There’s little doubt that weedbeds are prime real estate for pike, especially in late spring/early summer. There’s also no doubt that spoons are one of the very best baits for pike. Weedless spoons work well, but at times, pike will show a preference for other types of spoons. And here lies the problem. Most spoons sport a treble hook and continually snag weeds. It’s not often that pike will hit a spoon dragging a bunch of weeds behind it. The solution is as simple as changing from the treble to a single hook. Now once in awhile, weeds will still attach themselves to a single hook, but the majority will slide off, especially when a few jerks are applied during the retrieve. And less weeds mean more pike.

There are a couple of things to remember when changing to a single hook. First, when spoons wobble through the water, they rock back and forth. If a spoon completely rotates, it is being over powered and a slower retrieve is needed. Because of the action of a spoon, a single hook must ride with the hook point towards the inside of the spoon, where it is protected. Also, too big of a hook will snag plenty of weeds as it is no longer protected with the point outside the edges of the spoon. The best way to determine the proper size of a hook to use, is to lay the hook on the spoon and make sure it isn’t wider than the spoon.

I’ve used single hooks on spoons for the past 15 years or so and don’t notice much of a change in hookup percentages. They seem to hold on as well as a treble and are much easier to extract, making release times much shorter. This, coupled with the weedless fact, is why I use single hooks year around. In open water too.