just convolutes things even further for me if I tried... But fish that were on and fightin... A little over 75%. That was using those sometimes brittle ass matzuos, and now I am stuck on the BRB for everything but summers. I feel like I get more of the slightly smaller summer fish to stick if I use a size 1 or 2 matzuo. Never broke a fish off on one, but have broken a few eyes when crimping... And the sample size is now in the thousand or so neighborhood.

When I first started tying spinners with the guidance of Bill Williamson at BCAP, he made a very good point about treble hooks... He said tht because you will usually stick two points thru, they will often work against each other, and cutting point hooks can wear a large hole during prolonged fights. I immediately tried the needle point owners, and thought they were the bees knees. Worked really well. But now I have completely abandoned them on casting spinners and spoons, all together in favor of the sickle siwash style hooks.

If you are going to try some trebles, I might start out with the owner super needle points. See how that works, and go from there. Great hooks that stay sharp for the most part.

Another observation when using siwash hooks... They don't hang up nearly as often as trebles. I always use tube to keep the hook hangin straight aft of the body, and have found that to be the most effective setup for me. If they do grab a rock, I can normally get them back quite easily if I don't absolutely reef on it from downstream.




This is a great example of a spinner that has done damage almost everywhere I've let er rip, and it is still part of the arsenal after literal years of fish, and fishing. And the pic below is of a dirty ol buck. The last steelhead I pinned in OR this year before Talkeetna. It was confused. He thought he was a3 pound summer judging by the number of time he came, full-on, out of the water. Those are tuff fish to get to hand, but I think the siwash, and tube really helps... Have fun this summer, and catch lots!



Ol faithful.





Ol bucker.






Sorry for the ridiculously lengthy reply, but I love tossin brass! So given the opportunity, my brain just pukes all this crap out, all at once.