Three Hook Harry
Posted by Pete Robbins on Sep 30th 2020
My Labor Day Tackle Warehouse package arrived, as I’m sure they did for the rest of you, and inside I found three new packs of hooks. I’d ordered them, but I wasn’t sure why. I mean, they looked good online, and I could envision a use (or several uses) for them, but I’m not quite sure that any of them filled a need.
That’s because, after taking careful and honest stock of how I fish, I realized that there are three main hooks that account for well over three-quarters of my angling effort: a 1/0 splitshot/dropshot hook; a 4/0 straight shank; and a 5/0 EWG.
Of course that stat is purely a guesstimate, but I surmise that if it’s wrong those hooks and sizes actually account for more than 75%. So why do I keep buying more? It’s a function of the “magic bait” syndrome. So many of us are convinced that if we just find the magic lure, a special size, or a certain amount of flake it’ll make all the difference in the world, when you’re actually better off just pulling a standard issue green pumpkin Senko out of the package and going to work. Most of us eventually get most of the magic bait obsession, but it doesn’t ever fully go away – that’s why my pegboard and totes are filled with dozens of different types and sizes of hooks.
There’s a fine line between tinkering, which can be good, and obsessively trying to fix things that ain’t broke.
All I know is that if I ever run out of those three, there’s no one to blame but myself.
