A good hook for lives and lobs?

[Phil Adams]

Can anyone suggest a good hook pattern/brand for perch and chub fishing, mainly using lives and lobs?

 

Ive been using size 8 Super Specimens but I'm sure there could be better alternatives out there.

 

Thanks

[wotnobivvy]

Are you losing any fish either on the strike or whilst playing ? If not a severe problem stay with what you know. If you do change keep a record to see if the success rate goes up or down

[Phone]

Phil,

 

Your question could result in a 10 page thread.

 

First, to answer your question - my choice for your perch is Gamakatsu Walleye Wide-Gap Hooks .

 

This choice is a 'trade-off' for you Brits. Forged hooks are not my first option but Brits will hardly ever consider even very high quality wire hooks.

I have no idea why you want a size#8? Size #4 would be the absoult smallest I'd consider for worms. I'd start with sizes #2 or #1 (for fish down to about 4oz).

 

New subject - but related.

I'm not being condensending. No one "bait fishes" better than the Brits.

However, putting a worm on a fishing hook may sound like a simple task, but if you want the worm to effectively attract and ambush fish, it pays to know how to do this rather delicate job correctly. Many do not and hooking the lob is equally important as the hook itself. I smoke, If you smoke or handle smelly objects (i.e. reel oil) that give off a foreign scent to the fish, you're likely to scare away your prey. I think it is important to use a scent-masking product to remove human and other strange scents from your hands before handling the worms or the hooks for predatory fish. For perch I use an anise rinse simply because I too like anise and it has a powerful aromatic ring structure that covers well.

 

Phone

[Anderoo]

Kamasan specialist wide gapes (B983) are perfect for this.

 

http://www.tedcarter.co.uk/kamasan/kamasan...gape-specialist

[Phone]

Androo,

 

Good show! That's a wire hook.

 

Phone

Edit: Maybe it's just the carp guys who look down on wire hooks(?)

Edited October 16, 2012 by Phone

[azrael]

i like long shank hooks with a big barb you can thread a few big worms along the shanx and the barb helps keep them on

 

the smaller sized aberdeen hooks make great worming hooks

[Phil Adams]

Hey Phone, I tend to use a size 8 for no other reason than habit. I tend to stick to a size 8 or 6 for my carping, barbel, tench etc as the bait size is often similar. In fact a size 8 Super Specimen is my most used hook lol, only dropping down to the smaller sizes when targeting smaller species.

 

Those Kamasans look good, do they do a barbless version? Even with lives and lobs I prefer barbless. Ive not had a problem with my current hooks, its just that sometimes i think id prefer a similar hook just in a finer gauge wire.

 

Cheers all.

 

 

Phil,

 

Your question could result in a 10 page thread.

 

First, to answer your question - my choice for your perch is Gamakatsu Walleye Wide-Gap Hooks .

 

This choice is a 'trade-off' for you Brits. Forged hooks are not my first option but Brits will hardly ever consider even very high quality wire hooks.

I have no idea why you want a size#8? Size #4 would be the absoult smallest I'd consider for worms. I'd start with sizes #2 or #1 (for fish down to about 4oz).

 

New subject - but related.

I'm not being condensending. No one "bait fishes" better than the Brits.

However, putting a worm on a fishing hook may sound like a simple task, but if you want the worm to effectively attract and ambush fish, it pays to know how to do this rather delicate job correctly. Many do not and hooking the lob is equally important as the hook itself. I smoke, If you smoke or handle smelly objects (i.e. reel oil) that give off a foreign scent to the fish, you're likely to scare away your prey. I think it is important to use a scent-masking product to remove human and other strange scents from your hands before handling the worms or the hooks for predatory fish. For perch I use an anise rinse simply because I too like anise and it has a powerful aromatic ring structure that covers well.

 

Phone

[Steve Burke]

Anderoo has shown me the Kamasan Wide Gapes and although I haven't used them I'd agree they look very suitable.

 

I have used Aberdeens in the past though, and still do from time to time. These long shank hooks are mainly used for sea fishing in the UK, where the popular brands such as Kamasan are available only as small as size 6. These are probably almost identical to each other, have small barbs, and in size 6 are made from relatively fine wire. However they're plenty strong enough for what you have in mind, Phil. Indeed, I've landed carp up to just over 25lbs on them.

 

Even better are the now discontinued Ashima Super Maggot, that I bought a lifetime supply of. However similar if not identical patterns can be bought online from European shops where they're called zander hooks. These are spade end but even lighter in the wire than the Aberdeens with a shortish shank and a very wide gape. The barbs are minute, with that on a size 6 being about the same as a normal microbarbed 16. I use them in sizes 2 to 6.

 

For perch I'd strongly recommend you use microbarbed hooks. I've found that barbless hooks in the larger sizes kill too many perch, as have other perch specialists. Indeed, I actually ban barbless hooks above size 10 on the Main Lake at Wingham for this reason.

[Leon Roskilly]

For perch fishing, I'm now using circle hooks.

 

They avoid deep hooking, and the bait doesn't get off through wriggling.

 

An added advantage is that nuisance pike are usually hooked in the corner of the mouth and are now almost always landed, rather than being bitten off (great fun on light tackle!).

 

When using circles, it's important to remember not to strike, but wait until the fish pulls the rod-tip around before applying any pressure (taking up any slack is OK).

 

A further advantage is that you don't have to time your strike, wondering if the perch has taken the hook into its mouth, or just swum off towing the worm along by its tail and needing a delay to the strike to ensure hooking.

 

I've not used circles for chub but wonder if their pharyngeal teeth might prove a problem if they take the bait down.

 

(The idea with circles is that they only engage when coming round an edge, usually the rim of the fish's mouth, so even when taken deep, they almost always slide back up the throat and only engage when exiting the mouth. I've had problems with trout taking baits meant for perch when the hook engages on the ridges at the back of the trout's throat making it just a bit difficult to roll the hook out with forceps from back there, rather than unhooking a J hook with a disgorger. Though many fly-fishers are now making buzzers for trout-fishing using circle hooks).

 

That's the other technique to learn with circles, that the hook has to be rolled out of the wound, rather than simply pushed back as with a J hook (not a problem once you are used to doing so, and far easier with nuisance pike that can be unhooked without the need to open the mouth and poke about inside).

 

I usually crush the barbs on my circles. (As they are designed to avoid deep-hooking they also avoid the problems that Steve has identified with barbless J hooks).

[Phil Adams]

Im probably fiddling for no good reason. The Drennans have always served me well, in fact I cant think of one ever not landing a fish as long as Ive done my part. I do like the look of those Kamasans, they look like a good general purpose specimen hook.

 

Ive found that when Im using either my Fox 1lb Specialist or Drennan MKIV I can pretty much land anything, given the space to do so.

 

Has anyone ever used different hooklength materials when floatfishing for perch? i.e braid, silkworm/merlin etc?