Rethinking circles

[DTro]

After coming up short on a large number of runs last night, my confidence on circle hooks has dipped considerably. Has anyone found the best way to hook a bullie with a circle. I normally hook midway between dorsal and tail with the hook going in from tail to head direction. I try to hook as little of the bullie skin as possible. Seems like the fish would pick it up and run, I'd give it pressure and could feel the weight of the fish and then.......nothing. Most of bait revealed teeth marks just shy of the hook. So now what, I need a stinger

Anyways just wondering to myself if it would be better to try hooking the bait through the bottom lip or something.

Or maybe it was just "one of those nights"

[rushing]

I dunno about the bottom lip but in faster water I occasionally hook em through the upper lip. Maybe it was them pesky channels or walleys? I know hanson missed a large number of runs using regular hooks when he was down last weekend so maybe it was just one of those nights?

I had fun the thursday night sitting in front of a snag with the reel engaged and watching the rod bend as the flatties hooked themselves as they turned to go back into the snag.

[Dirk W]

I feel your pain dtro. I've never had good success with circles for flatheads. Some of the other guys like them but I don't. They do work very well for channels though. Circles work best when a fish bites and then turns away (a typical channel cat bite when they are in current). One reason I don't like them for flatheads is that I don't think a flathead bites and turns away as often as a channel cat. They often chomp and sit - then move. When they do move its not always directly away from you. When fishing near heavy cover I often need to set quickly and pull them away from the cover. Can't set the hook though with circles. Anyway, for those that do love fishing circles for flatheads what do you need to do to get high percentage hook-ups?

[DTro]

It's funny you say that Rushing, because one of the two fish that I did land last night was on a pole that I forgot to engage my baitrunner. I looked over and it was doubled over. Perhaps I should not be using the baitrunner with circles.

[rushing]

I think rod selection plays an important role in using circle hooks. A rod with a softer tip that loads a bit slower seems to help alot. I have been using a 9ft spinning rod latley and have missed very few fish. I used to point the rod right at the fish and engage the reel but it seemed like too often the hook was popping out of the bullhead too fast and kinda shooting out of the flats mouth. Now I hold the rod at an angle and let it load up. I hear alot about the flats coming upstream and stuff but for some reason I dont have that happen to often. Even if they do they are still pulling out line on my reel since they are dragging a 5oz weight and I have my bait runner set as light as I can go without the current or the bully pulling too much line out. Maybe the flat swimming upstream is more of a problem while in a boat than shore fishing(I am boatless)? It sometimes takes awhile to get the feel for using circle hooks, some of my friends have tried them and hated them and others tried them and its all they use. Its about using whatever you have confidence in and i'm just cofident in using circle hooks.

[hanson]

Can you say "chomped"? OUCH!!

I'm not quite sure what was happening in Darren's end of the boat.

-One of the first fish that ran on him was obviously coming upstream because he kept pulling and cranking to feel the weight. Looked like he finally got the circle into the fish but it came off after a few seconds.

-Another good run of his came back with the point of the circle hook turned back into the bullhead.

-And the photo above shows that a flathead totally had this bullhead in its mouth. Hook point was still exposed but for some reason, he wasn't able to hook up with this one either.

I think it was "one of those nights"! I had one last Sunday where I couldn't sink a hook into anything.

[Dennis Steele]

I'm with Dirk as well on circles and flatheads.

I have never liked circles for flatheads. I would bet at the very least, 35% of the time flatheads will give no indication that he has taken the bait except for a sharp tap and a slight load on the rod. The slight load on the rod kind of looks like junk on the line, and if you are not paying close attention to your rod tip, you'll miss that initial hit.

What is happening is that the fish is moving either upstream or sideways. I don't even trust a cliker for flatheads for this reason. I know many very knowledgeable cat men who hold their rod the entire time and feel for the bite, becasue they know that a flathead will not always turn downstream.

One thing about hooking bait that will increase your hook set odds is making sure that if you are using an offset hook that the offset is up. If that little bend is pointed toward the bait, guess what. When a fish puts its mouth over that bait it pushes the hook point into the bait. You want to make sure that the point of the hook points up no matter how the fish takes the bait.

Here is something to try next time you hook a bait. When the bait is on the hook, put your entire hand around the area where the hook is and squeeze. Gently, and I do mean gently, so as not to hook yourself, pull on the line. If you feel the hook point rotate into the palm of your hand, you have the bait hooked properly, if you don't, your going to miss that next fish.

I think a lot of information from these forums can get jumbled around. For example when someone says they are using circles for cats, some people just assume that means all cats. Then a bunch of guys talk about using them for flatheads and all of a sudden tons of guys are using them.

The same thing kind of happened with bullheads. I have talked to lots of guys who use them for cutbait because they "heard" that they are good for cats. You can catch both kind of cats on cut bullhead, but the baits that shine as cutbait are the oily, smelly ones. They will outperform a cut bullhead almost every time. The reason bullheads are so good for flatheads is because they are very active and cats home in on lively injured baits.

[Dan Thiem]

Very good information here guys! I'm soaking it up like a sponge!

[mplspug]

I like circles. For one, no matter the species, I tend to over set the hook. Circles force me to be calm and patient. I don't know how long you allow the fish to take the bait, but I'm not anxious to pick up the rod on the run with a circle and I need to be disciplined. I figure if a flatheads picks up the bait, the hook is there in the mouth. I am pretty confident the weight will keep enough tension to keep the hook from coming out.

On the 1 fish (I have to get out more) I caught earlier, I am not sure I would have gotten him on any other hook. There were 2 points where I thought I had tightened all the slack, only to feel the debris break away. Had I set the hook at any of those points, my guess is I would have lost the fish.

I shy away from circles in heavy cover, because I want to set the hook quicker. I also tend to use oversized hooks. I figure I have a better chance to hooking them and even though it might impair the bait a little, I don't think it's enough to scare a flathead away.

Isn't the bottom line, fish only with what you are confident in? No confidence in circles? Don't use them because you are not suppose to have a sinking feeling you are going to miss the fish when you pick up the rod on a run.

[DTro]

well, I continued with the circles last night and was 2 for 3, so that's a little better. The first run I had, again came totally upstream and under the boat and came off.

The two fish did boost my confidence however.