Circle hooks revisited

[Fishingelbow]

The latest study ... http://www.sportfishingmag.com/blog.jsp?ID=1
Notice the difference between in-line and offset hooks, which is seldom brought up in circle hook discussions.

[Questor]

I tried circle hooks for bluegills and had a dramatic increase in deep hooking compared to long shanked aberdeens. When using the smaller #6 circle hooks my hooking percentage dropped dramatically. I guess circles are only good for bigger fish with bigger mouths.

[Reel Old Geezer]

I fish my soft plastic jerk baits (flukes, etc) by nose hooking them, since I have no need for having them weedless. I have been fishing both circle hooks and the mosquito style hook. I do not find any greater hook up ratio with the circle hooks, but the fish are usually hooked in the corner of the mouth as they are supposed to be. I find it hard to find circle hooks without offsets, but the bend is easily straightened with a pair of pliers. I have also found I like to use one size larger hook with the circle hooks, but this may be mental. To be successful with circle hooks you just have to remember to just raise your rod tip and start reeling, with no hookset.

[ShoreBound]

I did not understand the difference between the offset and non-offset (or in-line) circle hooks so I made a search and found these. I think it's related to what fishingelbow found:

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/insh_ ... /hooks.htm
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/insh_ ... fishin.htm

Questor, maybe you had offset circle hooks at that time?

[BlaineFred]

Please help me out with some info...

On using the circle hooks with plastic baits like a senko...it is my understanding that I should not do a hook set when the intial hit comes, but I should wait until the fish swallows the bait...

Is this the proper way to use the circle hooks??

[Thor]

With all due respect, circle hooks work well on species that eat forage fish and turn the food around to shallow head first, if the head shot was unsuccessful. These species will even do this with cut/dead bait.

Species that eat crustaceans and insects will crush and swallow. Since the crushers for most species are in the throat, more deep hook examples will be noted.

Some species will eat anything but these will typically turn food to shallow head first when necessary.

Circle hooks are great tools, when looking to harvest fish, they are deadly.

[Fishingelbow]

Fred, you NEVER set the hook when you use a circle hook. Even if the fish swallows it, an in-line circle hook will slip right out of the stomach and only catch the edge of the mouth. So there's no hurry at all, and just cranking in is what you do.
Perfect for kids fishing for panfish. Their attention span is so short that the fish often take off with the bait before they realize something is going on. And you know how difficult it is to get kids to set the hook; they just crank! Those two "problems" are exactly what is needed for success when using circle hooks!
You can find an excellent article on http://www.asmfc.org/ (Special Report 77).