Circle Hooks

It was my goal this opener to give the Gamakatzu circle hooks a really good try, and a fair appraisal. I listened to a lot of the responses last year from people that had used them. It seemed the replies good vs. bad was about 50/50. Well, I had one rod set up with the #6 circle and a leech under a Thill lighted bobber, and the other rods my partner was using was a standard Octopus (# 6 steelhead) hook. Many of the steelhead hooks had to be removed by needle nose pliers, where the circle hooks were removed by hand from the corner of the mouth. Out of about thirty fish that I caught, none were gut hooked, and about 7 fish with the steelhead hooks were gut hooked. Hooksets vs. lost fish were even for both hook styles. The hookset itself took a little geting used to. With the circle hooks, the need to “Drive them home” is not needed. Just a lift of the rod tip, and constant pressure was all that was required. Hook removal was a “Snap”! With the large fish in the lake (Mille Lacs) catch and release is mandatory for anything over 16″. (Well, one over 28 too…) So the need for a hook that will give these large fish a fighting chance to survive by not gut hooking them is intriguing for me. I intend to further this trial by tying at least one of these hooks onto crawler harnesses for the River this summer. If anyone else has had similar experiences with these hooks, it would be great to hear about them, good or bad. Leeches were a little trickier to hook with these hooks, but minnows were actually easier.

Tuck

I think anyone who fishes live bait, especially in a situation where you’re giving the fish time to “swallow” it, needs to try circle hooks. I’ve used them with great success over the last few years. They can’t be beaten for hook removal. Like you said, however, you need to overcome the urge of a traditional hook set.

Circle hooks are what many people are going to for catfihsing…..the catfish are supposed to “hook themselves” I have bought some…. but I gave up on them because I enjoyed setting the hook to much…….. I could see me using them for flathead’s ….. with live baite…. but some guys really swear by them…..

I used em for flatehads, but then they were 8-0 i think. Like mavzer said, i like seeting the hok too, but if it means more fish hooked, i will use the circle hook. I never noticed a difference in amount of fished missed. When “setting” the hook with a circle hook, just basically start realing in, i dunno how they handle on wallayes, but worth a try i guess.

In my experience, the circle hooks work better on fish that tend to grab a bait and run with it, thus often times starting the hookset themselves. I’ve had good luck using them for cats and rough fish; I’ve also used them for bass fishing with leeches under a slip bobber. Never tried them on walleye though.

I have used the heavy duty variety in Alaska for halibut and other botom dwellers. They called them “Tuna Circles” up there. They worked very well there too.

Tuck