At first
glance, to a fisherman who has never used one, a circle hook
looks like it is designed NOT to catch-fish. It looks like
a badly bent hook, ready for discard. But it does catch fish,
lots of fish.
While
the hook is relatively new to recreational fisherman, except
for those specializing in snapper fishing, commercial fisherman
have used these hooks for years. Both longline and snapper
reel commercial fisherman prize them for their ability to
catch fish on unattended gear, their retention of hooked fish
and their safety on the deck of a fishing vessel.
While
circle hooks do not work well on actively fished artificial
lures and plugs, they can be used in almost any presentation
that uses live or natural bait. Fishermen using live bait
for speckled trout, redfish or trophy largemouth bass find
them deadly. They also work extremely well on trotline and
set lines for catfish, especially when targeting large fish.
Saltwater
bottom fishermen seeking snappers and groupers will find circle
hooks to be the most effective hook available. Even offshore
trollers using natural baits can use circle hooks. For trolling,
it is best to attach the bait to the shank of the hook with
a rubber band or waxed string rather than to try to pass the
hook through the bait.
The big
advantage that circle hooks offer is that fish are almost
never deep-hooked. When a fish takes the bait and attempts
to swim off, the hook pulls out of the throat and to a comer
of the mouth, where the hook rotates and pierces the jaw,
usually in the comer. Once the fish is hooked, it finds that
it is almost impossible to shake the hook out. Also, fish
hooked in the corner of the mouth tend to fight better than
deep-hooked fish.
Jaw-hooked
fish have a much higher survival rate after release than deep-hooked
fish. This is important to trophy fishermen who often release
large numbers of smaller fish, and to fishermen who fish on
a catch and release basis. A high survival rate of released
fish is critical in fisheries for species under strict management
with minimum and/or maximum size limits. Typically, these
fish species are classified as overfished or are heavily fished
species being intensively managed to prevent overfishing.
Circle
hooks offer other advantages. When properly used, catch rates
are much higher than with J-shaped hooks. They are safer,
with no exposed point to hook a fellow fisherman. Circle hooks
are also much less likely to snag bottom or debris. Also,
fish with sharp teeth are less likely to cut the line as they
are hooked in the corner of the mouth. Less fish are lost
and fishermen often can use lighter leaders which may improve
catch rates. After the fish is landed, the hook can be removed
with a simple twist using needle nose pliers or with a dehooking
device.
While
commercial fishermen have been using circle hooks for some
time, first-time recreational users will need re-education
not to set the hook. Jerking the rod in response to a bite
will pull the hook from the mouth of the fish nearly every
time. The fish must be allowed to hook itself when it swims
away. Fishermen who have difficulty breaking the habit of
setting the hook may want to try putting the rod in a holder
and fishing "dead stick". Another minor problem
is that determining the right size circle hook can be difficult
because hook sizes currently are not standard among manufacturers.
This lack of standardization makes ordering circle hooks from
a catalog a little difficult.
Download:
circlehook.pdf
(1.86MB)
