Make Your Own Bait-keeper For Ewg Hooks

[MOFishwater]

I've been bit by the swimbait bug and fish them a LOT now and have tried a number of different hooks to try and keep these expensive hunks of plastic on the hook and swimming correctly. I really like the EWG hooks with the spiral "baitkeeper" for screwing into the nose of the bait, helps it stay on the hook and is a lot less invasive/damaging to the nose of the bait. I saw a tip in either Bassmaster or NAFC or something and gave it a try and it works great, so I thought I'd pass it along to anyone who may be interested. Here's the type of hook:

You can turn an ordinary EWG hook into the same thing very quickly and easily by using a good ol' ballpoint pen (the clicky kind). Just open it up, take the spring out. You can snip it in half w/ pliers and hook it onto the eye of your EWG and make 2 baitkeepers that work just as well in the limited time I've given it a try. I've snatched up all of the springs in the house and have a nice stash rigged up for the upcoming fishing trips using my surplus EWG hooks, these are great for swimbaits, frogs, flukes, etc. Just a tip if you're looking to save some pennies here and there, so far I've found them to work just as well as the store bought ones.

[Buzz]

That's a great idea. I bet the family was a little ticked when they found that all of the click pens didn't work anymore. LOL. I have done the same thing and it does work really well. Another thing I started doing, after all of the pens were used up, was get small guage wire from a craft store and wrap it around a small nail. It gives you the same outcome but you don't get as much grief from the family and you get a lot more bang for your buck. I use them for my flukes and they do work great.

Buzz

[MOFishwater]

That's a great idea. I bet the family was a little ticked when they found that all of the click pens didn't work anymore. LOL. I have done the same thing and it does work really well. Another thing I started doing, after all of the pens were used up, was get small guage wire from a craft store and wrap it around a small nail. It gives you the same outcome but you don't get as much grief from the family and you get a lot more bang for your buck. I use them for my flukes and they do work great.

Buzz

LOL. Actually, my coworkers are curious what happened to the clicky pens;)

[Guest]

That's a great idea. I bet the family was a little ticked when they found that all of the click pens didn't work anymore. LOL. I have done the same thing and it does work really well. Another thing I started doing, after all of the pens were used up, was get small guage wire from a craft store and wrap it around a small nail. It gives you the same outcome but you don't get as much grief from the family and you get a lot more bang for your buck. I use them for my flukes and they do work great.

Buzz

I thought I was the only one who did that!

[hoglaw]

I don't fish swimbaits, but I've always used a drop of superglue on the head of a trickworm. When I throw them in creeks, the gog's and perch attack them and knock my worm out of whack really quickly. The superglue seems to help a little and the back side of the worm still moves freely up the shank for a big bite.

[MOFishwater]

I don't fish swimbaits, but I've always used a drop of superglue on the head of a trickworm. When I throw them in creeks, the gog's and perch attack them and knock my worm out of whack really quickly. The superglue seems to help a little and the back side of the worm still moves freely up the shank for a big bite.

That's a great tip too. I have a bunch of the Basstrix swmbaits and I had a problem with them flying off the baitkeeper every now and then when I'd try to make a long cast, even a fresh new one that i just screwed on. I started covering the spring w/ glue before threading it into the nose of the bait and havent lost one since. When you combine the glue AND the spring, its hard to lose the bait or have it moved out of place. Cheers.