Ray R Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Hi Raiders, I have just bought some circle hooks, I've never used them before but do believe they have a huge success rate in hook - ups. Any raiders use them , if so what were the results and are they better than a standard suicide hook. Cheers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 G'day Ray. Slinky & I have been using these up here. I hadn't used them before Slinky put me onto them. Most of the charter guys up here have switched to the circles. It's simple fishing. Never strike & just let the rod load up until the fish hooks itself. If you are used to whacking a fish like I am just leave the rod in a holder & let load. You soon learn not to strike. They are very effective when used as they should be & you will rarely gut hook a fish. Give them a go mate. Cheers, Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tan the fisherman Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 (edited) Gday Ray, I used the same hooks the other day - caught a small rock cod and a snapper - both hooked in the corner of the mouth as they are supposed to. Easy to un-hook just dont strike on the take. The fish will hook themselves. Its hard to resist the strike though! Edited June 2, 2009 by tan the fisherman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 The best way to learn not to strike is to go fishing with someone like me who is going to make sure you hear all about it when you do (isn't that right, Jewhunter?). Seriously, you'll wonder why you didn't change over sooner once you give them a try Ray. As well as not striking, the other thing to be aware of is to not overload the hook with bait. It stops the circle hooks from working effectively and turning around the corner of the fish's mouth. Resist the temptation to pin the bait more to 'stop the fish taking off with the bait'... any fish worth catching will just suck it all down. Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flightmanager Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I have been using circle hooks exclusively for the last couple of years , and love them . Flathead are particularly prey to them , they basically hook themselves ! Out of 20 fish caught in a session , 18 will be hooked in the corner of the mouth , at the jaw hinge. No worries about the fish spitting the hook . Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big-Banana Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Use a smaller circle mate, I use live crabs when I fish the river, and use 1/0's and rarely lose a fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james7 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 With so many of you supporting circle hooks, I've got to give them a go now - especially with you all being "top notch" fishos in my book whose opinions I respect. I like the idea of the "corner of the mouth hook-up" and fewer swallowed hooks thus making for easier releases. A large percentage of my fishing is drifting with a paternoster rig, so I assume the circles are just as effective used that way? Also, do you all think the percentage of hook-ups is about the same? Now if I can just manage to get out fishing and give them a go?!? Cheers Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flightmanager Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Nearly all of my fishing is drifting , I have had great success with these hooks . Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard1 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 ill give them a go next time i need hooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Circle hooks have been around for long enough now.....Before you decide to use circle hooks, look at at this way -With all the competition around and technolgy going ahead in leaps and bounds in soft plastics and harbodies that are fastidiously designed to improve the hook up rate, just go out and see how many jig heads or trebbles you can find where leading manufacturers of soft plastics or hard body lures or small specialist lure makers for that matter have chosen to use circle hooks.... Soft plastics and harbodies have been designed to immitate a natural bait, so it's up to the individual live bait and dead bait fishermen to decide whether the turned in barb design on circle hooks produces a better hook up rate than traditional style hooks .... Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.dawg Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I have had bad experinces with circle hooks. Had a live squid out on a circle and left it on a rod holder while on a smaller rod was catching some livebait. i saw a school of kings come by and 1 off them hit my squid full smashin g it taking the squid all the way down with the hook just slipping back out. But other than that occasion they are ok... if you dont like holding your rod and striking. but i like to strike at a fish. i find it more fun but if im off a boat and leaving a rod in the rod holder i will prefer circles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray R Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 A big thanks to all the Raiders who took the time to answer my Q's regarding circle hooks, it is all taken on board and look forward to presenting a post with a bream and a circle hook hangin' out of its gob.. Thanks again.. Cheers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew399 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Circle hooks have been around for long enough now.....Before you decide to use circle hooks, look at at this way -With all the competition around and technolgy going ahead in leaps and bounds in soft plastics and harbodies that are fastidiously designed to improve the hook up rate, just go out and see how many jig heads or trebbles you can find where leading manufacturers of soft plastics or hard body lures or small specialist lure makers for that matter have chosen to use circle hooks.... Soft plastics and harbodies have been designed to immitate a natural bait, so it's up to the individual live bait and dead bait fishermen to decide whether the turned in barb design on circle hooks produces a better hook up rate than traditional style hooks .... Cheers jewgaffer I think the reason that sp and hb manufactureres choose not to use circle hooks in not because of their ineffectiveness but more because circle hooks are inappropriate for that style of fishing. Due to the way hbs and sps are fished you wont get as many hook ups with circle hooks, but a bait that is lieing still i think the circle hooks will get far more hookups and landed fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 It's the hook up rate that I'm concerned about.....Lure manufacturers would try anything to out do their competition and would be well aware of the advantages or disadvantages of using circle hooks.... The most important factor in selling their product would be ease of hook up ... When using artificial bait you virtually only get the one go at hooking up...... I watched a bloke trying to pin a circle hook into a bait as simple as a squid strip, and to get the penetraion angle, the same bloke near finished up with his ellbow in his mouth....... Circle hooks were designed for easy release and the presevation of tuna stocks. However but the sizes of circle hooks have become smaller and smaller.... In saying that and there are lots of fish that take bits and pieces out of bait and, with a turned in barb, you can easily get baited and miss the hook up in the bite process alone, irrespective if the rod is in your hand and no matter what the drag setting is...I've also seen top anglers turn the barbs further outwards on traditional hooks to increase their hook up chances, and even on small estuary species.... I like to have everything right and to my best satisfation, I like to fish deliberately and confidently come what may.....I am not confident using circle hooks on any species and never will be and there are many others like myself who would not use circle hooks under any circumstances....... Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
framedtrash Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 (edited) i was reading a article that had some stats on circle hooks today "This fishery is NZ's biggest inshore fishery for both commercial and recreational fishers. tying versus snelling graph The sea trials used four 116 hook longlines which were set daily at sunrise. The lines were left to fish for 1-2 hours. Longlines were used to avoid any angler bias due to the different abilities and fishing styles of different fishers. Each set of the longlines had circle hooks on half the traces (snoods). The other half were a combination of Octopus and O'Shaugnessy hooks. The graph below shows the circle hooks seriously out performed the popular J shaped hooks in all size classes of snapper. The much higher catch of undersized fish on the circle hooks is of some concern. Edited June 4, 2009 by Framedtrash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel99 Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Very interesting Framedtrash. Do you have a link to the article? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
framedtrash Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Very interesting Framedtrash. Do you have a link to the article? sure PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel99 Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 That's interesting info, looks like the article was well researched as well (awaiting peer review) FT you didn't post this bit which I also think is very relevant to the topic: Tying versus Snelling Fish Hooks:Commercial fishers in NZ use a type of circle hook (Tainawa pattern, Jap Hook) and snell their hooks to the fishing line. Most recreational fishers tie a knot to the eye of the hook as shown in the diagram on the right. As one would expect, the commercial fishers had it right. Snelling improved the observed catch rate on circle hooks by a staggering 30% while gut hooking of the catch was about the same. Do you guys Snell your circle hooks? Has anyone noticed a difference? Cheers, Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver1 Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 might be a silly question but y cant u strike with them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monch Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 might be a silly question but y cant u strike with them? Because in circle hooks, the point of the hook is not pointing up, and is instead curved in towards the shank of the hook. This makes it so that if u strike, the hook gets pulled suddenly out of the fish's mouth but the hook point (usually) does not catch on to anything. They are designed to allow the fish to swim away with the bait, slowly tightening the line which allows time for the circle hook to slowly move towards the entrance of the fish's mouth. As this happens, the inward pointing hook point catches onto the corner of the mouth and then u have a hookup. Theoretically this is how they work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 I always use them live baiting and floating baits on overhead lever drags. Just sit back and relax. When the ratchet starts screaming, casually pick up the rod and slide the reel into strike. HOOK UP. Does tend miss all the smaller fish that are only mouthing baits though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooklineandsinker Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 i think but im not sure that roberta was snelling them when she was at the hawkesbury river with some other raiders not to long ago and she said snelling them is the way to go maybe they'll chime in That's interesting info, looks like the article was well researched as well (awaiting peer review) FT you didn't post this bit which I also think is very relevant to the topic: Do you guys Snell your circle hooks? Has anyone noticed a difference? Cheers, Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 (edited) Great post, Hey slinky, how would you rig a pillie on a circle hook? Im thinking pining it through the eye? but wouldn't it go flying off during a cast? Hi Browney I'll tell you another way of rigging up live bait, dead fish with the middle half of the top flesh exposed by cutting the skin back and and particularly whole pilchards but leave all of the guts sealed in.... Use short shank live bait hooks only... from 3/0 upwards to suit whatever your fishing for because only the two barbs on your hooks will be poking out and they will be facing one another to deal with a take in any part of your bait...... Get a thin crochet needle with a turn at one end...... make a small slit between the gut area and the tucker tube outlet...thread the unturned end crochet needle up between the skin and the guts and pull it out thru the outside of the gill .....then carefully thread the lower hook thru until only the barb is showing outside the gill.... use the top hook ie the first hook tied which will become the control hook and carefully thread the crochet needly thru the slit you made again keeping the needle as close to the inside skin area as you can..... when the crochet needle is just back from outlet tube, pull it back out thru the slit carefully, the same way it went in and thread the top hook thru the hole made by the needle and then carefully insert the turned end of the crochet needle into the oulet tube and pull on the barb section until the only barb protrudes outside the outlet tube.....try swimming the livie and you'll find that it will still swim healthily enough, just that it wont be in too much of a hurry to get off the hooks.. Cheers jewgaffer Edited June 4, 2009 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeachAngler Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Bought my first pack of 1/0 circle hooks today for using with the bream and fished with mullet strips. First cast and my first ever bream on a circle hook. He took the bait and hooked himself, didn't even feel him bite! I'll definately be using them from now on. Oh and it was my first ever fish on an Alvey too! My new 650c5. A day of firsts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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