Circle Hook Question

So I’m thinking of giving this catfishing thing a try, but I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row first. I have a question in regards to circle hooks. I’ve used them before on bass and always found that setting the hook was a huge mistake. The trick was to hold the line tight while the fish was swimming away from you … do that and the fish would be hooked in the corner of the mouth pretty much every time. But in reading catfish reports here, people talk about setting the hook. How do you guys set the hook on a flathead with a circle hook?

Thanks!

John

I’ve never had good luck with circles on flatheads, but plenty of people I fish with has. I have had great luck with them on Channels though. 1st you need a rod with a slow action tip. The big fish usually just hits and hooks themselves. All I do is pick up the rod and reel in.
If you’re gonna tightline then be close to your rod and have a good holder.

When fishing with circle hooks you just reel. I leave my rod right in the holder and crank 10 times. You’ll either have them or you won’t. If they are coming towards you wait until they a have passed before reeling. IMHO regular hooks work better if you want to get them out of cover quickly. They are an excellent option and rarely hurt fish.

BrianK will show you what you can catch with a circle hook, he has some good pics and it isn’t a fish either…Brian you have to post your pics

One of BrianK’s posts prompted this question, so I look forward to his response … and whatever picture you’re talking about!

John… You should head down in my boat one night chasing cats. I can show you the options you have and give you a good idea of what were doing. For the most part circles are used on channels because they hammer the bait most the time and will set the hook themselfs. I did play with them on the flats also but love to set the hook so went back to 8&10/0 octupus hooks. Circles do work for flats but you have to match the bait to the hook and usually your using pretty big bait. When we had success we were using 5-6 in bullies and 5-7/0 widegap circles. I do this when I have people in the boat that dont want to set the hook….women I just dont understand them but whats new
I am out of town all next week but would like to get Mike W out as well chasing kitties one night

Brian not the bath tub

I use circle hooks exclusively for Flatheads, I like daiichi circle chunk lites 5/0-7/0 and gamakatsu circle octopus in 7/0. I don’t use clickers, after the first pop signaling a cat has the bait I grab the rod, feel for a fish moving away, and slowly and steadily sweep the rod. I like the circles because they tend to hang up a bit less in snags, and they are always in the corner of the mouth. Don’t hook baits too deeply and every thing but a fish coming at the boat should be hooked. I am not sure my percentage is any better or any worse than when I used J hooks, but the other advantages make sense to me

Hey Jason – How are you hooking your bullheads with circle hooks? I’ve got some smaller 4″ – 5″ bullheads that I thought I might circle hook. I know FlatheadWI hooks them through the lips and I was going to try that on my circle hooks. You have any experience with that style hookup?

I don’t hook through the lips unless I want to cast a country mile. Just hook lightly in the tail muscle sort of with the length of the bullhead….not directly across.

Joe,

I’d love to join you for an evening, and I doubt MikeW would be hard to talk into it! Let me know when you’d like to go, and be sure to tell me what kind of beer to bring!

John

One of the reasons I don’t use circles…is because it’s harder to get them out…

Old picture…

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Damn that must of hurt!!

What the heck happened? Bullhead turn on ya!!

Answered my own question today with a quick stop at Sportsman’s Warehouse. I thought Brian was using a gamakatsu circle hook for flats … the 2020 is an octopus hook. Done deal! Hopefully I’ll be after them on the 4th of July weekend.

John

Knockem dead….er..release them..well you know what I mean! Get some pictures!

Good Luck!

The circle hook in the photo above…well the story went something like this….

Catten Addict was getting his rod ready..and as I grabbed a bully..I thought I would help him out by baiting his hook…as I grabbed his hook…Village People’s YMCA came on the radio and he went nuts…ripping his shirt off and carrying on!
Needless to say, he hadn’t put his rod down…and ouch! In the finger it went.

Gamakatsu makes the sharpest hook out of the package…didn’t hurt at all…

Now..if you want to know the truth and not the story…you’ll have to read >This Post<

I like the made up story better!