- 1
Offset-shank fishing hook
Hold the fishing hook by its long shaft firmly. Take a plastic worm and identify the "head" end of it, which will be the thickest portion with the segmented collar. - 2). Push the point of the offset-shank hook into the very end of the head of the plastic worm. Thread the worm on for slightly less than half an inch before bringing the hook out the side of your plastic worm.
- 3
Slide the worm up past the bends in the hook
Slide the plastic worm down the point of the hook past the barb, along the curved area and finally up the elongated shaft. When you reach the first of the 90 degree bends in the upper shaft slide the plastic worm over it and the next one. - 4
The Texas rigged plastic worm
Cause the worm to come to rest as snug as possible against the eye. If you were making a Texas rig, you would hold the hook by the eye with the dangling worm and rotate the point towards the worm's body. Pierce the body with the sharp point so that when you hold the hook by its shaft the worm dangles down straight. In a Texas rig the hook stays in the worm so when the rig passes through weeds or next to brush the hook will not grab hold and become snagged. - 5
Thread a third of the worm on before bringing through the point
Thread about one third of the worm down the point and up the shaft when fishing in open water. This type of rig allows you to cast the worm out and reel it in at your leisure, since there are no obstacles to snag. Push the hook out the side of the worm a third of the way down its body so it hangs straight when you hold it by the eye. - 6). Hook a typical baitfish such as a minnow or a shiner with your offset-shank fishing hook when ice fishing for species such as the northern pike. Some anglers prefer these longer hooks with the bigger points when ice fishing. Stick the point in the fish between the start of its tail and its upper back fin. Bring the hook all the way through so that the baitfish cannot wiggle off.
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