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Pontefract reservoir. West Yorkshire is fishing really well


mattylevantiz

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Hi Matty, and welcome to AN, (from another Yorkshire man).

 

Please don't take this as 'having a go' at you. We all have accidents, but 30-40 deep hooked in one session seems a bit much.

Don't leave the rod in the rests, hold it,

John.

i dont normally get that many deep hooked i think it was a good days fishing with too many greedy perch, the place is rammed with them.

 

i allways hold the rod if im using the float, only have it on the rests if i get a drink, have a smoke or im using the ledger.

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slight diversion from topic, but if circle hooks are as effective as they are supposed to be, why are they not in wider use by anglers using semi-fixed lead set-ups, that rely on self-hooking for their success, raher than all the fannying about that goes on construction mag-aligners, and other self-hooking contraptions?

 

Circle hooks are next to worthless for sucker-mouth fish such as carp. For fish with a bony lip, they are excellent. Due to their shape, they rarely ever gut or deep hook a fish since they need a small projection such as the lip to make them take a hold.

 

US bluegills are horrible for swallowing hooks. The greedy little gits can suck a bait clear to their tail in about 0.3 seconds. A circle hook usually slides out until it reaches the jaw or if you land one with the hook in deep, a gentle steady pull usually has it slide out with the point never digging in anywhere.

 

My late wife was a serious bluegill fan but nearly quit fishing for them due to the high number of deep hooked fish - about 1 in 5 I think. A UK angler who visited introduced us to circle hooks and the deep hooking dropped to about 1 in 40-50 fish or less. Bear in mind that our gear is much less sensitive so the hook set would normally be only after a bobber (round, clunky style of float) had vanished under the water. Channel catfish are much the same only more so and circles are the answer for them as well. Same reasoning.

 

Most people who try circle hooks and declare them worthless simply don't know how to use them. You cannot strike normally or the hook rarely hooks anything. The best tactic is to simply start reeling.

 

I'm not sure how small they get. I did buy some #14 circles a couple of years ago but don't remember exactly where. The smaller sizes usually have microbarbs which I think are better for perch than barbless. Steve Burke, our perch guru, certainly thinks so and I don't think he even allows barbless hooks below a certain size at his Wingham fishery.

" My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!" - Harry Truman, 33rd US President

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'm not sure how small they get. I did buy some #14 circles a couple of years ago but don't remember exactly where. The smaller sizes usually have microbarbs which I think are better for perch than barbless.

well i would need a really small size size 18's-20's i dont know what size that is in the usa i know they are graded differently and i dont fish specifically for perch, i go for tench, carp, roach, rudd, bream, anything that is in there i will fish for, if i was going for perch specifically i would use circle hooks if they are so good for perch but i dont so ill stick to my kamasan size 18 b911 barbless hooks.

 

i get them cheap off ebay £5 for 50 hooks instead of £2.20 for 10 hooks from the tackle shop

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Packets-of-KAMASAN-B911-HOOKS-BARBLESS-Wide-Gape-X-Strong-Spade-Eyed-/281074752349

 

i allways use tie on hooks rather than hook to nylon ready tied, i feel i get better hook hold on bigger fish with tie yourself hooks

and i can use heavier line than whats allready on the ready tied hooks if i want to

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Hook sizes are standard so a #10 here is a #10 there and a 6/0 here is a 6/0 there. A #18 there is pretty well impossible to find here since a #8 is considered small and except for fly tying, a #12 would be a really rare hook.

 

The functional size of the hook (shaft to point gape) varies widely from one maker to another though.

" My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!" - Harry Truman, 33rd US President

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