I first became aware of the new hook by Trapper Tackle after
seeing social media videos and images by Pro Staff member Vince Hurtado.
Shortly afterward at this year's ICAST,
Trapper Tackle generated a huge 'Buzz.'
Throughout the event, a non-stop list of
Who's Who repeatedly came to their booth, as they capped things off with a Best
of Show award in the Terminal Tackle Division.
I had to find out for myself, and you, if Trapper Tackle is
the real deal or not. My first step was to contact Vince Hurtado and arrange
for a media day. The timing was superb; Hurtado and I met up and headed to
Clear Lake, California, for what would turn out to be an excellent bite. The
conditions were perfect for field testing the Trapper.
Vince Hurtado with a
stellar Trapper Tackle 'High Five'!
During our Clear Lake visit,
the Trapper was put to the test by largemouth bass, both in size and numbers. It was just like Hurtado
explained during the drive to the lake: once we hooked the fish, they couldn't
jump off the Trapper.
Multiple techniques, multiple lures, again and again, the bass, big or small, can't escape the
Trapper!
Before I explain the brilliance of the Trapper, let's
step back and learn how everything started.
Vision and
Perseverance
Trapper hooks are the Brain Child of Larry Davidson.
Davidson is a lifelong accomplished fisherman and a tournament bass angler who has always had a
knack for finding a better way of doing things. With a love of fishing and a disdain for losing fish, Davidson hit upon the
Trapper idea.
Davidson shaped the first Trappers so they would better hold
a plastic worm and eliminate sliding. He also wanted the hook point to sit so
that it would begin penetrating immediately when an angler applies pressure.
Davidson's first field testing proved that his goals were not only met, but
that the design had another great attribute. The bass caught with his new
hook design were pinned so well they couldn't come off; they were trapped!
The first J
Hook; Bone hooks along with prehistoric
fishing gear found in a coastal cave on the Island of Timor located in
Southeast Asia. Photo by Livescience.com
What an amazing accomplishment: For the past 42,000 years of
human history, the basic design and appearance of the standard fishing hook hasn't changed until the Trapper.
Davidson's next step was to
present his idea to the world. Enter George Catuogno, the CEO of Landum Outdoors, the parent brand for Trapper
Tackle. Landum Outdoors built an elite team of industry professionals around
Trapper, taking an excellent concept and fine-tuning it into greatness.
Attention to Detail
Landum's team of investors, designers,
researchers, developers, and promoters has done their job well. Every aspect of
the hooked was tuned, tested, and refined.
A Trapper
prototype and detail illustrates the line tie
position aligning with the Trapper's box center axis.
The alignment of the line tie eye
and the center of the box creates a perfect system for aligning
plastic baits in a straight, non-kinked
position. The neck behind the line tie has a 60-degree
angle compared to typical 90-degree
bends. This oblique angle prevents baits from sliding down the neck. Once the
bait is correctly placed on a Trapper, it
stays in place longer with fewer angler adjustments. As a result, baits last
longer, anglers make more casts, and
catch more fish!
A wacky-rigged stick bait and nose-hooked shad-style worm rigged on a
Dropshot Live Bait Finesse Trapper.
Better by Design
Piercing points
don't rip.
There are two types of hook points: piercing and cutting.
Piercing punctures and leaves a symmetrical hole. Cutting points use
asymmetrical edges along the hook point that cut flesh. The linear cut will increase in size during the
pressure of the fight and can easily contribute to a lost fish. Trappers
feature a piercing point.
Two 90-degree
turns and a strategically placed barb
create the box's three locking points for a hooked fish.
The box design is obviously
different than any J-Hook style, but here is the brilliance of the
Trapper. The geometry of the box starts
penetration immediately on a smooth pull during the hook set, and once hooked,
it keeps the fish trapped. When a fish is hooked
with a traditional J-Hook, during the fight, fish can slide up and down, as well as rock back and forth anywhere along the seamless
curving wire between the barb and the eye bend of the hook. If things line up
for the fish, it can come from a position
on the J-Hook shaft and create enough
force to take it right past the holding abilities of the hook's barb, and it's
free.
Trapped; no
sliding, no rocking, no pivoting.
An angler can execute everything correctly, but due to
traditional hook design and the dynamic forces of a fighting fish, J-Hooks can provide our quarry with a means for escape. The Trap has three
points that prevent this. A J-Hook has only one,
the barb. A fighting fish has to escape
the holding mechanisms of a J-Hook only once. With a Trapper, the fighting fish can take itself deeper into the box, and
then has to escape three times sequentially. An angler that executes the
hook-set well and fights a fish soundly has the best odds for not losing that
fish when they're using a Trapper.
This Trapper also happens to be great news for anglers that
fish in regulated waters that require barbless hooks only.
Trapper
Tackle's current product line. All sizing conforms to industry standards. If
you like a 5/0 for your creature baits, a 5/0 Trapper is your new hook.
The Future
CEO George Catuogno sums it up well. "If given the choice between fishing with a good tool or a great tool, especially when
the price point is comparable, it's an obvious choice. Like every
new tackle product, anglers will want to try something to prove it to
themselves. Still, we've seen enough evidence to know that most anglers are
going to come to the same conclusions as those who have gone before them—that
this hook is not just evolutionary, it's revolutionary. It's going
to change the way people think about hooks, and that excites me." – George
Catuogno.
Catuogno is right: once you use a better product, how can
you go back to inferior methods? I've verified the Trapper for myself. Trapper
Tackle is convinced you will too. Sign up
for a free sample pack and see for yourself. https://trappertackle.com/
The revolution is upon us, and Trapper Tackle is just
getting started. I'm excited, and the
possibilities appear to be limitless.
