Pat Victorino uses Owner Super Kues which I reckon it would take an orca to straighten out!
Was not familiar with these hooks at all, never heard of them, but just Googled them.... Buddha's Belly those are some SERIOUS hooks.... agree with you there Brandon, definitely look like Orca fishing hooks.... Anyone keen to build up a Baby Seal Stickbait for my next trip to Canada???
Crusty?
Will try not give poor advice here, as my experience is limited compared to most.... But I have certainly found that some baits are far more fickle when it comes to hook size and style than others, as has been mentioned in previous posts... and I'm not only talking about the difference between poppers and stickbaits, but rather between brands as well...
As would be expected, the "high perfromance" models like your Gamma's etc, are very particular as to what works with them, to get optimum performance.... much like a high end sports car... get it right and its a thing of beauty, and you suddenly think of yourself as the new Konishi-San when you swimming that lure ( well I do anyway!
)... but get it wrong, and you are in for a long frustrating afternoon pulling your hair out and cursing every forum who convinced you to spend crazy amounts of your hard earned money on these lures that don't swim properly!!!
I've found the most "Idiot Friendly" ( yes that includes me! ) range of lures with regards to hook size/style and angler skill to be the Heru range, the stickbaits especially... these lures are incredibly forgiving in my opinion, as they hadle a wide rnage of hook sizes and configurations without too much trouble, and are pretty easy to work all round.....
That being said, I enjoy nothing more than figuring out the right combos for my high end lures ( Buddha knows I've got enough of them!! ), and working out what works on each one ( of course with alot of help from reading through this forum so I've at least got a starting point ), and there is nothing more satisfying than getting the set up right, and watching it all come together...
I tend to prefer trebles for the most part, partly because they seem to make all stickbaits swim better, and also because they look so damn frikken cool!
Probably not added much uselful info to this thread, sorry for the sidetrack.... but I do really agree with Brandon in that hook selection is critical, and can make or break a lure.... so time spent getting it right is definitely worth your while...