By Todd Ceisner
Special to BassFan
At first glance, the Hook-All from Rapid Fishing Solutions looks like some kind of measuring gauge you’d find on a tool tray at your local car mechanic’s shop.
But as I’ve come to learn from using it the last couple of years, it’s become an indispensable item to have in the boat. And who knows – I might be able to adjust the gap on a spark plug with it if the need arises.
Much like an O-ring tool makes wacky-rigging soft plastic stickbaits a breeze, the Hook-All is handy for securing trailer hooks on spinnerbaits, rigging soft plastics and for adding small spinner blades to single- and treble-hook baits.
Putting the Hook-All to work is incredibly simple. Each tool, made out of powder-coated aluminum, comes with two resealable bags of 50 rigid plastic discs, each roughly the diameter of a pencil. The discs snap into holes specially machined on the neck of the Hook-All. That way the discs are pre-loaded and the tool is ready to rig, meaning no more poking a thumb or finger while trying to secure a trailer hook.
The standard freshwater tool holds four discs while the freshwater micro tool holds six smaller discs. Discs are available in red, black or translucent colors. The tool itself is also available in various colors.
Here’s an up-close look at the Hook-All in action:
Once the discs are snapped in place, it’s a matter of picking the application to use the tool. If it’s a trailer hook you want to add to a spinnerbait, slide the trailer hook on the fixed spinnerbait hook. Holding the Hook All in your right hand much like you’d hold a paring knife, take the spinnerbait in your left hand and pierce the front of one of the discs with the main spinnerbait hook using your right thumb to muscle. Once the disc is slid over the barb of the hook, it’s not going anywhere and neither is the trailer hook.
The disc can be moved up and down the shaft of the main hook, allowing for repositioning of the trailer hook. Another option is to add a disc before adding the trailer hook and sandwich the trailer hook between two discs, effectively locking the trailer hook in one spot.
Among the other applications where the Hook-All is useful is when rigging a dropshot. To keep the bait positioned in the bend of the hook, sandwich it between two discs. The discs also can be utilized to keep jig trailers in place and prevent Texas-rigged plastics from sliding down the offset bend of a worm hook. Fishing a swimbait on a jighead? Slide a disc onto the hook and press it against the top of the swimbait to help prevent the bait from balling up or ripping while fighting a fish.
Being from western New York and fishing the eastern end of Lake Erie as much as I do, the Hook All allows me to add a new twist to dragging a tube for smallmouth. Rapid Fishing Solutions has been working on a Tube Spinner, which is a 3-inch piece of light gauge wire twisted into a small loop on one end with a small willow leaf (or Colorado) blade attached to a swivel on the other. The wire loop fits easily on the tube jig hook and it can be secured with a disc from the Hook All. The end result is your standard tube jig presentation with a little added flash. The Tube Spinner can also be added to the rear treble hook of a crankbait using the Hook All.
To learn more about the Rapid Fishing Solutions Hook-All tool, click here.
Check out other rigging options using the Hook-All in the gallery below:
