Fish-Hawk.Net

Alright..no matter what I do I always end up with somewhat rusty hooks. Most of the time they are not even used ! Is there something to bring them back to there original condition?

I was thinking soaking them in CLR or Coke?

What do you guys do?

Seabass81,

I've let the hooks soak in WD-40 for a few hours, then I remove them and wash with dish soap in hot water.
Remove and dry with a hair dryer.

Usually works well if they are not really bad.

I would just toss them, why would you want to salvage rusty hooks?

biggs wrote:I would just toss them, why would you want to salvage rusty hooks?

x2

Bass Addict wrote:

biggs wrote:I would just toss them, why would you want to salvage rusty hooks?

x2

x3

I would simply replace them with some new ones.

If it's light surface rust and not decay, do what Paddler suggests followed by sharpening the hell out of them. Replace the bad ones, and that'll give you an opportunity to dress them up with feathered or red trebles where you might not have otherwise gotten around to doing that.

Its purely on the surface but drives me nuts. I hate throwing away hooks not knowing if they can be salvaged .


John

Good point Bucketmouth,
Also, I learned to never store any hooks in the same tackle trays as I have my soft plastics.
Most of the soft plastics are loaded with salt = Rusty hooks

If it's light surface rust I just soak em in WD-40 and dry em off after. Cleans em right up.
I do find some cheaper lures have poopy hooks no matter what. I'll usually replace those with higher quality hooks.

Depending on lure size, I like to switch hooks to salt-water hooks before the first use. Marvelous for Muskie and Pike lures.....last forever.

Ted

If it just surface rust quick shot with the file and on the line it goes when you pull in a few fish all the rust is gone I get it a bit on my jigs when I leave on the plastics and pulling it thru the weeds also removes the rust

I give them to my brother!


......no, most of the time, we just throw em' out.
TT
TY

Some tackleboxes are better than others at keeping rust off your hooks. Flambeau have an added chemical that prevents rust, which I have found work well. I also only take out a few hooks from each new package instead of removing all of them from. I still carry the remaining hooks on me but they seem to keep longer in original packaging.
Always discard hooks safely!

I seriously thought that you opened a bar just for fishermen!!

It would be an awesome name for one!

Craig

The Torpedo wrote:I give them to my brother!

I honestly don't have that big of a problem with rusty hooks. All of my hard baits are stored in Plano 3771 and soft plastics are in binders. I could see issues as another has said with salted baits and hooks being stored together.

Good luck with the rust issues,
Drop