Circle hooks on bait divers.

Silver Hilton · 12-18-2002, 02:48 PM

Anyone try these yet? Gamakatsu has some, though I can't find them smaller than 3/0.

I may run one rod with them over the next few days, though the fish have been scarce and I'm reluctant to experiment when the fishing is slow.

RichH · 12-18-2002, 02:57 PM

I've thought the same thing. I have not tried it yet, I'd be curious to know how it works.

Cohoangler · 12-18-2002, 03:00 PM

I have a bunch at home (Owners) that are 2/0. The gap seems smaller than Gammies. I picked them up for spring Chinook fishing but I might try them for winter runs, although they're a bit large for steelies.

I always tie on some yarn so the hook will get caught in their teeth. But I never use a corkie since it is likely to reduce hooking efficiency. It takes some practice and patience to give them plenty of time to take the bait and to never set the hook. Good luck.

Silver Hilton · 12-18-2002, 03:56 PM

Coho,

You never use a spin n glo? I would feel half naked if I didn't have something twirling in front of the eggs.

I agree on the letting them take it. It is the hardest thing to teach my guests. I've been know to point upriver and say, "hey look at them, do they have a fish on?" to get them to look away as one is starting to munch. Fortunately my kids are busy playing game boy, and only look up when I say, "Hey, fish on!"

Dan Christopher · 12-18-2002, 04:07 PM

Never tried a circle hook but here is my thoughts.

Diver and bait. Sense most the fish are hitting the hook with the hook pointed straight away from them and strait at the boat they would have to do a complete 180 to get the tip in. I think you would loose to many fish this way.

drifting/boondoging
This is were I think this hook may give you a plus. As the hook will most of the time easily find the corner of the mouth.Also good for a fish that hits and dives,as in the ocean.

I just think of this hook as a corner of the mouth hook and not to good at sticking them in the beak.

Don't know, just my thoughts.Play with it and let us know.

[ 12-18-2002, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: MADWIZERD ]

BuKuBass · 12-18-2002, 04:08 PM

Pierce (available via Cabela's) has circle hooks down to size 6; cost is $3.19 for 25 hooks. I use size 4 and remove the kirb.

Silver Hilton · 12-18-2002, 04:11 PM

Boomdodding? That's a technique I'm not familiar with? This one of the secrets you're planning to use to whup up on all those boys down there?

I'm gonna try one with a normal hook as a stinger. Will report back.

Flatfish · 12-18-2002, 04:38 PM

If you want to catch a fish on diver and bait, thats great. The fish swallow the bait, which makes hooking them pretty easy. It will kill most of the fish you hook with this technique. The circle hooks miss too many fish in my limited experience( as do Owner hooks, which puzzles me).If you are fishing for nates, do not fish diver and bait. Use plugs. A great option is a diver with a pink worm behind it. These fish do not require bait to make them strike. Unless you feel it is OK to kill nates, even if it is in the name of science( I understand the principal behind these hooks, but they worked very poorly for me in testing them a couple years ago.I have tried them and they simply failed the test). If you insist on moving on with your trials, e-mail me and I wil further explain why it is a bad idea. Remember, there will be a hook deep in a fishes throat as the rod loads, if the hook works as intended great. But they do not always work as intended. I have hooked fish deep with circle hooks. They were bleeders.
Simply put-Nates do not require bait in the water to catch them Thats the fun part of nates.
Mark and the dog.

A-Boss · 12-18-2002, 06:53 PM

I run bait divers quite a bit and have caught a lot of fish on them and have yet to ever hook one anywhere but the corner of the mouth. But then I don't let them chew on them very long. I usually run a spin-n-glow, yarn, and sand shrimp with a 2/0 hook.

None the less, I do quit running them with bait and switch to pink worms, if there aren't brats around.

Dan Christopher · 12-18-2002, 07:11 PM

o.k, I will slowing down on the typing, because you guys really beat me up over the type o's. :tongue: :grin:

Silver Hilton · 12-18-2002, 08:03 PM

Flat,

I understand your concern, but that hasn't been my experience. I use divers mostly in hatchery rivers, fishing for mostly brats. Even so, I have hooked very few fish other than in the jaw. Maybe one or two down deep. Maybe it's because we're quick on the trigger, I don't know. But I don't gut hook many fish.

I'm not a fish slayer like some folks seem to be. If my boat nets 30 fish this season, it will be a good one. That's about what we got last year, and we didn't gut hook one fish. Our problem isn't gut hooking, it's premature hook ejection!

If I'm fishing for fish that I intend to release, I don't use bait. The rivers that I fish most have a predominantly hatchery run, so I don't think bait divers are out of line. If I were to start gut hooking fish, I'd change.

I've tried the pink worm, but have yet to get a hit on one.

Flatfish · 12-18-2002, 08:33 PM

I am glad to hear you understand the chances in diver and bait. Believe it or not, the diver is as much a factor in the fish swallowing the bait as the use of bait itself. I know it sounds strange. But I have seen it too many times. If you hook a fish deep, make a note of which diver it was. Some get more agressive bites than others. If you get a hall of famer, they invariably swallow the bait trailing the diver. Vibration thing of some sort. If you have one that tends to hook them shallow, fine. But even then, it will kill the occasional fish. I fish size 1 hooks, which probably go down a bit easier than your 2/0s. But I guess I don't understand why you would want to change from what is working.Are you missing a lot of take downs?Or just looking for a more humane way?
Mark and the dog

RichH · 12-19-2002, 03:16 AM

My thought process on the circle hook idea is to try to hook them in the corner as historically most of my diver caught fish are hooked deep and I want to have an option of releasing fish if I should choose. I would imagine circle hooks would be very effective at this since they supposedly turn into the corner of the mouth when the fish turns with a bait. I'm one of those leave it in the rod holder till they're spooling line off kinda guys so that, in theory, should work well.

If not, I'll just continue my policy of not fishing divers after January 1st or whenever I catch an unmarked fish.