Circle Hooks?

[Skipper]

What brand and size hooks are you using?  Just curious. I've had the opposite results with circles.

I would have to go look for actual model numbers, but there were Eagle Claw, Mustad, and Gamagatsu Circle Octopus. I ranged them in size from about 2/0 to 6/0. The only one that was worth a pinch of crap was the Gamagatsu in 5/0, and that isn't even a true circle. I find that I hook up with many more fish and have very little mortality with quick strike rigs with size 1 or 4 Eagle Claw 374 trebles.

And yes, I know how to use circles. I use them extensively in the summer for smallmouth bass, crappie, and especially catfish.

[potatomansoup]

Well, Clay, how did you make out? Did you give the macaroni a try? 

Pictures!  We need pictures!

Ted

Hey Ted
No luck at all...
We were fishing Newfound Lake in NH, the whitefish population was alomost wiped out when the dam operators started lowering the water and dropping the ice on their eggs...

I should also say NOBODY in NH targets whitefish... but we are trying to catch and eat every kind of fish in the state...

So Fish and Game told us we'd be lucky to find one... no luck... we did make lots of holes, we used macaroni to chum... but no fish... we dropped a camera down the hole 24 hours later and the macaroni had been untouched... we did see a laker though...
thanks for the info, we'll try again...

[Yukoner]

Pretty hard to catch if there are none there.

Ted

[Chris Raymond]

I can't find it by searching right now but there was a discussion a little bit ago about circles.  I too was having limited results in avoiding deep hooking with Octopus circles but two years ago I switched to Kahle circles and things are much better.  One of the other members suggest that it was because the Kahle eyes are inline with the hook shank and to get the same pulling angle with the Octopus hooks one would have to snell onto the hook shank instead of tying to the eye.  It would seem to make sense.  Maybe this is an issue that others are having as well. 

[Yukoner]

Never thought about it, but that might make a difference.  That is how I tie mine. It just seemed the natural way for me to tie them on, since they had a turned up eye.

You can see the snell in the picture of the circle hook beside the penny.  It is a very easy knot to tie.  I don't know why more people don't use it.

Ted

[jimmyclaude]

Mine have the turned eye.

[meatman]

mustad demon circle hooks in 4/0 or 5/0 for northerns.  withh the fish moving away hold the line let the slack tighten, then start puling. no need for a big hookset the hook will find the corner of the mouth.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbTeqRPCdp4   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAT99gNLwKo