by Rich Salter

The Decoy SG-3 hook has found it’s way into the lure bag of many lerfers over the last few years and for good reason. A super fine wired, very sharp, long shanked hook, with a large eye; these features make it obvious why the Decoy SG-3 is so popular amongst LRF anglers, particularly in the SS size. But it’s received a bit of flack more recently which might put some anglers off of investing in a packet or 2. Here are my thoughts….

Options are pretty limited when it comes to ultralight hook choices and even more so when it comes to finding a hook that has an eye big enough that it will fit onto the clip of a cheb, which has become an increasingly popular tool to lerfers over the years. The SG-3 ticks multiple boxes for cheb fishing, with a big eye that easily slides over even quite thick gauge clips and offers great movement, it’s fine wire and super sharp point make it a truly effective finesse hook. 

The SS size sits somewhere between a standard size 14 to 16, which makes it a great species hunting hook and with very few alternative options in that size, it’s clear why the SG-3 SS in particular is so popular. The long shank and tiny bait keeper barbs also make these hooks great for presenting thin profiled, worm type lures which have less tendency to slip down the hook. But it’s these little barbs on the shank that are potentially the downfall of the SG-3….

There have been some reports that these hooks snap quite frequently, which is obviously not what you want from any hook. In my experience though, this can be avoided in most cases. From what I’ve seen, the main point at which SG-3’s break is on the shank where the notching of the bait keeping barbs has caused a weak point, for this reason it means that these hooks don’t really want to be “levered” out of a fishes mouth when trying to remove them. I find using a small pair of forceps and pulling the hook straight back out from the direction it went in avoids putting unnecessary strain on the shank. 

Just as importantly, I’d always crush the barbs on these hooks, it will make for much smoother unhooking and is something we should all be doing when practicing catch and release fishing anyway, in my opinion. 

SG-3’s are my go to when trying to catch species such as gobies, dragonet and pouting and where the ground is relatively clean, but it’s worth bearing in mind that as a finesse hook, there are situations where it’s probably better to find an alternative. For example, if you’re fishing primarily for “rockfish” species such as blennies and wrasse, it might be worth choosing a thicker gauged hook – the thin wire of an SG-3 is thin enough to slot between the teeth of a tompot blenny, and then you really will struggle to remove it without it snapping! Wrasse are pretty aggressive species and will often be found in areas where you might need to apply an extra bit of pressure to bully them out, again, the SG-3 is probably not my first choice for this, although it can be done of course.

In summary, I think the Decoy SG-3 is an essential item in my lure bag and my go to for much of my species hunting, but as with all things LRF it’s not the answer to everything which means we just have to add another item to the shopping list, what a shame!

Find these specialist hooks on our online tackle shop by clicking the link below:
https://thebiglerftackleshop.co.uk/decoy-sg-3-shore-fine-hooks-2478-p.asp