Cricle hooks

[Guest]

I gave circle hooks a try this weekend for the first time. I used them on a lindy rig with a leach on Mille Lacs and was very pleased with the results. Out of the 5 fish that I caught on a circle hook all but one was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth. Not only did it save me time but it allowed me to get the fish back in the water a lot faster.

Has anyone else given circle hooks a try?

[huskminn]

Thanks for posting this info, Herkey. I have used circle hooks on Mille Lacs a couple of times, but only caught one walleye, which wasn't much of a test group.

I plan on giving them another try. I think they may be a good way to help avoid hooking mortality.

[Guest]

Circle hooks work great and a handy option to add to your bag of tricks.

I have switched to Gamakatsu circles for most of my bait presentations. They work on most every species that I have tried them on so far.

Over the past 3 seasons I have found them to be far more effective under the ice too. Deadsticking for perch and walleye with a good deadstick rod has upped my catch a lot. They work just as well on a slip float if you take care not to set the hook and let the hook do it’s job on it’s own.

For big channel catfish or sturgeon they are definitely my first hook choice!

Once you get the hang of how to fish them you will find that the barb is not really needed either. By removing the barb you make them safer for you and the fish. If you ever have to extract a 7/0 Gamakatsu circle hook from your hand, you will see why pretty fast.

Great hooks!

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Backwater Eddy..><,sUMo,>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300

[email protected]

http://home.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/index.html

[WarrenA]

I have used them for catfishing now for a couple of years and if you let them do the work they will perform well.

[wastewaterguru]

Backwater Eddy,

So tell us the story....it sounds like you had a personal encounter with removing one of these from your hand.

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John K., a.k.a. wastewaterguru
Prior Lake, Minnesota

[Crappieman]

I am going to try these under float this weekend. Any suggestions?

[Guest]

what size circle hooks do you use for walleyes and pike?

Ed- where do'ya get the big (7/0, 8/0) gumakatsu's for cats. The biggest I could find were 5/0 at Cabelas in GF, Fargo Scheels had some 6/0, but they were priced at $12.95 for 6, I asked the guy about that and he said that was the right price. They must've screwed up because the 5/0 at Cabelas were only $2.95

[GullGuide]

Go with #4 for eyes.
As far as using them under a float, they are fantastic, just rig it up like you would a normal hook. The key thing to remember is not to set the hook, just lift the rod and start reeling. It's that easy.
Another thing to add is that if you end up buying circle hooks that are off-set (by this I mean that the point and the shank are not lined up if you look at it straight on) You need to bend the hook so that the point and the shank are in line, otherwise there is still the potential for gut-hooked fish. Easiest way to do this is to place a pliars on the shank and with another pliars slightly twist the point until they are in line. Be careful not to bend at the point itself, just under it.
Good luck

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>"////=<
Gull Guide Service
fishingminnesota.com/gullguide
Brainerd-Mille Lacs-Willmar
Bemidji-Ottertail

[Guest]

well i got the recomendation from this place in late summer of 00. at that time i found some and tried them for cats. they seemed to work well so in the spring we chose to go with them on the slip bobber rigs for panfish as well as for cats. last summer they definitely sold us on them for life.
we usually go with a #6 or #8 under a slip bobber for panfish. and then for cats it all depends...in my cat box i have them from 1 ot to 5 ot.
when going for pike it is usually some kind of artificial lure. not a whole lot of live bait for them. this of course can change. and well my first eye was caught fishing for panfish last may. so that was on a 6 or 8.

but i do love them circle hooks.
i think i have like 3 dif brands in my boxes. and well they all are slightly different.
but would not trade them for anything.

Monty

[Guest]

Ah, the old circle hook discussion.

Since the only fish out there worth fishing for are walleyes, I'll relay way I do.

I use #2's under floats. I like to go 2 sizes larger than with regular hooks since the gaps on circles are smaller than regular hooks.

When dead sticking with bottom bouncers, I'll go to #4's for both 2 hook crawler harnesses and single hooks with leeches and small minnows.

The hook set or should I say lack of a hook set is crucial in using circle hooks. Just reel up to take up the slack line and then just lift the rod, letting the weight of the fish and the bend in the rod to set the hook. Don't reel until you let the fish thrash its head several moments before you reel it in. The fish set the hook themselves when they try to blow out their mouth.

This doesn't really relate to the topic but...Don't try this at home... If you held a crank bait firmly in your hand and had a friend set the hook, you will not get hooked. When you try to let it go, that is when the hooks will be driven home. Take it easy on all hooks set. I think anyway that folks who use circle hooks become better hook setters since they get conditioned not to go crazy on hooksets.

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Kevin Neve's Devils Lake Guide Service
fishingminnesota.com/kevin-neve-guiding/
e-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 701-473-5411 or 701-351-4989
Minnewaukan ND

[Guest]

---on2stix ---

Gamakatsu 6,7, & 8 O/T hooks run $3.00 per 6 on average. You can get a better deal bye ordering them by the 100.

Scheels in Moorhead as well as on 13th Ave have the larger Gamakatsu octopus circle hook sizes in stock now, at $3.00 per card of 6. But they sell out fast it appears?

I nagged them tell they got them in again. In the past they have ordered them in for me special, now they see they sell so they will keep them on hand.

You can order larger quantities if you get in touch with the manager or go on line and see what you find. Some catfishing sites that specialize in bulk terminal tackle handle 100 and 1000 packs at a very fair price.

Gamakatsu's are by far the better value and more user friendly a octopus style circle hook! First thing I do is snap off the barb as I feel you really don't need it.

If your getting into cats on circles I would highly recommend you get a rod or two like the new UGLY STICK BIG CAT series of rods. I loved the Berkley REFLEX series but they don't make them any longer so the best economical option going now is the UGLY BIG CAT rods as I see it. (This may change, I am working on development of some rods just for cats, more on that latter. )

The upgraded components and the action of the 8' med. & med/hvy action are perfect for circle hook fishing. E-glass or like high tech Lama glass rods are best for the circle hook system.

Good fish'n, catch a piggy!

Ed

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Backwater Eddy..><,sUMo,>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300

[email protected]

http://home.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/index.html

[Guest]

i noticed that at cabelas in EGF on friday night they had some 10,11,and 12 ot hooks for cats. i forget now if they were circle or reg hooks.
up until then the biggest i had seen was a 6 ot.

Monty

[Nels]

I was up in the BWCA a couple of weeks ago, and I caught quite a few SM bass on a circle hook (sort of Carolina rigged a plastic hellgramite with a small circle hook). We had been only using topwaters, and the fishing was pretty good, but slowed down. I decided to try the plastic/circle hook in a stream area, and it worked great (I could feel the sinker bouncing on the bottom, and when I felt some tension, I just reeled slowly until the fight was on). On the way back to our camp site, the last fish I caught was a 22.5" SM Bass. It was a great time, and I will definitely try circle hooks with live bait.

[This message has been edited by Nels (edited 01-31-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Nels (edited 01-31-2003).]