Hook Placement on Salmon and Trout Trolling Lures

Trolling lures for Great Lakes salmon and trout only require a single rear-mounted treble hook. Because moving trolling lures are constantly traveling forward, predator fish attack from behind rather than striking from multiple angles like in casting scenarios. Running a single rear hook eliminates lure body leverage that prys hooks free during a fight, reduces tackle box tangles, and prevents mess at the net.

What follows is my take on proper hook placement on trolling lures in freshwater- really any lures for any species, but mainly trout and salmon. This is my opinion after 50 years of fishing Great Lakes king salmon and steelhead.

Trolling lures with treble hooks require only one hook, and it should be mounted as far rearward as possible. This is because the majority of the time the fish swings in from behind the lure, follows briefly, and then strikes. Walleye tend to open and inhale the bait. Kings and trout most often bite down on it. I've seen this in countless underwater videos and witnessed it firsthand in clear Lake Michigan water. Would love to hear from a fisheries biologist on this.

Where Did Multi-Hook Lures Originate?

Lure makers who developed casting lures- often for bass- put multiple hooks on the bait because a slow-moving or stopped lure can get struck from any direction. Two or three trebles make sense for that application. Trolling is a completely different scenario. The lure never stops- it's always moving forward. Rarely, does a fish see a lure coming and blast it head-on.

Exception: I've watched schooling smallmouth get extremely aggressive and fight to be first to the bait- hitting from crazy angles. But kings, walleye, and trout? They swing in from behind. Nearly every underwater video confirms it.  Plus how many guys troll for smallmouth anymore?  And are bass, pike, etc more of an ambush fish?  Wait...watch...strike?  Again...need a biologist on that one.

Benefits of a Single Rear-Mounted Treble:

Fewer tangles in storage- single hook lures store together in a tray without the constant hook-on-hook tangling of multi-hook setups. Less space, less frustration.

Fewer tangles in the net- the hook is in the fish's mouth. The net has nothing to catch on. If the lure pops free in the net you're dealing with one hook, not three.

Fewer lost fish- this one seems counterintuitive...a fish swings in, grabs the lure, and gets hooked by the rear treble.  The fish may turn during the fight and if a forward hook is present, that swinging hook can find flesh. Change direction again and now the lure body is leveraging against one of the hooks- and prying it free. One hook in the mouth is cleaner than two hooks with a lever between them.

The Standard Argument

Many anglers insist you have to have that forward hook- just in case.

My response: "So... you must add front trebles to all of your spoons then?"

Multiple hooks feels instinctively safer- we've seen them on lures for over 100 years. But when you consider the actual strike behavior of trolling fish and the benefits listed above, I think a single rear-mounted hook gets the job done better.