D Hold Weighted

We’re going to look at another piece of terminal tackle that was debuted at ICAST and is now showing up on shelves. The Damiki D Hold Hook Weighted. We already reviewed the un-weighted version of this hook and found that it simply couldn’t replace our gold standard but we figured why not give this one a shot?

This product makes use of the same keeper system as its cousin but uses an interestingly shaped weight molded onto the hook shank. We obtained this product specifically for use with swimbaits but there are secondary uses for something like this.

So off to the lake to see how they would perform. We tried a variety of baits with this hook including the Double Diamond and Netbait BK. In both cases, the D Hold keeper did indeed keep the bait on the hook and did this quite well. Unfortunately, we had the same issues with this one as we did with the un-weighted version.

Before we go into that, know that the D Hold is sharper than the average bear and is strong. You can use this hook on heavy mono or braid without worrying that you’re going to bend it by putting the wood to a good strike. It penetrates well and the barb does its job. We didn’t have a single fish shake this hook after being stuck. However, those nagging little design irritants kept cropping up.

While rigging your bait straight is a no-brainer on the Damiki, the other issues surface when you penetrate the bait with the hook point. The first of these is that the keeper makes contact with the hook shank. This throws the bait slightly out of plumb. I may be splitting hairs here but it is at least a minor annoyance in my opinion as it makes the baits that we were using run just a little bit off.

Again, like its un-weighted stable mate, the angle of the hook is such that it makes tex-posing virtually impossible. I like to make sure that when I’m fishing a swimbait, there is no exposed point of the hook. Fishing baits like the BK, you have to have the confidence to throw them into and drag them through stick-ups, lily pad stems, submerged tree branches and other forms of cover that will catch bare hook points. The Damiki does not inspire that sense of security.

We also used this hook by not penetrating the back of some of the baits that we experimented with. If you enjoy fishing weighted senko style baits for example, this isn’t a bad alternative. By not going all the way through the bait, you eliminate both the issue of the keeper making contact with the hook and the angle of the hook sticking up and out of the back. This proved to be an effective way to use this hook but still wasn’t exceptional. Again, the Damiki didn’t have enough going for it to replace what we already carry in our tackle boxes.

Damiki D Hold Weighted Hooks
Overall Rating
Not enough here to replace what you have

See ya’ on the water …

Damiki D Hold Hooks

At ICAST 2011, new terminal tackle was being shown everywhere. We decided to pick up a new product from Damiki called the D-Hold Hook. These are offered in both weighted and unweighted versions as well as several sizes in both versions. The first one we obtained was the unweighted in 5/0 to do duty for senko style baits, soft-plastic jerkbaits and other lures like craws, worms and lizards to see how they would perform with these proven standards.

One caveat here, we knew that it wouldn’t provide the same flexibility as a standard EWG when it comes to soft plastics and that you cannot cover your knot with your bait using a product like this. But there are enough applications that hook variations similar to this have found a permanent home in my tackle box and if a new product comes out that would be superior to the ones I currently depend on, it would be silly not to consider it.

The D-Hold Hooks use a piece of wire that is attached to the hook eye that resembles a lower-case, open backed, letter d. The idea being that you thread the head of the bait onto this piece of wire, being very conscious to limit the angle and depth of the plastic that you penetrate, and then onto the hook. The way the keeper is attached to the hook eye is akin to a fast-snap which leaves some of the wire sticking out and pointing to the far end of the wire.

Due to this design, you have to be careful to avoid going through more than about 1/4 inch of plastic on the head. The bait keeper will both interfere with, and have to penetrate the head of the bait. You cannot thread a bait on, in the same fashion as using a standard EWG.

The hook point is sharp, the barb is adequately sized but because of the keeper, the hook seems to be oversized when you put a bait on it. It just didn’t matter what lure we tried, the D-Hold always wound up with the hook point further down the body of the bait than other hook styles in the same size.

Notice the strange design of the keeper

The keeper is effective for holding the bait in place. However, if you’re using a slimmer profile plastic, the far end of the wire will stick up through the lure which allows weeds a place to get stuck. Unfortunately, we tried to adjust the holder but when we did, then the lowest portion of the wire would hit the hook shank which tweaked the bait to one side or the other. Not a great deal but enough to be mildly annoying.

I rig a lot of soft plastics with the hook point tex-posed into the bait as I’m sure most of you do. With the D-Hold, the angle of the hook points up a few degrees. This wasn’t at all apparent until we actually started putting baits on the hooks. Personally, I don’t want my hook point sticking out of the plastic for the presentations that are supposed to be weedless. It sorta’ defeats the purpose if you can still get hung up on a bunch of stuff cause’ your hook keeps popping out of the plastic.

We tried a myriad of different baits with these hooks with varying degrees of success, most of which were what we consider sub-par. Damaki makes some high-quality, proven products. Unfortunately, this one misses the mark for us and we can’t give it a rating that it doesn’t deserve.

Damiki D Hold Unweighted Hooks
Overall Rating
We can't give this one a strong recommendation

See ya’ on the water …