Circle Hooks

[Renrag39]

Well that suits me Newt, not after cyps, I'm targeting good size eels and perch with a #6.

I can't see how it could really do any more harm than a J hook either but the reports I had read concerning the bent hook problems in carp had me somewhat concerned.

At the moment I can catch good bream and roach, one after the other on the J hooks so not too bothered, just hadn't found out if a circle was better or not until now. Thats why I foolishly ordered #12's lol. If I miss the occasional bream on a #6 circle, I won't be too gutted, especially if it means neatly hooked perch and eels when they show up.

 

Renrag

[Leon Roskilly]

Deep hooking with eels is a problem, and the advice from the experts is to cut the line as close as possible rather than poking around with a disgorger and risk damaging vital organs high up in the throat (as with perch).

 

I'll be interested to see hear you get on with circles and eels, once you've had a few.

[Renrag39]

Yeah, thats my standard tactic with Eels and Perch I've been unlucky enough to deep hook. Think I'll be trying fish baits as well as the cheesepaste, wont be using a trace but here's to hoping a Pike wont find a single #6 a problem to rid itself of if the obvious happens. Will be using a running paternoster rig on 6lb mono to an as yet undecided hooklength. Probably also 6lb tbh, Eels and Perch mouths are somewhat abrasive.

 

Renrag

[Leon Roskilly]

wont be using a trace but here's to hoping a Pike wont find a single #6 a problem to rid itself of if the obvious happens.

 

 

Fishing lobs for perch, uninvited jacks are often a nuisance.

 

Using circles, even without a wire trace, most are landed.

 

(The circle allows the mono to pull clear of sharp teeth etc, with the metal hook engaging in the corner of the mouth).

 

Now using trebles, if it engages inside the mouth, or down the gullet, the three hook points can conspire to stitch the mouth/throat together, or catch the pike's next meal, blocking the gullet, so the pike dies a slow death of starvation.

 

This won't happen with a single circle hook, and at worst decorates the pike like a piece of harmless punk jewellery.

 

A bite-off with the bait containing the circle being swallowed will probably mean that the small circle hook will pass harmlessly through the pike (because of the inturned point and with nothing pulling on the eye, and the shape of the hook means it's unlikely to engage anywhere as it passes through, unlike a J shape hook)

 

What I have found when targeting perch is that they can be very line shy, and using even the thinest of the new wires or heavy mono can deter them from taking the bait.

 

Using small circles with a low-diameter mono increases the chance of hooking into a decent perch and leaves my conscience clear on those few occasions when I don't manage to get an uninvited jack into the net.

[Renrag39]

I've never used trebles since my dad caught a 3lb Jack all stitched up, at Belaugh. Got the single he used out in about 10 seconds and noticed the trace trailing from its gills. I held the poor thing in the shallows (got wet and everything!) while my dad got some snips from the boot and then he set about the trebles. Swam off ok, so who knows, maybe we saved it. But thats why I'll never use them now.

Hopefully the circles will help not damage the species I'm after. I'd rather blank than kill even the smallest of them. I've never even used a keepnet

Its just how I fish.

 

Renrag

[Newt]

I got started with circles fishing for bluegills which are greedy fellows who like to swallow a bait clear back to their tail and have a smallish mouth so getting a hook out is tricky.

 

My wife & I figure we've gone from deep hooking about 1 in 5 with J hooks to well under 1 in 50. Many still swallow hook and bait but a steady, slow pull usually has the hook come cleanly out without digging the point in to anything. The same goes for channel catfish. I rarely keep fish unless I need bait so it was a relief to be able to release the majority with nothing worse than the insult of being caught. :D

 

We usually fish with a #6 which keeps most of the tiddlers from being caught at all as they would with a #8.

[Renrag39]

Well, went out yesterday @ Woodbastwick NDAA near the Decoy Broad @ 5mph swim with a normal hook on my feeder rod and a circle hook on my 'chance' rod. #6 Sakuma in a 2" Whitebait straight legered, target- Eels. No takers. So no reports on the circles performance as of yet. May try the larger sizes very soon with a larger deadbait for Pike.

Will try a running paternoster next time too.

On the feeder however I got 3 good skimmers, 2 nice roach and 1 VERY nice Rudd bigger than the skimmers. All on legered sweetcorn. Kept missing finicky bites tho, not sure if its because of the braids sensitivity? Or just me being too slow? Maybe just have to learn to let them develop perhaps?

 

Hopefully going again tomorrow afternoon, will keep you posted.

Renrag

[Renrag39]

Circle hooks do seem to work as described. #6, bloody great lobs, 6lb line, running paternoster and 2x 1lb(ish) Perch, both neatly liphooked and 1 small, greedy Ruffe, shorter than the worm, also neatly in the lip. Result.

Kept getting the worm nibbled at by bits and shredding it. Think I need to toughen the lobs somehow to make them more durable. Ideas? Or alternative baits?

 

Renrag

[pearbo]

Think i started a massive thread on this sometime last year.

 

I came to the conclusion that i am never going to use a circle hook for anything ever again, they are good for baits such as lamprey because the pike normally have them hanging out of their arse by the time you get to the rod but for everything else im not going to bother. I missed far to many, and when it gets very cold and the pike get extra especially useless i couldn't hook a damn thing.

 

Ended up using (after a recommendation) a big single with a treble below on the trace, hit them early enough and they are fine, more hook ups, less lost fish and much quicker to set up (i was hair rigging off the circles)

[Anderoo]

Me too. I gave them a fair go last season and missed every take except 1, which resulted in a very deep-hooked perch, with a circle hook impossible to remove. I have friends who have done really well with circles, so it must be me, but as I don't have a problem with deep hooking either perch or pike, I decided not to use them any more.

 

One of the missed runs was from a little place where the perch are giants - not a fish I wanted to miss...