"Safest" hook for paternoster?

[Berrero]

Hey raiders

 

I'm not sure about you guys but when I go fishing I usually have a rod soaking out deep with a Paternoster rig and I usually use just standard long shank hooks but some of the time when I hook a fish it's either gut hooked or Gill hooked. I was just wondering if there's any safer hooks to use such as wide gape or Circle hooks? the rod's usually unattended so I don't usually get a chance to strike but I was just wanting to know if there's a safer option so that I can choose whether I release the fish or not.

 

Thanks

Edited October 28, 2019 by Berrero

[kingie chaser]

Suicide hooks is what I usually use for that rig.

The exception would be to use a straight hook(long shank) for a whiting rig but for general the suicide does the job similarly to a circle.

Edited October 28, 2019 by kingie chaser

[Volitan]

Your situation is 100% made for circle hooks. The theory behind circle hooks is that the fish take the bait into their mouths, swim away a short distance, the hook rotates in their mouth and turns over across the lips/edge of the mouth as the line tightens, embedding in the corner of the mouth. All this works best if the rod is unattended - in fact if you insist on striking then you will pull the hook right out of the mouth as the point is recurved. 
 

This style is preferred for catch and release because it almost always hooks in the corner of the mouth - in fact I’ve never seen a circle hook swallowed.

I’ve been out on kingfish-fishing charters in NZ and they use circle hooks exclusively. The reason being that they want to preserve their fishing for future generations so killing a fish is rare. It does take some time to learn not to strike - just to let the rod load up and the fish start pulling line before you do anything. Timing is everything.
 

I think circles just catch more too - if you use them as they are designed to be used.
Edit : by that I mean they catch more good fish and leave the undersize fish and unwanted species alone. J hooks probably catch more in total.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2019 by Volitan

[New Signing]

If i feel like holding onto my rod while bottom bashing i will use a standard suicide pattern hook however more an more i find myself leaving one rod on the bottom with patternoster and circles, one rod with two circles snelled and a ball sinker straight to it and then i work another rod with either slow pitch job or soft plastic.

When it comes time to have a beer or something to eat i just launch the soft plastic out and allow it to do its own thing with the other two rods

[the skipper]

Mate regardless of what hook you use I would always flatten the barb . I find you get more hook ups and less trauma to fish you need to release.

I do not use long shank hooks on dropper / paternoster rigs and still hook good catches of flathead etc.

The Skipper

 

[nutsaboutfishing]

+1 for circles

[Berleyguts]

I use either circles or the red wide gape hooks on my paternoster rigs. Nearly always hooked in the corner of the mouth.

[Rebel]

Circle.

[Waza]

Both suicide and circle hooks , sorry I know this doesn’t help 🤣😂😅😜