Circle hooks.

Fished a West Cork beach on Saturday with the traditional style of a big bait belted out and a 3 hook scratching rig in close. The scratching rig was pulling out small coalies (20-25cm) 3 at a time on occasion so rather than put too much of a dent in the coalie population whilst honing the scratching skills I changed my rigs. I decided to give a rig, a one up one down to size 2 circles a try and see how they fared. I have tried larger circles on occasion and the Owner semi circle style too but I have to say was not overly impressed. I think the wire gauge in the Owner SSWs is that bit too heavy and I know I dropped fish because of it.

5 casts and maybe 8/9 coalies later the results were pretty conclusive. Whilst nearly every fish prior to that on the Owner Pint hooks or the B900cs had the bait well down involving some dodgy surgery to remove them, EVERY single one on the circles were either hooked in the scissors or in the bottom lip. Match men and conservation minded fishermen take note..... It was a simple matter of flicking the fish off the hook rather than reaching for the forceps to perform surgery resulting in high mortality rates (and a lot of wasted time fiddling about for that matter)

Fish swam off with the minimum of handling and I didnt have to start peering in through 20 cm coalies gills looking for hooks. Just off Ebay and have a range of sizes ordered, it will be interesting to see how they perform in the larger sizes. They are a bugger to bait up, especially with worm baits but I suppose if you offset the point slightly, a baiting needle could be used to good effect for small maddies and the like.

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Peter,

If you offset the point on a circle hook they wont work the same way, they will start to gut hook fish.

Circle hooks were designed for the long liners so they would keep fish alive much longer hooked through the mouth...before that they used Kahle hook, just as successful as circle but a danger to use, even the small ones stab you as your using them...but they do work very well and you dont miss many fish on them....a sniff and the hook is set :lol:

oh...you can slide worm onto a Kahle hook a bit easier than a circle.

Tom.

Just did a search on the .co.uk site... I can only find the Kahles in a 7/0 and voracious as the little fellas are, they aint coming in on a 7/0! I'll keep my eyes open. Good point by the way on the offsetting Tom, I'll bear that in mind. It may be very difficult to bait these with small worms but for mack/sandeel/squid strip they work perfectly.

Peter,

In my own estimates Circle hooks "jaw hook" about 95% of the time and your right on the button as to the speed they come out when releasing.

The Kahle hooks I use I get in the States, I use the freshwater ones..now let me tell you....for Tope I would use a 3/0 Kahle....they are sized by the gape...Kahle hooks look far bigger than the number suggests, for bait presentation they are great.

Send me a PM with your email address and I will send you some photos showing the sizes.

Tom.

thats good goin Pete. it puts me off fishin some places considering how many fish can not be returned alive. must try semi's....

I know what you mean Mark. As mentioned, I tried the Owner Semi circles but definitely dropped fish on them, I recall dropping 3 doggies in an hour of a comp with Crosshaven which didnt do wonders for morale (or my card) so I stopped using them. The Razor claw full circle hooks are on a nice fine wire though that seems to help matters especially with the smaller fish. It didnt appear to affect the hooking ability one bit either.

the semi's did alright with flounder. lip hooked quite a few but on headhooked worm baits. the wire on em is very thick though. the 4/0's could pull a car! not too bad in size 4's but a little finesse would be nice!

Been playing around with semi-varivas 4/0s but didn't have the confidence to use them for ray last summer. Had a few huss on them in last couple of months with no dropped fish so I'll try them for ray in the summer for quicker unhooking meaning more fish. They require more care baiting up than my usual penel. The gauge is very large on them. I was going to use the 4/0 with a wire bite trace in the hope of getting on contact with a tope.

Donagh

Tom, I decided your email was too informative not to share so have moved it to below. Hope you dont mind.

Peter,

You can see the way the Kahle hooks are sized...by the gape...if you hold one between your finger and thumb, blanking off the shank you get a better look at the true size. Some of the hooks in the picture are used by Carp anglers.....feel free to post that picture on the board if you like...I normally have problems posting pictures.

These are what the long-liners used in the Pacific before the advent on the circle hooks...btw...Circle hooks are still as effective even if they have no barb, many of the guys I fish with in Florida who target Pompano either use the barbless or crush the barb down and believe they still land as many fish, without loss.

What some people don't understand regarding the circle hook is that a fish will still take a deep hook, but as it swims off the hook will be drawn up out of the gut (as the point is not prominent) and set as it reaches either the bend in the lip or the scissors at the corner of the mouth. This is one of the reasons that circle hooks are NO good on lures.

BTW...the Kahle hooks in the picture are freshwater hooks, I prefer to use them, because! if you do gut hook a fish your not going to get that hook out...at least the hook will degrade and give the fish some chance.

Regards,
Tom.

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mustad do a little wire circle hook that i have tried in size 4, they were great on the boat when i was wrasse bashing, every one lip hooked, decent for bait presentation too with the smaller baits

I have tried several different makes of circle and semi-circle hooks over the years and have had good results with all of them
I think the main problem is "head hooked" worms dont cast too well, but are OK on the boat, best stick to fish strip, squid, or shellfish on the beach.
Best advice, dont strike, dont hold the rod just set it down and let the fish hook themselves.

Boyd

Hi Folks

I never tried this type of hooks before and know nothing about them. Can someone tell me:
What is their main use?
What advantage (if any) do they have over the normal straight hook I am used to?
I mainly fish from the shore (beach rocks etc) should I be using them and if so when?

Any help or advice greatly appreciated

Thanks
Sam

Hi Sam, I merged this post as we already had a current open thread on Circle hooks. The main advantage is that for the most part, they liphook fish, allowing for easier unhooking and much less trauma and damage upon release. They were designed by commercial longliners who needed their fish hooked in such a way as to keep them alive and unspoilt until they could get around to hauling them up.

The theory is that the fish swallows the bait, into its stomach even, as it moves away, the hook is drawn back up and upon it beginning to exit the fishes mouth the hook rotates so the point catches in the jaws or scissors. I have tried them although not in a wide variety of situations but I have had very positive results. Im not a big fan of the semicircles but I've only tried Owner and the wire they use for them is quite heavy. The full circle hooks I have are made of much finer wire and appear to work very well.

I have been using circle hoks for the last 8 years, mostly boat fishing, but also for shore fishing, I exclusivley use the owner "mutu light" hooks in sizes 6 to 2/0. these are very fine in the wire and sticky sharp.
the point is very very slightly offset, and you will have no problems baiting up with worms if you use a baiting needle.
Having said that, they are far better used with fish baits.
Using them off the shore you get better results with a short snood and a grip lead, no need to strike as the fish will hook themselves.
In 8 years using them from a boat for Pollack with live rag, or frozen sandeel i have NEVER gut hooked a fish.
Remember you never ever, ever strike, just start winding slowly till you feel the fishes weight, and it will be hooked.
I anyone needs any more info please feel free to mail me.
Dave

I've read this thread with int erst. My own experience with them is the same as the original poster. I find that my fish are hooked in the mouth rather than in the gut. I go further and debarb my hooks by squeezing the barb with pliers. I haven't noticed a sudden increase in lost fish. I have noticed though that if a fish does take the bait deep it is really hard to get it out as the hook needs to be rotated further to get it out. Something that is really difficult to do inside it's mouth. I often just cut the line in cases like this. I've heard people say you cannot use worms baits with a circle hook but I've never found this. I can still thread them around the hook and tip it off either with other worms or mackerel etc.

i have tried circle hooks and found them very fiddly to bait up i noticed debrock using red angled kinda circle hooks last time out he was raving over them maybe he would be so kind as to put up a picture of one and give us a report on them i think he said they where grauvell hooks and new in , what price they where also so i can start saving :D :D :D

I used a sickle hook by grauvell for the first time the other day. Same principal as the circle but looks more similar to the Kahle. Only got one whiting but it was cleanly lip hooked.