We've all been diligently waiting for spring to break through the doldrums of winter. We've paid our dues with months of organizing tackle, ordering new tackle, and of course, consuming every piece of fishing content we could get our hands on. It's a great way to pass the time, but at some point, it's not enough. We want to flip a Texas rig up shallow, wait for that tick, and then unleash months of pent-up energy with a hookset that Zona would be proud of. Alas, depending on where you're at in the country, the wait is over or soon to be over. It's time to bass fish!
We polled some of our Trokar Pros to find their three must-have bass fishing hooks for the spring. You'll quickly see a few hooks repeated often. This shows which hook to use and which presentations should be in your bag of tricks this spring. Regardless of your presentation, having the right hook is vital to consistent angling success. It doesn't matter if you're fishing in the Bassmaster Classic or pitching a wacky rig at the local pond. The right hook will help you catch more and bigger fish.
Mark Zona's Top 3 Fish Hooks For Spring Bass Fishing
"Number one, a Trokar Pro-V Finesse Hook. In the spring, lots of wacky rigging, you all know about that." It's no surprise this is Z's number one choice for must-have spring bass fishing hooks. The TK137 featuring the Pro-V bend is deadly. The Pro-V bend plays a crucial role in making this hook the workhorse it's been since its release in 2019. It keeps soft plastics in place, fish pinned regardless of how crazy the fight gets, and offers superior strength to traditional bends giving anglers added confidence to fish this relatively light wire finesse hook in or around cover.
Presentation: Wacky Rig
"Number 2 a critical one, a Trokar Pro-V Flippin' Hook. The reason I like that, especially if I'm bed fishing or kind of blind sight fishing, I like that hook for small-small compact baits." Z's number two hook for springtime is up to whatever giant bass/gnarly cover combo you can find. The TK133 Pro-V Flippin' hook can take whatever punishment you can conjure up and keep on ticking. The molded keeper will keep your soft plastics in place as you flip, pitch, or punch your way to your next PB. The TK133 also features a welded eye that keeps braided line from working its way back up through the hook's eyelet during an intense fight with giant bass.
Presentations: Texas Rig, Flipping/Pitching
"A Trokar ¼ oz Swimbait Hook (Jig) with a 5/0 Hook. The reason I like that is those 4 ½ -4 ¾ swimbaits like Rage Swimmers; You can throw it out and cover water." The Trokar Swimbait Head Jig allows anglers to cover tons of water confidently. The Swimbait Head Jig features a molded keeper that'll keep swimbaits in place without fussing around every couple casts, a head design that effortlessly works its way through sparse vegetation, and a stout hook built to handle the biggest bass in the lake. Last and certainly not least is the triple-sided Trokar point that effortlessly penetrates on hooksets.
Presentation: Swimbaits
Shaw Grigsby's Top 3 Fish Hooks For Spring Bass Fishing
“First off, going down the bank with a Caffeine Shad having fun sometimes with an Ocho. Here’s the best hook you can use in that bait. Look at that dude! That is a TK125, that barb right there (molded keeper), now this point is extra special cause it’ll catch um. It’s real sharp, super sharp, but that (molded bait keeper) holds the bait on. So when you’re jerking, twitching, or hitting in brush it (your baits) on. Which means two things, you get a better hook up/catch more fish, and you catch more fish per bait which is awesome!”
-Shaw
Presentations: Flukes, Senkos, Weightless Soft Plastics
“Number 2, If I find a big one man, I mean just a giant sitting on a bed, and I want to catch it… what do I do? 65lb braid, I’m bringing out the bad boy that’s the TK130, it is just built for beasts hook! Maybe grab a Rage Bug, something big, get it on there, and then just jack um up! That hook (TK130) will hold um, stick um, it’s perfect for that situation.”
-Shaw
Presentations: Texas Rig, Flipping/Pitching
“Now, if you get the finicky ones, you know the ones that are just a little tough, and hard to catch. Drop shot, drop shot, a little TK180, perfect, it’s got a good barb (molded keeper), weedless, and a perfect straight point to get that hook penetrated.”
-Shaw
Presentation: Drop Shot
JT Kenney's Top 3 Fish Hooks For Spring Bass Fishing
JT starts his list with the TK137 Pro-V Finesse Hook. Now is the time to point out the majority of our Trokar Pro's have this listed as one of their top 3 hooks for springtime bass fishing. The effectiveness of fishing a wacky rig throughout the spring on a TK137 is unquestionable. Again, the Pro-V bend allows anglers to keep their baits in place, and once that Trokar triple-sided point penetrates on the hookset, the Pro-V bend keeps them pinned.“It has to be one of the most popular techniques is just throwing a wacky rig stick worm. A TK137, a 137 is the one that I use for this (wacky rig) and it’s weedless, a little weedless with that Pro-V bend. You guys know if you follow me on social media, you know I love that Pro-V bend for a lot of stuff.” -JT
Presentation: Wacky Rig
The TK100 is a highly versatile round bend worm hook anglers across the country rely on for various presentations. The TK100's smaller gap offsets the line tie and hook point giving anglers an extremely high bite/hook up ratio. “You can use this hook (TK100) for anything, this hook is absolutely amazing, but it’s my absolute favorite hook for throwing a weighted stick worm around.” JT exclaims.
Presentation: Texas Rigged Stick Worms
“You guys know in the springtime those big females like to get around heavy/heavy cover, and my favorite thing to do, I take a creature bait with an ounce and a half weight and a TK133. Once again, there’s that Pro-V bend. The TK133, that is my punching setup, that is my absolute favorite hook for this. It’s a nice slender profile, so it slides down into the heavy cover really good, but it absolutely stabs them when you rear back and set the hook!” JT
Presentation: Texas Rig, Punching
Matt Becker's Top 3 Fish Hooks For Spring Bass Fishing
“Number one on my list, this going to be a good all-around hook. You can do so many different things with this; this is the TK100. More specifically, this is the TK100 4/0. This 4/0 size is perfect for all of your worms, craw baits, brush hog style baits, all those different style baits, this right here is going to get the job done. In springtime fishing, you know I’m thinking of transitions you fish are moving in and out, and you know a Carolina Rig or a worm really helps finds those fish efficiently, and that’s when I pick up this hook right here, the TK100.” -Matt Becker
Presentations: Carolina Rig, Texas Rig Worms
Trokar TK180 Light Wire Finesse Hook:
“Next on the list and this is for when those fish are still out fairly deep before they make their push for the bank to get ready for the spawn, and that is going to be a drop shot. You know a drop shot is an amazing rig, it catches a lot of fish, but this right here is an excellent drop shot hook, this is the TK180 2/0. That 2/0 size is perfect for a variety of different baits. Whether you want to use a small little minnow bait and chase some suspended fish or work your way all the way up to the longer worm style baits like a Googan Slim Shake, a Drag N’ Drop, or even a Roboworm style bait. This hook right here handles it all. Like I said I really like the 2/0 size. It’s not a super heavy gauge wire so you’re able to get good hook penetration in deep water, and it's not going to flex on you and lose those fish.”
-Matt Becker
Presentation: Drop Shot
“Once those fish make their move to the bank in the spring, you know they’re getting shallow, they get under docks, and they’re getting to set up to spawn. I go with this guy right here; this is the TK137. There’s a TK137 weedless and a TKf137 non-weedless. I vary those depending on the cover and the snags that are around, but this hook right here in a number 2 size I use for all my wacky rigs, Neko rigs, stuff like that when those fish get around docks and get in that shallow water, and you almost have to finesse fish them, I pick up this right here the TK137.”
-Matt Becker
Presentations: Wacky Rig, Neko Rig
Glenn Walker's Top 3 Fish Hooks For Spring Bass Fishing
“I’m going to first start off with the TK105, the big nasty Pro-V worm hook. What I’ll use this hook for is when I’m fishing offshore points, areas where those bass are staging before they go up and spawn. What I like to do there is either fish a big worm, drag it around, or more likely a Carolina Rig. I’ll Carolina Rig a lizard or a Baby Brush Hog, and why I use the TK105 in this 4/0 size is I’m using a six-inch lizard or a Baby Brush Hog, and that profile of that plastic bait isn’t as bulky as like a big plastic bait (tube/beaver style bait), so I don’t need to use the extra-wide gap hook. I’m just using a standard worm hook and what this allows me to do is that hook point is actually further back in the body of that plastic bait than it would be with the extra-wide or mag worm hook. That way if those bass are kind of short striking your plastic bait that hook will be back in the bait where they’re going to bite.” -Glenn Walker
Presentations: Texas Rig, Carolina Rig
“As those bass start to move up and get closer to their spawning area. I’m going to start relying on flipping. Whether I’m flipping stumps, rip rap, boat docks, and for me, my personal choice is the TK133 Pro-V Flippin’ hook. I love flipping soft plastic baits all year long, especially in the spring, and the Pro-V Flippin’ hook is my choice. I’ll go between the 4/0 and 5/0 depending on the size of the soft plastic creature bait I’m flipping. If I’m fishing a smaller Z Craw Junior bait, I’ll use that 4/0 again that hook point is towards the back of the plastic bait, so in the spring, if the bass are short striking, you’ll still hook them. If I go up to the standard Z craw, a full-size creature bait, then that 5/0 size is the one I go with.”
-Glenn Walker
Presentations: Texas Rig, Flipping
“The third hook I like to use is the Pro-V Finesse Hook. The TK137, this hook is just dynamite for fishing finesse applications. In the spring, you’ve got to be skipping around a wacky rig soft plastic stick bait. Here’s the Zoom Zlinky. I’ll skip this around, you know boat docks, laydowns, shallow water vegetation. If those bass are up shallow and they’re cruising or on beds you’ve got to be throwing a soft plastic stickbait, and with that TK137 your bait is going to stay on there longer and you’re going to get a good hookup ratio.”
-Glenn Walker
Presentation: Wacky Rig
Matt Massey's Top 3 Fish Hooks For Spring Bass Fishing
“I would say my all-time favorite hook that Eagle Claw/Trokar makes is a TK130. That hook right there is a 4/0. I use 4/0, 5/0 primarily. It’s got a little plastic keeper right up there on the shank of the hook that will actually keep your bait in place, so it doesn’t slide down when you’re casting or dragging it through cover. It’s got that super sharp Trokar hook point, and it’s a heavy-duty, heavy wire hook. You’re not going to bend this, EVER!”
“That straight shank TK130 is a must-have and is always tied on one of my rods.”
-Matt Massey
Presentations: Texas Rig, Flipping, Pitching
"The TK137 Finesse Wacky hook or weedless Finesse Hook, right. So it has that Pro-V bend, it has a plastic little weed guard right there, and it works great for fishing wacky rigged Senko or any time of a worm. This is a wacky rig hook, and that weed guard will actually allow you to pull it through vegetation or wood cover, things like that, without getting hung up. I know down here in Florida we use this around the docks, in the canals, in the weedlines, in the pads. Anywhere those bass are spawning and you need a real finesse presentation, this will get the job done. So that TK137 Weedless Finesse Hook, perfect hook.”
-Matt Massey
Presentations: Wacky Rig
“A perfect hook for tube jig fishing. The shank of the hook comes out past the legs, so you have less obstruction there when you’re setting the hook on that fish. This (TKTJ) will get um. Tube jigs are kind of notorious for losing fish, but this hook, you’ll catch more fish, and you don’t need to set the hook extremely hard. You just want to reel down until you feel that rod load up, then pull into them, and you’ll hook them every time.”
-Matt Massey
Presentation: Tube Jig
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