Thanks for the heads up on the lunker punker deal,would have never known about the sale without your post.
Got a question for you, i just got mine and after reading the reviews on the bait i was wounering if i should put a clear coat on them or just fish them as is. Thanks

Pete A

It's an interesting idea, but the reason I would never do it is because with largemouth, if you get one treble in the fish, and it jumps, you very well may get the other treble in the fish as well. The second you have two trebles in the fish with a hardbait, that' fish is caught. Having 3 prongs on all the hooks helps with that. Though it does definitely wear out your baits over time.

What Nate means by T-ing the hooks Rob, is not that one of the three trebles is cut, but that two of the trebles are bent so that the hook looks like a T when viewing it from the bottom of the hook. All three tines are still present, just two of them are at ninety degree angles from the third. This is easily done to the hook with a pair of pliers, just make sure that you don't do it to the tine that is welded onto the manufactured hook as that is the weak tine and bending it could possibly cause it to break off. The important thing is making sure that the T'd hook is placed properly on the split ring so that the two bent tines are against the belly of the bait. By t-ing the front hook on larger topwater lures or large round crankbaits, you can prevent hookrash from destroying the lures paint job and it is also claimed that it prevents the two tines of the hook from riding directly against the bait and increases hook ups on baits with big hooks. I don't know if this is a proven theory, but I do this on almost all of my round muskie lures and topwaters and haven't had any more issues with lost fish than I experienced before.

Unfortunately lost fish on big topwaters are going to happen irregardless, as the weight of the lure provides enough leverage that the baits will get thrown when the fish thrashes his head out of the water. This is just one of the reason that super long rods are so common in muskie fishing nowadays, because you can drop the rod tip in the water and force a fish that wants to surface down and to the side rather than letting it get above the water where the minimal air resistance allows the lure to be flung out of the mouth of the fish. I have used this technique on big bass that I have caught incidentally as well. Long rods in the eight foot and greater range also make it easy to work big topwater walk the dog baits as well as it is easier to work the big sticks on a slightly slack line with a long rod.