Red Hooks ? Fact Or Fiction ? 2025
Western-Mass-Bass reply :
Is there alot of gains now when using these red hooks im seeing so much of ? I fish alot of finnesse stuff and absolutely love a wacky senko. But are you all seeing more strikes triggered from using red hooks? Just curious. Like all of you on here. I myself have fished for quite a long time and to me it just doesnt look right. But then again Ive been using natural hooks my whole life. Basically ive thought about changing it up and would like to here your opinions. Thanks, Lee
.ghoti. reply :
I took the center two pages out of a Bassin mag several years ago, and taped them up on my office wall. One page feature an add, covering about a third of the page, touting red line because it disappears in the water and fish can't see it. On the facing page was an add, occupying about the same amount of space, touting red hooks because bass think that whatever the hooks are attached to is injured, thus they will eat it.
I took it down when it stopped giving me a chuckle.
I have a bunch of red EWG hooks. Bought "em because they were on sale for half the price of normal hooks. Never noticed that I got any more bites on the red hooks. Or, any less.
moguy1973 reply :
Last summer at a local park pond I caught a ton of smallish bass 8-12" long all on a white senko rigged texposed style. Half the summer I used a normal black coated or regular bronze colored offset 3/0 worm hook. The other half I used some red Vicious 3/0 worm hooks that I saw on sale at Wally World so I bought some to try. Didn't really see a difference in hookups or strikes between the two...I do know after about 5-6 fish the red coating rubbed off and left a brass colored hook and turned the holes where the hook was inserted into the worm red.
So long story short, I didn't see a difference...Still caught fish regardless...
dave reply :
I guide once told me that his favorite thing about red hooks was that once the red wore off, it was a bright and shiny gold color underneath.
roadwarrior reply :
Pure hype...Nothin' to it.
Pepul reply :
I always use red hooks, I just feel more confidence with them
BASSclary reply :
Black nickel hooks dont look ugly after a few fish 
retiredbosn reply :
Pure fiction, but like with all fishing if it adds to your confidence use them.
papajoe222 reply :
I add a splash of red to all my cranks and plugs. Anything that doesn't get down below the light penetration gets some form of that treatment. I've been doing that for thirtysomething years. Sometimes that includes the front treble. When it comes to bottom hugging presentations, I have no confidence in the 'Red Factor"
deep reply :
Pretty cool video here. I don't agree or disagree with what the dude is saying- just another opinion.
Jake P reply :
Kvd has a video on YouTube about spinnerbaiting and in the video he talks about how confident he is and how he really feels it gets him more strikes. The video is more than a few years old if that has any significance, I don't know. Personally I think it's laughable. I buy bleeding Shad baits, but not for the red hooks.
The Rooster reply :
Dad told me some years ago from his experience in the military that aboard ships they use red lights below deck in different areas due to looking into it and then looking away and it not leaving a spot in your vision. I got from this that red light is less impressive on the eyes than other colors. It fades faster. I figure red will be one of the first colors to fade out below certain depths or in dark places, therefore I sort of understand the red line concept but still figure clear is better.
There's no denying that red and white baits do work but I've never seen anything to support that they catch more or less fish than other baits from my experiences. I just buy the bait because I like it. If the red helps the bait, I believe it would only be near the top of the water column where it would show up the most. I don't change hooks out to be red, or use red hooks in plastics. If adding red to the bait with paint or markers isn't enough then hooks won't do it either.
Bluebasser86 reply :
I like red trebles on my hard baits. Gives me more confidence in them and that helps put more fish in the boat. I think the red line disappearing v red hooks being more appealing is because the line is more translucent allowing light to pass through and causing the color to disappear quickly under water unlike the hooks that light can't pass through. Still, if red does disappear quickly under water then red hooks would be almost invisible and I don't see that being a bad thing either.
BassHunter_Hunt reply :
I guess in really clear water where bass might see the red, but in less visible water I don't think it makes a difference.
Crestliner2008 reply :
As far as the line vs. hook discussion goes, the "logic" behind the seemingly conflicting opinions, has a bases in fact. (Not saying I agree or disagree mind you!) Line is usually transparent, (allowing light to pass through it) making it disappear faster. Hooks are opaque and reflect the color instead.
That being said, I personally like red hooks on some baits and have had a lot of success with red hooks when drop shotting. It's probably just a confidence thing, but the way I look at it - "whatever floats yer boat!" And there's no denying the fact that more red/white lures have been manufactured world wide than any other color scheme.
Bass Dude reply :
On 8/28/2012 at 3:55 AM, .ghoti. said:I took the center two pages out of a Bassin mag several years ago, and taped them up on my office wall. One page feature an add, covering about a third of the page, touting red line because it disappears in the water and fish can't see it. On the facing page was an add, occupying about the same amount of space, touting red hooks because bass think that whatever the hooks are attached to is injured, thus they will eat it.
I took it down when it stopped giving me a chuckle.
This always kills me...the comparison between red line and red hooks. Hooks do not have opaque qualities...light will not pass through a hook. Line, however does allow light to pass through. They are not the same material. Example, you can see through blue tinted lenses in eyeglasses, but you cant see through a blue wooden door.
The idea that one can attract while the other is invisible, is not contradictory. They are different materials with different properties.
Back on topic....I have used cranks with one red hook in front and one nickel in back. I noticed a majority of the fish were caught on that front red hook. It may have been coincidence, but it's happened enough for me to believe there may be something to this red hook thing!
retiredbosn reply :
Tackle makers have had red gimmicks from the dawn of crankbaits. The famous creek Chub company made a lure in the 30's that was hollow they sold a red dye to go in the cavity. The logic was that it left a blood trail of sorts. Must not have been the magic bullet nobody to my knowledge does it now
MichBassMan reply :
In my experiance with red hooks I did not see an increase in the amount of bites I or anyone else got. Several times a fishing partner and myself have tryed using same baits with only differance being one using a red hook . The differance we did notice is that the red hooks are consistently not as sharp as the regualar hooks are. I suspect the plating process to make the hooks red compromises the sharpness.
retiredbosn reply :
On 8/28/2012 at 8:56 PM, Bass Dude said:Back on topic....I have used cranks with one red hook in front and one nickel in back. I noticed a majority of the fish were caught on that front red hook. It may have been coincidence, but it's happened enough for me to believe there may be something to this red hook thing!
As far as catching more on the red hook in this example one could argue that its more due to bass eating bait fish head first. Put a red hook on the back and bronze on front the if the red still had more hook ups then there may be a correlation
SPEEDBEAD. reply :
Got a finesse rig that I throw in one particular lake.
If it doesnt have a red hook and the tail dipped in red JJ's, it doesnt get bit. All other combos of this rig have been tried including other JJ's colors on the same day under the same conditions.
That being said, it's the only time I employ red hooks.
Gatorbassman reply :
Pure fiction. The only red hook I use is for the front hook on my clear topwater lures. They make a good target for the bass but I haven't found any other good use for them.
Bass Dude reply :
On 8/29/2012 at 2:37 AM, retiredbosn said:As far as catching more on the red hook in this example one could argue that its more due to bass eating bait fish head first. Put a red hook on the back and bronze on front the if the red still had more hook ups then there may be a correlation
I put it on the front thinking that if they hit the red hook I would get them with the front hook and hopefully increase my hooking percentage. I'm not totally sold on the red hook theory, nor am I totally dismissing the idea.
retiredbosn reply :
On 8/29/2012 at 4:26 AM, Bass Dude said:I put it on the front thinking that if they hit the red hook I would get them with the front hook and hopefully increase my hooking percentage. I'm not totally sold on the red hook theory, nor am I totally dismissing the idea.
I wasn't directing that at you, sorry about the confusion, your post just made for a good example. Meant no offense, sorry about that
fishking247 reply :
the red finish comes off the hook after a few fish and then you have a gold hook lol. i bought red hooks because they were out of the normal ones i use in black nickel finish. i have noticed no difference in catch ratio with red vs other colored hook
TNBassin' reply :
I've noticed this marketing ploy as well. So many conflicting "science" when it comes to fishing tackle these days. Like you, I only purchase the red hooks if they are cheaper than the regular ones. The red hooks don't usually stay red for long anyway, as that coating tends to chip off pretty easy anyway.On 8/28/2012 at 3:55 AM, .ghoti. said:I took the center two pages out of a Bassin mag several years ago, and taped them up on my office wall. One page feature an add, covering about a third of the page, touting red line because it disappears in the water and fish can't see it. On the facing page was an add, occupying about the same amount of space, touting red hooks because bass think that whatever the hooks are attached to is injured, thus they will eat it.
I took it down when it stopped giving me a chuckle.
I have a bunch of red EWG hooks. Bought "em because they were on sale for half the price of normal hooks. Never noticed that I got any more bites on the red hooks. Or, any less.
Bass Dude reply :
On 8/29/2012 at 6:37 AM, retiredbosn said:I wasn't directing that at you, sorry about the confusion, your post just made for a good example. Meant no offense, sorry about that
No offense taken...I was just stating my rationale.
Raul reply :
Here´s the deal: you think they´ll help you catch more fish ? ----> use them !
Like Ghoti, I own a bunch of red hooks, the only ones available in the sizes I needed at that moment were red hooks and they turned out to be a lot cheaper so I bought them, can´t say they´ve made a difference other than I got more for the same money.
RAMBLER reply :
I bought some of those red worm hooks at Wal-Mart because they were all Wal-Mart had of the size and design I wanted. Can't remember the brand, but, the hook tips bent over very easily, the whole hook bent very easily. If I didn't see that the hook had bent I would start missing a hook set. I don't catch many fish so I don't want something that is going to cause me to lose what I do get to bite. The color actually had nothing to do with it, they were just cheap hooks.
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