Tipups and circle hooks

[minneman]

I make my own QS rigs and have had good luck with trebles. I have as well as others lost a few fish due to a hook not hooked in the fish catching the botom of the ice alowing the fish to free itself.

Im thinking these circles may help in this situation..?? but are my hook ups going to suffer with only 2 hooks vs 6?

the circle hooks I have, have a gap of near an 1-1/4" (eye to Hook pt) found in the catfish section at GM. any thoughts ?? anyone using this setup?

[Fishhawk150]

I've used the QS rigs the last few years and have missed a lot of fish with these rigs. This year I've gone with circle hooks and I've missed very few fish. They are hooked right in the corner of there mouth each time. I use one circle hook per line, I don't have them set up like a QS rig. You may want to put a few on and see how you like them, I think you will find they work just as well if not better.

[Maximum12]

I agree. I switched to circle hooks on the tip-up this winter after having horribly hook-up percentages with trebles hooks early on. I've had good luck with the circle hooks - but it took me a long time to get over the weird look, they just don't look like they should work. But I'm sold & will be using them on tip-ups from here on out.

[VMS]

Where are you hooking the shiner or sucker with the circle hook? I have not tried it, but would love to. I have always been a single hook fan, hooking the bait under the dorsal fin..maybe a little behind it. but...I have not had the greatest luck in hook-ups.

then..do you set the hook or just keep the line tight?

Thanks

Steve

[markkstanley]

Been using circles for three years. Work great. I lightly hook live bait behind the dorsal and I mean lightly. For dead bait I just switch to the belly (Most dead fish float belly up). I have found the key is a long steady pull to set the hook - no jerking. When it comes time to set the hook take up any slack and just start backing away from the hole until you feel the hook grab.

[Meat-Run]

Hey Markkstanley,

after reading this post I just went out and purchased the biggest circle hooks I could find, is 7/0 ok or should I go bigger???

mr

[markkstanley]

I use 4/0 or 5/0. I would use 7/0 or so if I was hanging large suckers or dead bait - in the 10" range or so. Hard to find bait that size in the Metro though.

[minneman]

Ok, I gave them a try and I'm sold!!!

I went back to GM to get some more of these and now the biggest size they had was a #5. they fit inside the ones I had made up, im guessing they are a #7 ? I threw the packaging away and arent sure what size they are. any ideas?

previously I mentioned the gap was 1.25" hook tip to eye, measured from hook tip to shank is 7/8" the #5s that I picked up measure 5/8" tip to shank. they seem small but I measured the gap on the largest treble i have and the gap is 5/8" as well and its a huge treble. do you think that extra 1/4" is going to make that big of a difference in hookups? Im using all large dead baits too.

ps, broke my personal best of 39.5" 3 times on this past trip. 40"-40.5"- 41.5" all still swimming!