How To Properly Replace Treble Hooks With Inline Single Hooks [VIDEO]
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips, Terminal Tackle

Want to see the best way to replace treble hooks for single hooks?
Then you came to the right place.
If you have ever caught fish on treble hooks, you are probably well aware of the damage they can cause to a fish’s mouth (or even your own body).
These treble hooks can really turn nasty when they hook into sensitive areas of a fish, such as the gills, throat, stomach, and eyes as well.
You may also be aware of how easily they can snag just about everything – such as grass, trees, rocks, clothing, and landing nets, just to name a few.
Although you can certainly increase your hook up ratios by using treble hooks, you may also lose valuable time that can be used to catch more fish.
Having to untangle treble hooks from nets and/or removing grass after every cast that the treble hooks have snagged, adds up to a lot of time wasted by the end of the day.
Also, I tend to notice that as I unhook one of the treble hooks from a fish, another hook seems to sneak into the fish’s mouth, turning into a never ending “unhooking” session.
These are some of the top reasons as to why it is useful to switch those nasty treble hooks out with single inline hooks on your hard baits.
The great news is that this can be done on just about any bait that uses treble hooks.
Inline hooks come in a variety of different sizes to match your lure – whether it be a large topwater plug, or a small twitch bait.
An important note is to be sure you are using Inline hooks, and NOT your standard “J” style hooks or circle hooks.
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These inline hooks are specifically made to replace treble hooks on hard baits.
They are super sharp, and the eye of the hook is “inline” with the hook itself to keep the hook inline with the body of the lure.
The eye is also larger to allow the hook to move around freely to help increase hook-ups.
When putting these inline hooks on your lures, make sure you have the hook facing the proper direction as well.
Here is how the inline hooks should face:
- The rear hook should be facing to the rear
- The front hook should be facing forward.
If that front hook is facing to the rear, as you retrieve the lure the hook will lay up against the side of the bait, almost hiding it from being able to hook into a fish.
Lastly, be sure to use split ring pliers (as shown below) to remove the treble hooks from the split rings on your hard baits.
They have a notch at the tip that helps to open up the ring to remove or put on a hook.
This is much easier than using standard pliers or trying to just use your fingers.

They will also help save you from hooking yourself.
If you want to make it easier (and you aren’t planning on re-using your treble hooks) I like to snip the ends of the hooks off with wire cutters to eliminate the chance of hooking myself. You could also snip the entire hook off of the split ring to speed up the process.
Just be careful as the hook will tend to go flying as you snip it off. Place a plastic bag or small towel over the lure as you cut the hook to keep it from flying and possibly hitting you (or disappearing until your foot happens to find it).
In the following video I will be talking about using these inline hooks on hard baits, as well as showing you how to put them on your lures, where to purchase and the best ones I have found to use, and the pros and cons of using these hooks on your lures.
Replacing Treble Hooks With Single Hooks [VIDEO]
Conclusion
As you can see, replacing your treble hooks with single “inline” hooks isn’t that hard.
The two big things to watch out for are as follows:
- Don’t stab yourself with the treble hooks while removing them
- Make sure you align the inline single hooks the correct way on the lure
Once that is done, you are ready to go catch some fish.
So what do you think?
Any other tips on replacing treble hooks?
Let us know in the comments.
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Related Post: “Steps On Quickly Replacing Treble Hooks On Any Lure” (see it here now)
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Good advice. I haven’t tried it yet but I’m thinking about it. Tired of the treble hooks getting caught up in my net.
good video
What is the VM.gap size of a 1/0, 2/0?
It’s great that offer the hooks in your store, but you should also offer quality split rings in sizes for the in-line hooks.
Which lures have you found to come with bad split rings? I’ve always just used the ones the come with them and haven’t had any issues so far.
What is the best brand, & where can I get ’em?
It seems to me that a double hook may be the best option giving the benefits of both a treble hook and a single hook. Why not use doubles?
I don’t use doubles because I’m happy with the performance of the single hooks.
Just a quick question, on lures that have two hooks, you show the rear hook pointing upward, while others show the hooking pointing downward. Is there a reason when one might have the hooks pointing one way or the other?
BTW, I have already changed my spoons to inline hooks and seem to have about the same hookup rates as I did with the old treble hooks. I have learned the inline circle hooks work much better with Spanish Mackerel and Kingfish than traditional inline hooks (with spoons).
Both setups can work. But we’ve found best results with the rear hook pointing upward when worked through the water (it is more weedless and it gives a different angle relative to the front hook to get a hookup).
Swapping the hooks out is a great idea and responsible practice. Actually doing it is a much more difficult proposition. Can you elaborate further on the technique used to actually get the hooks on and off the split ring? Even with good pliers It takes me considerable time and frustration to do this. You fast forwarded through that part of the video
Great information, Tony! I’ll experiment with this on some of my muskie, walleye and bass lures. My home waters have standing timber and rocks but very little vegetation. Tips like these are what make a Salt Strong membership valuable no matter what species of predators you pursue. Phil
Do you mind me asking how that worked out for you? I would like to make the switch for pike but I am a little bit hesitant. Thanks.
Jonathan
Tony, good informative video. Why can’t i not use a proper sized siwash hook, remove the split ring and connect the siwash directly to lure eyelets? I am having a hard time finding the proper size replacement inline hooks in Canada (#1 and #2). It seems when I do this with the siwash hook, the hook performs not much different than with the split ring. Is there a reason for the split ring on all lures? Thanks, Greg