Weedless MW Finesse hooks

[Ogajiga]

IMO a T-rig bait should have the hook point leg fllush on the surface, not point exposed upwards above the bait.  The original Victory #1 EWG hooks were impossible to rig the correct way, so I've been holding off ordering the new sizes.  Are they improved?

[Jig Man]

I have not noticed your concern with them, but I skin hook mine.

[cadman]

I skin hook mine as well. It keeps from picking up weeds.

[smalljaw]

The funny thing about your dilemma is that it is the first time I've heard that complaint. I understand the issue but it shouldn't be a problem. If you look around you'll be able to find some videos from pros talking about how they improve hook up percentage with EWG style hooks. I find when anglers have hooking problem with EWG hooks, most will take some pliers and ben the hook point out. Then they skin hook the plastic to make it weedless. If you look at that hook, they made it so when positioned in the mold the hook point is angled out. I believe they did that for an improved hook up ratio because most guys skin hook their plastics on a T-rigged setup. 

[Jig Man]

4 hours ago, smalljaw said:

The funny thing about your dilemma is that it is the first time I've heard that complaint. I understand the issue but it shouldn't be a problem. If you look around you'll be able to find some videos from pros talking about how they improve hook up percentage with EWG style hooks. I find when anglers have hooking problem with EWG hooks, most will take some pliers and ben the hook point out. Then they skin hook the plastic to make it weedless. If you look at that hook, they made it so when positioned in the mold the hook point is angled out. I believe they did that for an improved hook up ratio because most guys skin hook their plastics on a T-rigged setup. 

I hadn't really noticed that with the Victory hooks but the vmc which is similar to the Victory is very pronounced.

[Ogajiga]

Largemouth bass are low opportunity here, so mostly I use 2/0 Gami EWG Superline hooks weightless to seasonally target big catfish in shallow rip rap habitat.  Never needed to so will investigate skin hooking, thanks for the suggestion.

BTW 5" Gulp Sinking Minnows chartreuse pepper color cut in half gets bit well by catfish and even wallys & wipers at night when present.

[Ogajiga]

Looked it up, never needed to skin hook since presentations are in open water above rock bottoms.  Still, it seems the ideal T-rig hook design would position the hook point leg parallel with the bait body for skin hookiing, which would be my preference for the MWF mold.