This Easy Trick Makes Lures More Weedless

It's simple, it's easy. Your fishing trips will become better.

Things are changing.

In fact, it's the only constant in Louisiana.

The MRGO has been closed and Mardi Gras Pass has been opened. Waters previously salty are now more fresh than ever.

This has some anglers disgruntled. I've read enough fishing reports complaining of the "growth" keeping anglers from catching fish.

By "growth" they are referring to aquatic grasses that grow thick with freshwater.

Honestly, I'm all for it.

After all, if a pond is grassed over, I don't have to worry about fishing it.

In fact, finding fish becomes much easier at that point in time: find a pond that's not grassed over. 

I digress. My point is that with change an angler must adapt. Let me show you one way in which I adapt to fishing around grass edges.

Skin Hook Your Lure

I think we all know to use weedless lures around grass mats. If you are unfamiliar, here are a few and what they look like:

And here are a couple examples of lures we avoid when fishing around thick grass:

All those treble hooks will get fouled in aquatic grass, making the lure unappealing to fish. The lures in the top photo are the correct choice, but notice how they are configured: you can't see the hook tips.

These lures are "skin hooked".

What is skin hooking a lure?

It's a trick used to make lures more weedless.

The idea is to take the point of the hook and lightly tuck it under the "skin" of the lure, so grass cannot catch it.

Hook sets go unhampered because the point of the hook is covered by a thin veil of soft plastic, not a thick layer of it.

At first glance, skin hooking may not seem necessary because the single hook point sits so close to the lure's body.

A look against hard light reveals how easy grass can be snagged.

More Skin Hooking Factoids

When you skin hook a lure, the plastic is less likely to fall down the hook and give a poor action.

Some lures come with a slot to hide the hook in, I still skin hook them for the above reason.

Conclusion

There are many opportunities for inshore anglers in waters loaded with aquatic grass. The key is to adapt and skin hooking weedless lures is one way of doing that.