Sue..treble hooks are sold as a "sure fire" fish getter for big fish--i cut one of them off my Pike lures as too much of a hassle in sport fishing but for survival you want to snag anything you can get.for most inland small hooks are very effective.--fish are not a very good survival food as they are low in fat.only the Whitefish has enought to get along on. a good story on that is "lure of the Labadore wild".they got hundreds of trout and still starved--1904--