Changing trebles and split rings

[NormC]

I know this has been discussed before, but I need a bit more advice. I've spent a couple of hours this afternoon swapping trebles and splits on a heap of lures in preparation for an upcoming (first) trip to Awoonga in the hope of meeting up with the much cherished 1 metre barra.

I've used Owner trebles and Owner #4 splits where I've made the change. The decision was easy on many of the lures. The trebles were of obvious inferior quality. A bit harder to tell with splits, but my general rule was, if I replaced the trebles, I replaced the splits.

On some of the better lures like Predatek Vipers, Classic Barra and Classic Pro, the current fit out is good quality. I think they are VMC. A Tango Dancer I have is made by Owner, so naturally has Owner hardware, but looks to be not quite as strong as the replacement ones I bought. I haven't changed trebles and splits on any of these yet. At about 90 cents per treble and close to 70 cents per split, it gets a bit expensive unless it is really necessary. Is the standard hardware on these lures up to the task, or should I bite the bullet and change it all?

Thanks
Norm C

[griz066]

Never changed one in my life and never will bloody things cost enough now without that caper. Never had one fail yet either 8-)

[Big_Ren]

Norm, if you have any doubts whatsover, change 'em over. What price do you put on a metre+ fish that is lost due to straightened terminals? I only use Owner splits and trebles these days and IMO they are far superior to the VMC 6X, which still straighten on bigger fish. You won't be sorry.

The other option is to only change over trebles/splits on a handful of the lures you'll be using that day and if you go to a different lure, swap the Owners onto it. Why leave anything to chance?

Cheers
Paul :)

[Jonli]

Owner Hyper Wire splitring + Owner ST66 treble hooks would be my prime choise , I second Paul's choise .

JonLi .

[Roo]

Norm,
Add up the cost of travelling to awoonga, accomodation, food and drink while your there..........change up @ $4.80 a lure (3 sets) is not too much for the insurance against possible dissappointment.

Then again, I did all this and only caught one fish for my trip on a classic barra lure with the standard VMC 3X hardware on it ;)

Cheers Roo.

[agnes_jack]

My first few trips to Awoonga saw quite a few split rings turned into paper clips, and straightened a few trebles as well. Not so bad if fishing the weed beds, but locked drag in the sticks is another story.

If in doubt......Change them ;) ;)

Regards, Tony

[BR65]

Mate I had a little 560mm long barra half straighten the standard hook on a bara classic, and I wasnt fishing locked up, just gave him a bit of curry to haul him out of a nasty log pile.
Lord only knows what a metery would do, but bring it on.