I was out the other night throwing the large rising son (for the first time) while my two buddies were throwing a slammer and a rago rat. The only three bites of the night came on the rising son. I landed two of the fish and they were only about 2.5 lbs, the other didnt get the hook.

As I was breaking down my rods, I noticed that my 1/0 owner stinger was pretty bent. I was really surprised since the two fish I caught were both less than 3 lbs (see pic of hook and fish below). Has anyone had trouble with the owner stingers? Ive caught fish up to 7 lbs on those hooks and never had a problem before now, but I am definitely going to replace all of my owner stingers w/ the 2x owner stingers (unless anyone has any other suggestions).

Also, the bait got a little ripped up from the fight. Its nothing that a little soft bait glue cant fix, but im curious to see if anyone has any suggestions for minimizing the wear/tear on swimbaits. I already debarb the point of the hook that I push into the bait...anything else I can do? I am thinking about cutting off one of the points and using just a paper clip to secure the hook in the bait. Perhaps with a straight paper clip, rather than a bent hook, it can pull straight out of the bait and not tear.

--nate

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3778-2-7_woodbridge.jpg


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3779-bent_hook.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)
Attachment #2, (.jpg file)