Pro Tips Weekly: Vic Vatalaro

If you’re missing fish, lighten up

I do a lot of finesse-fishing with smaller soft-plastics, but I also fish worms and tubes a lot too, so I’ve got a range of hook sizes and styles. Obviously, you want to match the size of the bait to the size of the hook, but there’s more to it than that.

Hook choice is a function of bait size, line size, rod action and cover type. To me, a light-wire hook is best most of the time because you can set the hook easier on light line and with a medium-action rod, especially at the end of a long cast. But it wouldn’t be a good idea to fish a light-wire hook in heavy cover, where you really need a hook stout enough to horse a bass out quickly. My rule of thumb is that, for a worm or tube fished on 6- or 8-pound-test fluorocarbon with a medium to medium-heavy-action rod, I use a 1/0 Gamakatsu round-bend hook. With 10- to 12-pound-test, I go with a 2/0; with 14- to 16-pound-test, I like 3/0; and so on. Probably, if I’m fishing line that heavy, I’m also fishing a big soft-plastic that needs a big hook anyway. With smaller finesse stuff, I’ll go down the other way with a Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap; these come in a range of sizes too.

Unless you’re fishing in heavy cover where you’ve got to set the hook hard and fast, a sweep set is all you need to set a light-wire hook. You might not even need to set the hook, such as when you’re fishing a tube and exposed hook. Sometimes you just give it a little pull and reel in the fish.

— Ranger pro Vic Vatalaro of Kent, Ohio