No matter which professional bass circuit you fish in, you’re really competing against the fish.

And the fish fight back.

That’s why VMC hooks have been essential in the success of BassMaster pros Ott DeFoe and Mike “Ike Iaconelli and FLW pro Jacob Wheeler - strong and sharp, they don’t back down in battle with even the burliest of bass.

“You’re not ever going to straighten that hook out, no matter how big of fish you’re catching,” says DeFoe, a Rapala pro, describing VMC’s Heavy Duty Flipping Hook. VMC is one of many respected names in the Rapala family of brands.

With VMC’s Worm Hook, “you get ‘em almost every time right in the top of the mouth, and that’s where you want them,” says Iaconelli, a fellow Rapala pro. “If you’re sick of missing bites with your plastics... you’re going to put more of those bites in the boat [with VMC hooks].”

Iaconelli helped tweak the design of many VMC bass hooks, integrating tricks that tournament pros have used for years to put winning fish in the boat. The result was a product line that bears his nickname - Ike Approved.

“I teamed up with VMC to help create some of the most state-of-the-art hooks I have ever seen or fished,” Ike says. “These won’t just change the way anglers present a bait, they’re changing the art of fishing all together.”

Wheeler agrees - and it’s not hard to understand why. VMC hooks helped him to a 2012 Forrest Wood Cup championship and a runner-up finish in this season’s Cup. The Cup is the FLW Tour’s season championship.

“It’s a huge deal to have confidence in your hooks like I do in VMC,” Wheeler says. “A good hook-up ratio means not worrying ‘the one that got away,’ because there isn’t go to be one. And my hook-up ratio with VMC is excellent.”

VMC’s Ike-Approved hook series comprises the Flippin’ Hook and Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hook, the Worm Hook and Heavy Duty Worm Hook, the Wacky Hook and Wacky Weedless Hook Wacky, the Wide Gap Hook and Heavy Duty Wide Gap Hook, the SpinShot Wide Gap Hook, the Heavy Duty Swimbait Hook and Heavy Duty Weighted Swimbait Hook.

“I have all these hooks in a box and each specifically is designed for a certain purpose,” Wheeler says. “Each hook has its specific place and purpose.”

A Trigger X Flutter Worm rigged on a VMC Wacky Weedless Hook was instrumental to Wheeler’s recent runner-up finish in the Forrest Wood Cup, the FLW Tour’s season championship tournament.

“I never lost one fish during the whole tournament,” he said.

Wheeler won last year’s Forrest Wood Cup, mostly by flipping a Trigger X Good Bug rigged on a VMC Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hook.

“That’s my favorite set-up,” he said. “Hands down, the best hook to pair up with any creature-type bait is a 4/0 VMC Flippin’ Hook.”

Iaconelli relied heavily on VMC drop-shot hooks to boat enough big smallmouth bass to place 6th in a recent BassMaster Northern Open on New York’s Lake Oneida.

“This week, I really dominated with smallmouth,” he said on the weigh-in stage on the tournament’s third and final day.

In the first two days, he weighed limits of 15.13 and 15.6 pounds of smallies by drop-shotting with VMC hooks and Tungsten Drop Shot Weights.

A VMC Drop Shot Hook was instrumental in DeFoe’s best BassMaster Elite Series finish this season, 3rd place on New York’s St. Lawrence River.

“I caught all my fish this week - every single fish that I weighed in - on a drop shot,” DeFoe said on the weigh-in stage on the tournament’s final day. “I was using a VMC [Drop Shot] hook.”

A former FLW Tour standout, DeFoe enjoyed immediate success after switching to the BassMaster Elite Series in 2011. In addition to winning Rookie of the Year honors in his inaugural season with B.A.S.S. DeFoe qualified for and won the Elite Series’ post-season, all-star tournament, besting seven other marquee bass pros. In FLW competition, he won an Everstart tournament, one of 17 top-10 finishes.

Iaconelli, DeFoe and Wheeler discuss below the attributes of several other Ike-Approved hooks that have been instrumental to recent success on their respective tournament circuits.

Flipping Hook & Heavy Duty Flipping Hook
Before Wheeler flipped a Texas-rigged Goo Bug on a 4/0 VMC Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hook to win the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup, he had put it to the test in heavy, Florida vegetation.

“I was boat flipping seven-pounders on that hook and I never had it straighten out,” he says. “That right there gave me so much confidence in that hook, I never looked back.”

Strong enough for braided or heavy monofilament lines in thick cover, Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hooks come pre-rigged with a unique, dual-barbed bait-keeper that securely holds baits in place. That’s a huge time-saver, Ike says.

“There’s a lot of keepers out there, but most of them, you have to put on yourself - some you have to use a lighter, some are glued - and they never stay on,” he explains. “This one is pre-epoxied on the hook.”

Dual, opposing barbs, a feature on both the Flippin’ Hook and the Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hook, ensure that your soft-plastic creature baits will stay put.

“It’s going to keep your plastic rigged on the hook,” Ike assures. “When you’re flipping, the last thing you want is a plastic sliding down the hook.”

And both the Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hook and the lighter-wire Flippin’ Hook feature a 1/8-inch gap above the bait-keeper to allow room for a snell knot. However, you can tie them to your line with a Palomar or other knot as well.

DeFoe praises VMC’s resin-closed hook eyes, standard features on not only the Flippin’ Hook and the Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hook, but also on the Worm Hook, Heavy Duty Worm Hook, Wacky Hook and Wacky Weedless Hook.

“Whenever you’re using braided line, especially, it’s really bad about being slippery and moving around on the eyelet of the hook,” DeFoe explains. “But with that closed eye, you don’t have to worry about it going anywhere. It’s going to going to stay put all the time.”

Watch Ike discuss more features of the Flippin’ Hook and Heavy Duty Flippin’ Hook in this video.

Weedless Wacky Hook
Wheeler paired a Trigger X Flutter Worm with a VMC Weedless Wacky Hook to boat many of the bucketmouths he weighed this year to place second in the Forrest Wood Cup.

“A lot guys throw a 1/0 wacky-rigged hook, but I was throwing a big, 3/0 VMC Wacky Weedless Hook [which] had a little bit bigger bite,” he explains. “The key was to have a little bit larger hook, and you could catch ’em.”

Iaconelli called VMC’s Weedless Wacky Hook “the perfect hook for wacky rigging.” Key features are its extra-wide gap, epoxied line eye and thin-wire weed guard.

“That little wire is going to let me throw this wacky rig anywhere - in weeds, around wood, under docks, and I’m not going to snag on every cast,” says Ike, a BassMaster Classic champion and Angler of the Year, and Forrest Wood Cup runner-up. “You’re going to get those bass other guys can’t get to.”

The ultra-light wire loop that repels weeds will not discourage bits, DeFoe assures. “Whenever a fish bites, he’ll be able to push it down, right out of the way, and you’ll stick him every time.”

When DeFoe is targeting bass around docks, grass and timber, he ties on a Wacky Weedless Hook. He’ll go with the regular Wacky Hook when he’s fishing in open water, “where you’re just around a little bit of scattered rock or maybe a little bit of isolated wood.”

Because he throws his wacky rigs on spinning gear with six- or eight-pound-test line, VMC’s resin-closed hook eyes are essential.

“With that really thin line, if you didn’t have that closed eye, it could slip out of that eyelet on you,” he says.

The Weedless Wacky Hook’s wide gap assures an excellent hooking-to-landing percentage.

“With that bend, if you get the hook in ‘em, you’ve got him caught,” DeFoe says.

Watch DeFoe discuss more features of VMC’s Weedless Wacky Hook in this video.

Watch Ike discuss more features of VMC’s Weedless Wacky Hook in this video.

Worm Hook & Heavy Duty Worm Hook
Although Ike acknowledges that some anglers might downplay the details that differentiate one hook from another, he implores them to take a closer look at the VMC’s Worm Hook and Heavy Duty Worm Hook.

“How many times have you been fishing and you feel that fish take that plastic, you set the hook, you swing, and you miss?” Ike asks. “We’ve come up with a little modification that’s going to change that.”

The key to increasing your hook-up percentage? The Worm Hook’s point and eye are offset by 3 degrees.

“That little tweak is going to put a lot more fish in the boat,” Ike says.

In the spring, Wheeler targets heavy cover like brush and thick weeds with a Trigger X Flutter Worm rigged on Heavy Duty Worm Hook.

“That’s probably one of the best, underrated, combination to flip in bushes,” he says. “You can set the hook and get those fish out of there.”

In the late summer, Wheeler targets submerged trees in the backs of creeks with the Flutter Worm- Heavy Duty Worm Hook combo.

Watch Ike discuss more features of VMC’s Worm Hook and Heavy Duty Worm Hook in this video.

Wide Gap Hook & Heavy Duty Wide Gap Hook
Several of the fish Wheeler weighed to win the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup came on a Trigger X Flippin’ Tube rigged on a VMC Wide Gap Hook.

And although a wide-gap hook is a “staple” in all serious bass anglers’ arsenals, Wheeler says many anglers use too heavy a hook.

“I like to throw the lighter-wire hook when I’m flipping docks, flipping around wood even, because your hook-up ration goes up,” Wheeler explains. “Because the body of the tube is so much thicker and you have such a bulkier body bait.”

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