Went out early Saturday morning on Lake Mallelieu in Hudson with a new pack of Gamakatsu #8 circle hooks. I was on a mission to find out if there’s a good fix for deeply buried hooksets in relativity to the reaction time of a child’s hookset. Here’s what I learned.
The #8 hook is great at making sure a decent size gill takes the hook but the gills aren’t quite as aggressive in their feeding (in general), as compared to other fish. They were taking the hook and worm and inhaling them………….then pausing as if to determine that indeed “there was no more” and then turned to leave. By then, the hook was so far down that it still hooked deep, and they were even harder to take out!
Maybe it’s the style or design of the Gamakatsu hook? It’s hard to say but my overwhelming conclusion is that circle hooks are not a good solution for better panfishing. I’d recommend staying with long shank #8 to #12 for now and wait for another design opportunity to surface later.
