Quote:
Originally Posted by AceArcher
Some key factors when using any circle hook are;
1) for both strength & to ensure that the hook has a straight "pull" on it, snell the hook to your line. I have had good success with the "common" snell as shown in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukzfzws2jYY
2) When baiting the hook make sure that you leave the hook point and a good portion of the hook itself exposed, cracked crab worked perfectly because you could run the hook in one of the leg joints and back out of another leaving hook almost completely exposed. (when fishing for the large cats up north, we would often use 1+ pound chunks of shad so the baits were large... but the hook would just be through the backbone at the top or corner of the bait)
3) DONT SET THE HOOK! the easiest way to do this when fishing either the jetties or from the beach is to leave your rod in your rod holder... when the rod is bent in half and the redfish is headed for old mexico... then you can pick it up and begin your fight.
4) Don't use to small of a hook, for those bull red's nothing smaller than 6/0 should be on the end of your line... with 8/0 being probably the most appropriate.
If however you want to hold the rod.. thats fine... once your sure that the fish has swallowed the bait.. simply start reeling... and keep reeling in a smooth fairly brisk fashion... BUT DONT "SET" the hook by jerking the rod etc. Then enjoy the next 15 minutes of line blistering runs 
I have went after the bull's at the jetties now 3 times using the techniques you outlined before.. every time i have used Circle hooks, I have not lost a single fish. In those 3 trips i would guess that we caught well over 25 fish total. I strongly encourage you to Give them circle hooks another chance. They will hook the reds in the corner of the mouth every time. |
You may be right. We've never tried circle hooks that big. We also don't usually snell, but it's something to consider if we ever try circle hooks again. It could be ours were sliding all the way out because they weren't big enough or were not snelled.
But we've got a ton of the 7/0 Gamakatsu offset J hooks which have awesome hook up rates the way we fish them, so we're good for a while. The circle hooks are actually a bit easier to find (LCT has them). We've been having to special order or shop around for the 7/0 offset J Octopus hooks. I don't like switching hook types though. It's always a learning curve getting the hook up rates back up.