We spend a good part of the bass fishing year with a flipping or pitching rod in our hands. We all love to flip and pitch and it’s affective for presenting a bait naturally where a bass hides without disturbing them or spooking them off. One of the most critical parts of that is the hook and we’ve been reviewing the new Mustad Grip Pin Max Punch hooks this spring while pitching to shallow cover.
The hook is as as strong as we’ve seen with a 3X material and a longer than normal Ultra Point that makes it tacky sharp but extremely durable. It seems like a saltwater hook as the material is thick and will not flex. A lot of guys want that complete lack of flex, especially when fishing around very dense cover like thick matted grass or dense buck brush with 65-pound braided fishing line.
Some hooks will flex when you set the hook and the fish is pinned against a piece of cover. You’re pulling hard with heavy line and a heavy action rod and to clear the fish of cover, and that little bit of flex is sometimes enough for a fish to wiggle free. The Grip Pin Max had no flex and our testing, yet had great penetration, even on long pitches and casts to cover.
Being able to hook a fish with thicker hook material can often take a lot more pressure. But the hook points are so good on the Grip Pin Max I was able to just tighten up on the fish and hook them solid in some of the very hard parts of their mouths.
They have mastered their Grip Pin keeper. This is probably the third iteration of their keeper on the flippin hook and it’s one of the best on the market. There is not a lot of bulky plastic material that can tear your plastics up when you rig them. It’s one small rigid piece, formed well to slide a plastic on easily and then catch it and keep it from slipping down the shank. I like the the red color of the keeper too because it shows some on the outside of the plastic and I like having that small spot of red.
The Mustad Grip Pin Max Punch hook comes 4 to a pack for $5.99. But I used only one pack through most of the spring shallow fishing season. I consider that a valuable investment in my pitching and flipping.
Check out the Grip Pin Max Punch Hooks at TackleWarehouse.com and other retailers that carry Mustad hooks.
