Removing middle treble from Bandits

[[email protected]]

As much as we like Bandits, we spend a lot of time getting fish out of the net and seem to snag clothes, rags and carpet, etc. Does anyone have experience with removing the middle set of trebles? Notice any change in how they run or observations of missing or losing more fish with them removed?

[J Hook]

I only run the tail treble and the middle.. I don’t use the one closest to the bill .. Works fine and still catch walleye/

[Lerie]

I only run the tail treble and the middle.. I don’t use the one closest to the bill .. Works fine and still catch walleye/

I fish Erie's Eastern Basin out of Dunkirk and occasionally Barcelona. I started removing the front hooks on 3 hook minnow baits some 35 years ago when Bomber 25A's were the #1 deep diver to use. Never saw any reason to put those front hooks back on. So, since then I remove the front treble on all of my 3 hook minnow cranks.

[[email protected]]

Thanks all. I have also discussed this off line with other trollers and the answer is always the same. Remove the front and leave the middle and tail hooks. Saved me from making a mistake and removing the middle trebles. My fingers, clothes, boat carpet, net, etc are thankful as well, appreciate the Feedback!

[Zinggggg]

Having the same issues I bought a net with good rubber netting and solved problem. No more cutting the net and even fighting fiesta fish, getting the hooks out were easy. We no longer remove a treble hook from lure.

[Ducker]

I wouldn't dream of removing hooks from my crankbaits. First I bought a net that doesn't get tangled with the hooks, I don't have carpet in my boat, I bet that's a PIA to to keep clean. We also practice lure discipline, while netting and redeployment of lines. If your not being careful, even if the first hook is gone the second set will get you.

[[email protected]]

We went to the rubber net last year and it was better but still a pain. That, and so often the fish is hooked with two or three sets of trebles and that too is a pain when the bite is hot. There were times when we were netting 2 fish in the same net and that was a cluster as well with all those hooks. It just seems excessive. Love the Duckwaters. Say Hi to Hoover for me. Hunted with him in Saskatchewan a few years back.

[slimshady]

A buddy of mine made a DIY fish ramp on the back of his boat over the gunnel so he can slide them right up the ramp and into the boat. He only nets the really big ones. I like to use fairly heavy leaders (20 lb flouro) in front of my baits so that I can hoist in anything under 4 lbs and keep them out of the net. If the fishing is slow and they are hard to come by, then I might net more of them. In LSC, I usually increase my leader size to 30# test flouro due to the muskies, however, I am not going to "boat flip" those..