Stan Fagerstrom
12-01-2003, 06:58 AM
New Hook Designed
For Wacky Style Worming
By Stan Fagerstrom
I had to chuckle a little bit when I overheard the two guys in the booth next to mine talking about some bass fishermen they knew.
“You’d have to be a little goofy,” one said, “to get so hung up on bass fishing as those guys are.”
“Yeah,” drawled his companion, “I know what you mean. I swear they’ve even developed their own language. Just last week I heard them yakking about fishing their lures ‘wacky” style. What’n hell could that be?”
Those non-fishermen were partly right. Modern day bass fishing has spawned its share of brand new contributions to the language of angling. Fishing ‘wacky’ style is one such. And if you think you’ve heard all you need to know about that method of putting bass in the boat---guess again.
Any time a new method of lure rigging turns out to be effective, and fishing soft plastics wacky style has, you can bet it won’t be long before some of the world’s leading tackle makers come up with gear designed to help anglers do it even better.
Evidence of that can be found in an announcement made earlier this year by the world’s leading hook manufacturer. Shortly after the first of the new year keep your eye peeled for a brand new Gamakatsu Finesse Wacky Wide Gap Hook on the shelf at your favorite tackle shop.
If you know beans about the modern day history of fishhooks, you know it was Gamakatsu that started what amounted to a revolution in the way of hook production several decades ago. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you’ll have no difficulty remembering the time when you needed to sharpen every new you tied on. At least you did if you expected to get really good results with it. Gamakatsu has remained on the cutting edge of new developments in the fishhook field ever since it made its first super-sharp hooks available.
“Our pro staff has tested these new Finesse Wacky Wide Gaps extensively all over the country,” says Glenn Young, Gamakatsu regional sales manager. “We recognized the need for a new type of hook to better let anglers get good results out of the wacky style technique.”
http://www.ifish.net/sfwackhook1.jpg
This new Gamakatsu Finesse Wacky Wide Gap Hook is a cinch to aid the increasing number of bass anglers who rig certain of their plastic lures wacky style.
Eyeball one of these new hooks up close and careful and you’ll note it has a very short shank with an extra wide round bend. Why? Because that’s exactly what’s needed to accommodate the fat belly on some of the soft plastics with which the wacky style is most effective.
Young, himself a former professional fishing guide, didn’t have to rely entirely on the reports of Gamakatsu pros where the new hook is concerned. He had his own experience with it while fishing Missouri’s famed Table Rock Lake with well known bass pro Stacey King.
“We fished the lake last June,” Young says. “Stacey really knows that lake. We hammered the bass fishing wacky style with our new hooks. Our best success often came in 20 to 25 feet of water. Our hooking percentage had to have been darn near 100 per cent.”
The hook’s wide gap undoubtedly helped get those solid hook sets. So does something else. When you have a chance to inspect one of these new hooks you find that its eye is turned up slightly. What that does is align the usual Gamakatsu needle sharp hook point with the direction of the hook set. The bass ain’t gonna like it---you will!
As I mentioned earlier, Young says he doesn’t expect the new Finesse Wacky Style Hooks to be available until shortly after the first of the year. If you’re into rigging wacky style, and if you’re not you should be, you’re going to want to give them a try.
I often talk to fishermen who don’t realize the great variety of top quality hooks now available to them. This is the age of the angling specialist. Now you can get rods especially designed for walleye fishing. You’ll find others built especially for smallmouth bass or their big-mouthed cousins.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwackhook.jpg
The new Gamakatsu Finesse Wacky Wide Gap Hook has a very short shank and a wide round bend. It provides the angler with a hook that has plenty of "bite" even when used with a fat bodied plastic bait like that pictured here.
The same thing applies to hooks. It’s easy to avail yourself of that information where Gamakatsu is concerned. You can do it by ordering one of the company’s current catalogs. The easiest way to do that is simply send your request via e-mail to mailbox@gamakatsu.com The catalog will be sent to you at no charge.
Scott Wolfe, is the chief guide at the famed Big K Guest Ranch on Oregon’s Umpqua River. If I had a couple of bucks for all the smallmouth he and his clients have caught and released on the Umpqua I’d buy a fishin’ yacht! He tells me fishing a plastic bait wacky style is a method he uses consistently---especially for larger smallmouth.
My guess is Scott and the growing number of other anglers who have discovered just how effective wacky style fishing can be will be tying on those new Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap Hooks just as soon as they can get their hands on them.
For Wacky Style Worming
By Stan Fagerstrom
I had to chuckle a little bit when I overheard the two guys in the booth next to mine talking about some bass fishermen they knew.
“You’d have to be a little goofy,” one said, “to get so hung up on bass fishing as those guys are.”
“Yeah,” drawled his companion, “I know what you mean. I swear they’ve even developed their own language. Just last week I heard them yakking about fishing their lures ‘wacky” style. What’n hell could that be?”
Those non-fishermen were partly right. Modern day bass fishing has spawned its share of brand new contributions to the language of angling. Fishing ‘wacky’ style is one such. And if you think you’ve heard all you need to know about that method of putting bass in the boat---guess again.
Any time a new method of lure rigging turns out to be effective, and fishing soft plastics wacky style has, you can bet it won’t be long before some of the world’s leading tackle makers come up with gear designed to help anglers do it even better.
Evidence of that can be found in an announcement made earlier this year by the world’s leading hook manufacturer. Shortly after the first of the new year keep your eye peeled for a brand new Gamakatsu Finesse Wacky Wide Gap Hook on the shelf at your favorite tackle shop.
If you know beans about the modern day history of fishhooks, you know it was Gamakatsu that started what amounted to a revolution in the way of hook production several decades ago. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you’ll have no difficulty remembering the time when you needed to sharpen every new you tied on. At least you did if you expected to get really good results with it. Gamakatsu has remained on the cutting edge of new developments in the fishhook field ever since it made its first super-sharp hooks available.
“Our pro staff has tested these new Finesse Wacky Wide Gaps extensively all over the country,” says Glenn Young, Gamakatsu regional sales manager. “We recognized the need for a new type of hook to better let anglers get good results out of the wacky style technique.”
http://www.ifish.net/sfwackhook1.jpg
This new Gamakatsu Finesse Wacky Wide Gap Hook is a cinch to aid the increasing number of bass anglers who rig certain of their plastic lures wacky style.
Eyeball one of these new hooks up close and careful and you’ll note it has a very short shank with an extra wide round bend. Why? Because that’s exactly what’s needed to accommodate the fat belly on some of the soft plastics with which the wacky style is most effective.
Young, himself a former professional fishing guide, didn’t have to rely entirely on the reports of Gamakatsu pros where the new hook is concerned. He had his own experience with it while fishing Missouri’s famed Table Rock Lake with well known bass pro Stacey King.
“We fished the lake last June,” Young says. “Stacey really knows that lake. We hammered the bass fishing wacky style with our new hooks. Our best success often came in 20 to 25 feet of water. Our hooking percentage had to have been darn near 100 per cent.”
The hook’s wide gap undoubtedly helped get those solid hook sets. So does something else. When you have a chance to inspect one of these new hooks you find that its eye is turned up slightly. What that does is align the usual Gamakatsu needle sharp hook point with the direction of the hook set. The bass ain’t gonna like it---you will!
As I mentioned earlier, Young says he doesn’t expect the new Finesse Wacky Style Hooks to be available until shortly after the first of the year. If you’re into rigging wacky style, and if you’re not you should be, you’re going to want to give them a try.
I often talk to fishermen who don’t realize the great variety of top quality hooks now available to them. This is the age of the angling specialist. Now you can get rods especially designed for walleye fishing. You’ll find others built especially for smallmouth bass or their big-mouthed cousins.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwackhook.jpg
The new Gamakatsu Finesse Wacky Wide Gap Hook has a very short shank and a wide round bend. It provides the angler with a hook that has plenty of "bite" even when used with a fat bodied plastic bait like that pictured here.
The same thing applies to hooks. It’s easy to avail yourself of that information where Gamakatsu is concerned. You can do it by ordering one of the company’s current catalogs. The easiest way to do that is simply send your request via e-mail to mailbox@gamakatsu.com The catalog will be sent to you at no charge.
Scott Wolfe, is the chief guide at the famed Big K Guest Ranch on Oregon’s Umpqua River. If I had a couple of bucks for all the smallmouth he and his clients have caught and released on the Umpqua I’d buy a fishin’ yacht! He tells me fishing a plastic bait wacky style is a method he uses consistently---especially for larger smallmouth.
My guess is Scott and the growing number of other anglers who have discovered just how effective wacky style fishing can be will be tying on those new Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap Hooks just as soon as they can get their hands on them.