CIRCLE HOOKS or tips to keep bait from being swallowed

[pickle1982]

Anyone out there ever use circles on you tilts over the past couple outings I've been have a lot of bass with the hooks and shiner all the way down by the time I get to em and I either cut the line or snip off what I can of the hook with a pair of dikes. Any info or advice would be appreciate. I tried them a few years back salt water and I know you don't set the hook you let the fish or just reel it in but I don't think I ever hooked a fish on em

[MrE1979]

Never had much luck with them.  I use 3/0 octopus hooks now.  Usually get them in the lip.

[pickle1982]

I've just been using number 2 eagle claw bait holder is that why think I should move up to a bigger hook, I'm getting the fish I just don't like where I have been getting em and these aren't big bass I'm catching either

[Poot]

I like circle hooks but you either like them or not. I bet 8 out of 10 fish I hook in the corner of the mouth. I don't' usually give the fish to much time because I like to avoid gut hooking them. I have not noticed a difference in the amount of fish I land (J hooks to Circle hooks) but I do notice a much higher frequency of getting them in the corner of the mouth for sure.

Just one guys opinion.

[DR.SPECKLER]

I use 1/0 to 3/0 circle hooks on my tipups and have great success with northerns.do not set the hook at all but when the fish is running simply put the brakes on the line by pinching the line with your fingers.if the spool is not spinning pick up slack line till you feel the weight of the fish and just hold it and start taking in some line.the fish struggling on the line with steady pressure will hook itself.i use gamakatsu off set circle hooks or team catfish double action circles and you MUST snell circle hooks for them to work properly.

[craiger]

I use all circle hooks now.  There is a learning curve.  There is still the possibility of hooking them deep, but this hardly happens if you are attentive.  I use #2 for large/jumbo shiners and #6 for smalll/mediums.   Been using Matzuo brand with no complaints, found em pretty cheap on ebay. 

Best method for circles is to apply pressure on a run, as opposed to sharp jerk on a regular hook.  I agree with other posters, some are for and some are against.  Best bet is to give 'em a shot yourself. 

[stripernut]

I use them in the salt often, it is what I give my clients to use when bait fishing for cod and haddock. With what little bait fishing I do for stripers, I found it was not worth the effort, but I am not leaving a rod soaking with bait in a holder... For ice fishing I use double Ryder hooks in a Quick Strike Rig and rarely the hooks are not in the lip, but again I don't wait to set the hook...

[BASSQUATCH]

A good hook removing tool makes a big difference too. Pliers or hemo stat tools are useless most of the time. A 6.00 hook removing tool was like night and day! PS hate circle hooks ! 2/0 - 4/0 Gamakatsu octopus is all I will ever use again.

[pickle1982]

I'd rather just cut the line once they already have it in there stomach.. I got good needle nose and dikes to cut what I can get at and even a pair of chanel lock needle nose, I guess there not realy much that can be done when it's always the tilt  a 100 yards away and it takes me prob a min to get to I just wondering if a circle hook would pop out of it stomach or once it's that far down it probably wouldn't make a difference would it

[boulderdash]

You can always tie off your line at 20 ft or so the trap sets the hook. I fish stumpy  bog ponds a lot and if they have time to run they just get hung up on a log. plus its so fun to watch your trap jump up and down.

[fishermantim]

One problem is that there are 2 types of circle hooks, in line and offset.
The offset hooks will, more often than not, be the gut hook ones.

When applying tension to line to "set" the circle hook, your intention is to have the hook pull straight up to the mouth and hook the corner. Offset hooks do not pull straight, the are offset, so the point is exposed and easily hooks whatever flesh it encounters on the way out. That's usually the stomach or throat.

In line circles do what you expect, and result in fewer gut hooks. That doesn't mean they won't, it just means that under ideal circumstances they do as they should.

Now, if you are using a hook too small for the bait being used, that will also create gut hooks, as the bait will interfere with the hooks action when being "set". Same goes for not having the hook point fully exposed though the bait, although this is usually the result of an undersized hook and very active bait (they kind of go hand-in-hand).

I ONLY change to J style hooks if I plan on using tip-ups for pan fish rigged with worms. Otherwise it's circle hooks all around!

Oh, and don't go blaming yourself or your gear completely....sometime the bass are so hungry they will inhale the bait before you can do anything to prevent it. Just my $0.02

Good luck, all!!!

[A7X]

I use 4/0 in-line circle hooks and HULK size shiners... haven't had much of a problem with em, always in the lip and minimal loss of fish, this is my first year ice fishing but have been on the open water for over 25 years... If they are hooked in the "sphincter" (I haven't had that issue and been out a bunch, just helped friends retrieve their hooks) I reach in with my long hemo's through the gills, grab the shank or even just the eye of the hook and turn it upside down and pop it out, I've had great success and no blood or very minimal this way...

It helps a ton if the pliers are warm (I keep them clamped on my bibs inside the jacket) I found out they won't freeze to the gills this way...

Edit: I've seen some guys just tear the hook straight out of the throat, leaving the fish bloodied and on its way to death and stuff em back in the hole... There's no reason for this, an extra 15 seconds and a little patience and that fish can live to grow and be caught again by your children... Choice words and additional details deleted from this paragraph 

[pmaloney86]

I believe there is a fine line between sizing up on your hook and when it gets too big that it spooks fish.  I huge very large treble hooks when I'm fishing for pike and if I use them in bass ponds I notice that I rarely get flags.

I've been crushed on here before for saying this but I only use treble hooks (on tip ups) and never gut hook fish.  I practice catch and release 99% of the time and so far this year I haven't sent a fish down the hole bleeding.  I feel the shape and increased size of treble doesn't allow the hook to get down in their gut as far, IMO.  However, a large majority of my buddies use single hooks and I'm constanly helping them with fish they gut hooked.

[BASSQUATCH]

 If you've never used one of these hook removers, you don't know just how easily it removes all hooks, lip, throat, roof of mouth. Just hooking the hook and squeezing the tool turns the hook drastically and allows for simple removal. They come in long length too.

[V Menzone]

1/0 to 4/0 octopus and big bait rarely have a gut hook if I do it easy to get out but with the bait I use (6-12 inch) I don't get any small fish that have hard mouths to work on.

[SHaRPS]

Hooks are overrated. I use a slip knot and try to snag one of their teeth. 5% of the time it works every time!!! 

[Sprocket]

#6 Octopus hooks and the rubber band trick for tip ups. Smaller fish tend to hooked deeper more than larger fish for some reason

[Papa Sly]

I love circle hooks for cats, or stripers...anywhere there is current. For me they are terrble for tip-ups..I lost over 1/2 the hits I had on them. Used them for a nonth and threw them away. Octopus hooks work great and very rarley do they end up in the stomache.

[BoSox34]

1/0 treble hooks.  Haven't had a fish swallow one yet.

[fishinfool]

gamgatsu octopus,sized according to quarry.

[OldCaveman]

gamgatsu octopus,sized according to quarry.

   X2, rarely have gut hooks

[BASSQUATCH]

   X2, rarely have gut hooks

Yup!

[JS]

Gamakatsu Finesse Widegap are great. most hookups are in the corner of the mouth.

[JS]

The Shiner hangs on the hook very well too. (if used Dead) the well, Large gap accomodates the thick, back-meat above the Spine.

[sangell]

I cut over to them last year and it is all I use. Same tactics as saltwater off shore and in shore just on a different scale. The main reason I did it was I flat out got sick of cutting the line, and hurting the fish. The gills up de-hook works, but your still coming through the gills, and on smaller fish doing damage. As far as hook ups last year I was pretty much even with the J hooks I had switched over from. I was putting the hook behind the dorsal fin. This year I have been almost exclusively through the mouth of the shiner and then the nostril or eye socket. After all the predator is most likely taking the bait head first and there are not any bluefish in the lakes I fish  I am not keeping stats but my hit ratio has been a lot higher and noticeably so. This season the tally for the big bucket mouths is (1) 5 + lbs, (3) 4 or + lbs, and to many to count over 3 lbs. All on # 6 circles. The set up I am at is 50 or 36 braid, good quality swivel, 18" 6 - 8 lb Fluorocarbon leader, and the split shot 6-8" off the hook. If the split shot is not the dull silver I paint them black with a sharpie.... one of those anal tuna wishing tactics.

What I really, and I mean really like is the setting the hook with circles. Instead of trying cross the fishes eyes with a hard set on a J hook it is a bit of a game. If they are still screaming when I get to the flag its just grabbing the line, applying and quickly going from gradual to full pressure. It it's stop and go fish it's a lot of fun teasing the fish into a run to do the above. The hard ones are the real big ones that eat, go back to their ambush spot and sit. That said they don't get big by being dumb.

It is a bit of a training deal when folks come out with me. Most have not used circle hooks. They usually pick up on it pretty quickly and they are new to fishing they are shocked to see such a little hook stuck in a big Large Mouth jaw.

I am now playing around with glo in the dark paint / hooks / beads. I found the company that supplies a lot of the lure mfgs. It is early, and I have only been at a few weeks and nothing conclusive yet.

[67f100]

Pretty good luck with Owner Mosquito hooks.  Not a true circle hook but has a nice wide gap. Typically nice corner mouth hooks.  I have missed some fish that I might have hooked but no gut hooks so far.   

[iceking87]

The only ones who seem to get get gut hooked on me are yellow perch, I do find if I don't get to the tilt fast it ends up in the belly

[SkunkLuvver]

Once circle hooks (inline) proved themselves to me in salt water I switched over to them for ice fishing as well and have been very happy.
It was weird adjusting to the non-hookset but it was weird with salt water too.
It's strange that once switching I realized that setting the hook is one of my favorite parts of fishing…. second only to releasing a healthy fish after a perfect, corner of the mouth hooking.