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Circle Hooks

3K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
Gang...

I have heard many differing opinions on Circle Hooks. Some say they are safe and effective for Flies while others say they are not. Any thoughts here ??

John
 
#2 ·
For flies, I feel it only makes a diff if they swallow the hook a lot. I guess the same holds true for bait, but that's not in question here.

I fish crab flies alot, and the bass get them to the crushing plates in the rear of the throat right away. Thus I have experienced a higher number of deep hookings with crab flies than with sand eels or juvies. There might be two reasons - (1) I am moving the fish flies faster (2) the reason I theorized above.

I even tried setting as fast as possible but still got some deep sets. I am trying circle hooks for crab flies this year, will let you know!

Juro
 
#3 ·
RE:Circle Hooks - make your own?

There was a good article in one of the SWFF magazines about bending/making your own circle hooks.I started to try this using Mustad's for my yak hair big eyed baitfish flies but then stopped.

My concern is that if I'm using a set of pliers and my bare hand to bend the hook to shape, will it staighten out with a big fish? Also, would the strtength of the hook be compromised by the bending so that it could possibly break?

Roop
 
#4 ·
roop,
shouldn't be a problem. you aren't bending it fast enough to heat up(read that destroy the tempering), the shank. i just watched the video by the guy at successflies.com, the polarfiber/kinkyfiber guys. and he suggests always bending the hooks. tom
 
#5 ·
My theory on circle hooks is that they work great when the fish has engulfed the fly and is swimming away from you. Although I get very few deep hookings per year when fast stripping sand eel or pogie patterns (2/0 - 5/0), the crab flies get taken deep 2 or 3 out of ten times. Therefore I've started tying them on circle hooks, and am also considering tying them on regular (verses stainless steel) hooks.



I haven't seen fly-sized circle hooks in stainless, although I'm sure they exist. I've also seen circle hooks with such a wide and open gap that they probably don't serve the purpose. When I first started seeing these for the offshore halibut fishery ten years ago, they looked as curly as a copyright symbol. Lately there are "circle" hooks which look more like "radical beak points". What counts is whether they serve the purpose or not.

There are some flats where crab flies are king and this year I hope to have some first hand observations on the benefits of circle hooks.
 
#7 ·
Tom -

I've added the recipe to the <!--http--><a href="http://216.71.206.188/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=coastal_fly&Post=32" target="_blank"> Striper Fly Archive </a><!--url-->

Hope you have as much fun with it as I have!

regards,
Juro
 
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