Red Hooks

[Mainedog]

Small red hooks and fluorocarbon leaders!  Yea baby!

[WYIfish]

Human Nature : Man believes what he wants to believe!

                                                                                                                      Spin

I summer fish a pond loaded with trout. If I use a lure and fish it like it is the hotest one in the box, I catch fish.  I mean continiously spin fishing, casts of 200 or more, I catch fish.  If I go with the slow-mo attitude and gingerly make a cast, goof around with the ducks, I catch a lot less trout. Ice fishing is similar, fish with method, direction, don't be afraid to move or try different things until the fish are stacked in the bucket. It appears to my neanderthal mind that we make our own fish destiny to a large degree.
Red hooks never worked any better for me. Using thinner diameter lines has helped  a great deal.  Power baits work for me too. I do not spit in the hole, that spooks the fish :-)

[shadfish]

I'm going to give it a try

[WYIfish]

I am sure that red cars catch more cops.

[Get Hooked]

i love red hooks and red beads

[bushyjr]

all i use is red hooks +++ got red +++

[jiggystick77]

i use both, red and bronze for pike.  catch the same on both, no real difference where i fish.  i guess it depends on water clarity and the type of fish you are going for. 

[Bout-Time]

Well Im surprised at the responses in this thread.

I used a red hook (gamakatsu I think) on one of my traps because I had heard all the hype about red hooks, and wanted to give it a whirl. I used the 1 red hook out of 5 traps for one whole winter and caught not one fish on it no matter how deep or shallow I put it. I even made up different length leaders for it too. The other 4 traps produced fish. Within the hour of changing that red hook for a bronze one, I had caught 2 fish on the trap.

Also, during open water a couple years ago I had picked up a "bleeding bait" Rattltrap that was supposed to be cats meow for attracting fish. It had those red hooks too. I didnt catch one d**n fish on that lure all summer. All my other Rattltraps caught fish, but not that one. Once I took off those red hooks and put on bronze, the fish hit it.

(Both of these results were in stained water in a Eutrophic lake)

Needless to say, I think I saw enough from this and I will not use any red hooks again.

[Captain K]

I dont mess around with those foreign Gamo's...gotta be something made in the USA like Laser's

[kasilofchrisn]

I use em on my Quickstrikes. Not sure it makes any kind of difference. haven't seen it hurt me either.
If you have confidence in something (lure ,hook, bait, line,) it will always work better for you. If you go out with a skeptical attitude it will not do as well for you.
Regardless of witch depth red is visible or not, if you find they work for you use them. If not don't .
I would not hesitate to try them. If you aren't satisfied then switch to what has worked for you in the past.

[IcePirate6]

I am still not sure how much it matters but 3 of the 5 tip ups have red hooks on them and Monday the only flags where on the red hooks. Luck or red hooks I dont know but it was fine by me.

[scavengerj]

As has been said, once below about 15' it ain't red anymore. I mean really, think about it...how many have switched to Cajun red fishing line because it disappears? So is a red hook going to make a difference below 15'?

One tip-up/rig with a red hook and four others without...was it really a test? Did the tip-up with the hook get moved to another of the other tip-up holes that weren't producing and that tip-up placed in the one that the red hooked one was originally in? Was this done several times throughout the test?


OMG I just saw I replied to a post two years old!!!!

[topher7694]

I've heard through the grapevine that after a certain depth, the red hooks look black to the fish.....I still use red though...

[Bout-Time]

As has been said, once below about 15' it ain't red anymore. I mean really, think about it...how many have switched to Cajun red fishing line because it disappears? So is a red hook going to make a difference below 15'?

One tip-up/rig with a red hook and four others without...was it really a test? Did the tip-up with the hook get moved to another of the other tip-up holes that weren't producing and that tip-up placed in the one that the red hooked one was originally in? Was this done several times throughout the test?


OMG I just saw I replied to a post two years old!!!!

Im assuming you are replying to my post, so.......

First off, my post was from Jan 1st 2010 not two years ago.

Second, throughout the winter of fishing/testing the one red hook I used it in every conceivable way I could. Yes I switched it to hot holes and they soon went cold and vice-versa. I used longer leader, shorter leader, and tried different pound tests. It was fished from 2 to 20 feet deep and I used 3 or 4 different bait as well. I tried no swivel, no sinker and alternated with using both and combos of all of the above too. The only thing that wasnt changed was the size of hook, but it was actually a size smaller than my other hooks so it shouldve gotten a decent amount of action/flags. I gave it every chance to work, but no fish were caught while using the red hook that winter. Thats (usually) fishing around 4 days a week for 3 months straight, so yes, I think it was REALLY a test.

Honestly, I thought the trap itself had fallen prey to some kind of curse for awhile there. LOL

If red hooks work for someone, more power to them but I'll stick with bronze.