Circle Hooks

[Westie]

Just been interested in the thread on dabs/flounders and the use of circle hooks.

 

I only fish from the shore - has anyone become converted to circle hooks for all shore fishing? I've never used them, probably due to the fact that my local tackle stores, from memory, do not stock them.

 

When I go out, this time of year I mainly seem to catch flatties, with the occasional codling, whiting, doggie etc. In summer, mostly bass, doggies and eel.

 

Any tips on use from the shore, best rigs to use with them for different species etc that I should consider?

 

Also any tips on make of hooks e.g. is there a hybrid J/circle hook, so that you get the best of both worlds i.e. better potential for self-lip hooking and easier to bait up than conventional circle hooks when dealing with visious rag baits?

 

Any help, advice, input much appreciated.

[A Norfolk Boy]

Difficult to use with worm baits. I am currently experimenting with some varivas semi-circles. They do seem to lip hook more.

[A Norfolk Boy]

... by that I mean lug.

[Toerag]

I think a baiting needle is the answer. <disclaimer: I've never used circle hooks>

What I would like to see is a good chart which shows how circle hook sizes correspond to normal hook sizes as circle hooks appear to be much smaller. There also appears to be a gap in the sizes between ones for shore fishing, and ones for tuna fishing. I want to try some around the size of a 6/0 aberdeen in terms of gape & wire thickness off the boat.

[spanner]

I like to use them whenever I can, but I have not 100% converted. This has been my observations so far:

 

doggies (I guesss we should be calling them catties, moggies maybe, or LSC's - even though I like the psychedelic aspect to LSD) good % of hookups and always lip hooked

 

thornback rays as per doggies

 

spurdog nicely lip hooked but poor rate of hookups, a lot of dropped runs and not sure why

 

dab & flounder works well but often gagging on it rather than hooked in the lip

 

pollock and coalfish worked OK

 

the one very obvious failure for me so far has been cod...may bites and every one dropped. They seem to spit the bait back out without getting hooked. I think for it to work the fish either has to turn away with the bait or chew on it, and the cod don't seem to do that. They just inhale it and then cough it up if they dont like it. So J-hook every time for me for cod.

 

For baiting with a circle make a sausage with bait elastic first, worm, squid, crab whatever, and tie it off so it doesn't unravel. Then you can pass the hook through it a couple of times rather than sliding up the hook like you would a J hook.

 

 

Maybe, if I can gag-hook an 8oz dab on a 2/0 I need 20/0 for a 3lb cod

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Hi

 

I would second just about everything spanner has said - do not have spurdogs here rather bull huss and find they hook up quite nicely too, but you will get the odd dropped bait but then you get them with "J" hooks too.

 

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that spurs and tope tend to "kill" the bait first, move off and then seek to swallow it? Circle hooks are known as self-hooking and perhaps they are best suited to a species that will attack the bait rather than sniff around it - find they are useless for whiting for that matter not that I fish for them that often.

 

Not sure about the cod, have not used them there and based on what is written here I will not be trying to hard to find out!!!

[KennyC]

Persisted with them for cod over two winters ( a couple of years back ) and they were useless for cod.

 

As pointed out they need a fish to run with the bait rather than mouth it and spit it out.

[Newt]

Toerag:

What I would like to see is a good chart which shows how circle hook sizes correspond to normal hook sizes as circle hooks appear to be much smaller.

Unfortunately, the sizing on circle hooks is not to any sort of standard. A 6/0 octopus and a 6/0 mutu from the same company will be different and a 6/0 from Gamakatsu will be pretty different from a 6/0 from Mustad.

 

I have settled on two shapes, one each Gamakatsu (octopus circle) and Owner (mutu circle) so I have a good feel for what I will get when I buy a particular size.

[nolan]

I've no experience of fishing bait with them, but quite a few salt fly anglers are switching to them in australia and the us. Lefty Kreh is a keen advocate as they do less damage to the fish. However you apparently dont strike the fish to set the hook, rather you just tense the line. Striking results in misses. Try just winding tight on the bites instead on giving a huge strike. I dont have a huge amount of experience with them but they are becoming more and more popular with US salt water flyfishers.

[spanner]

I don't strike when I have a circle on, just wind into the fish.

 

When I say missed bite the fish has buggered off by the time I pick up the rod and wind in.

 

With the spurs it may be that I am too slow! Or it may be a smaller bait would help so the fish will take it right into its mouth rather than pick it up and maybe the hook still be outside its mouth.

 

I am experimenting with circle hook 'pennels', rigged on a wishbone with one long leg and one short.