I started using a whopper plopper for the first time this year. That’s a problem for me too. Seems like I’ll have one normal hook and one that ends up in their body from their fight. Super annoying but I’m not aware of a way to avoid this. I’m also not a very good angler so I’m not able to provide a lot of insight other than personal experience. I’m starting to despise treble hooks and thinking of replacing them all with single hooks but not sure if I’d have the same problem.
Do you have needle nose pliers?!?!?!
Yes it’s part of fishing anything with dual hooks, not just a plopper or treble issue. Most hard baits are going to have dual trebles. Change those hooks to standard and see your hook up percentage go way down.
What is it about whopper ploppers that are just the *worst* for the way they double hook fish and people? Crankbaits/jerkbaits etc sometimes, but whopper ploppers it's like every time.
edit: hook guage maybe? I feel like plops have thinner/stickier hooks
Whopper ploppers do get snagged all over a fish I’ve noticed, needle nose pliers are a must when using trebles at all imo. Also you can switch them out to single inline hooks, VMC makes some great ones and Vanfook if you want barbless ones
sometimes it can and does happen, yes. when fishing treble baits my needle nose never leaves my pocket. sucks having to walk back to your stuff after every bite, especially if you're walking a long bank or something. had to have caught at least 100 on the WP and i dont think i've ever gilled a fish, though. so that's good.
When I’m fishing any bait with trebles, I keep my pliers in my pocket. It makes it easier to unhook the fish and get them back where they belong. You want them to get as many points in them as possible because it makes the lure more difficult for them to throw.
Cool cool. Appreciate the inputs here. I do have and always carry needle nose anytime I fish so will keep rocking the plopper if that’s just part of it.
It is.
And honestly, as long as you're being mindful about the total time they're spending out of the water, they're probably going to be okay too.
I usually take a photo of every fish I catch (mostly to send to the gf who loves the pics), and weigh any fish I think might be 2lbs or more. I also use my new bump board to get a length on any fish I weigh while I'm in the kayak.
BUT...those are all just gathering data *for me*. If it takes me too long at all to unhook a fish, I will go down that list, in reverse order, and not do those things, in order to make up some of that extra time, and get the fish back in the water ASAP. On average, I'd say that I keep a keeper bass out of the water no more than 60-90 seconds. That's usually plenty to unhook, photo, weigh, and measure (on the yak).
One thing that may help if you're having trouble in this area would be a lightweight pair of [fish grips](https://www.rapala.com/us_en/floating-fish-gripper). These will lock onto a bass's jaw without damaging it (from the clamping anyway...you can still hurt them with bad angles or twisting/pulling, of course). And with a good grip like that, you now have better control over the fish and your hands area away from those trebles as you use your pliers to get them out. My grips are one of those "on the bubble" things, that I don't bring as often as I should, since there's no easy way for me to store them in/on my current bag, but I absolutely bring them every time in saltwater, as well as whenever I think a pike or musky might be a likely catch.
I switched to single hooks after having the same issue as you multiple times, they come off a little more than usual but I’ll take it instead of having to mangle the fish to get the hooks out
I hate dealing with treble hooks and use single hook lures 90% of the time. The main reason being I have pulled those hooks out of each one of my thumbs and it wasn’t very fun. One of them I had to push through and cut, the other time it went straight into the knuckle and I had to just yank it out. Luckily my thumbs still work 👍👍
90% of ppl who get a treble deep in their hand were lipping fish with trebles hanging out of their mouth. I always use a net to secure fish with trebles and grips/pliers to safely remove the hooks. It’s not worth the risk and the fish will be fine.
Holding the fish with both gill plates closed 99.9999% of the time keeps them completely still. Use forceps/needle nose to unhook if they’re pinned pretty good. Takes time to get the hang of it but it gets easier and safer
I started using a whopper plopper for the first time this year. That’s a problem for me too. Seems like I’ll have one normal hook and one that ends up in their body from their fight. Super annoying but I’m not aware of a way to avoid this. I’m also not a very good angler so I’m not able to provide a lot of insight other than personal experience. I’m starting to despise treble hooks and thinking of replacing them all with single hooks but not sure if I’d have the same problem.
Do you have needle nose pliers?!?!?! Yes it’s part of fishing anything with dual hooks, not just a plopper or treble issue. Most hard baits are going to have dual trebles. Change those hooks to standard and see your hook up percentage go way down.
Plopper trebles tend to get hooked everywhere outside mouth. I always use pliers with trebles after a bass kicked and buried one in my thumb.
Just part of fishing with a bait with multiple treble hooks you can remove the front treble if it bothers you that much
That's just part of treble hook baits. You can crimp the barbs down with pliers to make the hooks easier to get out and do less damage to the fish.
What is it about whopper ploppers that are just the *worst* for the way they double hook fish and people? Crankbaits/jerkbaits etc sometimes, but whopper ploppers it's like every time. edit: hook guage maybe? I feel like plops have thinner/stickier hooks
Whopper ploppers do get snagged all over a fish I’ve noticed, needle nose pliers are a must when using trebles at all imo. Also you can switch them out to single inline hooks, VMC makes some great ones and Vanfook if you want barbless ones
sometimes it can and does happen, yes. when fishing treble baits my needle nose never leaves my pocket. sucks having to walk back to your stuff after every bite, especially if you're walking a long bank or something. had to have caught at least 100 on the WP and i dont think i've ever gilled a fish, though. so that's good.
When I’m fishing any bait with trebles, I keep my pliers in my pocket. It makes it easier to unhook the fish and get them back where they belong. You want them to get as many points in them as possible because it makes the lure more difficult for them to throw.
Cool cool. Appreciate the inputs here. I do have and always carry needle nose anytime I fish so will keep rocking the plopper if that’s just part of it.
It is. And honestly, as long as you're being mindful about the total time they're spending out of the water, they're probably going to be okay too. I usually take a photo of every fish I catch (mostly to send to the gf who loves the pics), and weigh any fish I think might be 2lbs or more. I also use my new bump board to get a length on any fish I weigh while I'm in the kayak. BUT...those are all just gathering data *for me*. If it takes me too long at all to unhook a fish, I will go down that list, in reverse order, and not do those things, in order to make up some of that extra time, and get the fish back in the water ASAP. On average, I'd say that I keep a keeper bass out of the water no more than 60-90 seconds. That's usually plenty to unhook, photo, weigh, and measure (on the yak). One thing that may help if you're having trouble in this area would be a lightweight pair of [fish grips](https://www.rapala.com/us_en/floating-fish-gripper). These will lock onto a bass's jaw without damaging it (from the clamping anyway...you can still hurt them with bad angles or twisting/pulling, of course). And with a good grip like that, you now have better control over the fish and your hands area away from those trebles as you use your pliers to get them out. My grips are one of those "on the bubble" things, that I don't bring as often as I should, since there's no easy way for me to store them in/on my current bag, but I absolutely bring them every time in saltwater, as well as whenever I think a pike or musky might be a likely catch.
I switched to single hooks after having the same issue as you multiple times, they come off a little more than usual but I’ll take it instead of having to mangle the fish to get the hooks out
I hate dealing with treble hooks and use single hook lures 90% of the time. The main reason being I have pulled those hooks out of each one of my thumbs and it wasn’t very fun. One of them I had to push through and cut, the other time it went straight into the knuckle and I had to just yank it out. Luckily my thumbs still work 👍👍
90% of ppl who get a treble deep in their hand were lipping fish with trebles hanging out of their mouth. I always use a net to secure fish with trebles and grips/pliers to safely remove the hooks. It’s not worth the risk and the fish will be fine.
Part of trebles. Get needle nose pliers and work from front hooks back.
Use pliers to bend the barbs down. Way easier on the fish and way easier to unhook them.
You always need needle nose pliers for treble hooks, lmao
Holding the fish with both gill plates closed 99.9999% of the time keeps them completely still. Use forceps/needle nose to unhook if they’re pinned pretty good. Takes time to get the hang of it but it gets easier and safer