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I just purchased a box on a whim to tie some streamers on. Is this a reasonable use for these hooks? My concern is that all the info i find on using circle hooks says not to "set" the hook when a fish hits. While stripping a streamer willI be likely to miss fish that hit and don't turn away?
Dr. Fish ?
Rich
I have some circle streamer hooks and found them particulary effective for the purpose that I purchased them. I fish for carp and just hated foul hooking fish that were stacked up like cord wood. The fish were so thick that I found myself snagging a fin or other body part. I took no pleasure in catching fish this way so I bought a couple of sizes of circle hooks just for these fish. I was able to cast a bugger type pattern into the mass of fish work it slowly and when I saw a fish pick up the fly hook set on sight. They worked out nicely for that application. I might have missed a couple of fish because of the circle style, but the trade off for not snagging a bunch of fish was worth it to me.
Will be watching other's answers with interest.
if they are the fly hooks c71 or the discontiued bln c51 just strip set
Rich, I have found that I donot like streamers tied on circle hooks. They do seem to cause you to miss fish. I am fishing salt water here and normally you use a strip strike to set the hook. I do not know why but I have found my hook up ratio is lower with circle hooks. Most fish hooked with flies are hooked in the mouth anyway so I donot see any advantage to using circle hooks for flies. Just my experience.
My experience has been similar to sperzonker2 while fishing for LM bass. My hook up rate dropped dramatically when I tied the same streamers on circle hooks as opposed to regular barbless streamer hooks. Just my experience...
Jim Smith
I like and use circle hooks sometimes for streamers and buggers. I found out that you don't really set a circle hook you more or less smug it. When I feel a bite or resistance I slowly ease all slack out of the line and the hook sets itself in the corner of the mouth, they were designed to do that. I started using them several years ago when I was bait fishing for Cats using several (4 to 5) rods at a time, all I had to do was bait the hooks and sling them out and wait for the Cats to hook themselfs.
Mark
Rich,
I've had good luck using circle hooks for bass fishing with streamers fished either on very light rods or fished very deep or far away.
These are all circumstances where a 'normal' hard 'bass style' hookset was not possible.
The circle hooks worked great. They do require that you modify your hooking technique. If you don't, you WILL miss fish.
What I found was that it was best to do NOTHING but let the line come tight then lift the rod gently, letting the fish pull the hook into place. That's what these hooks are designed for...any 'strip set' or hard pull of any kind would pop the hook right out of the fishes mouth.
It's hard to do when your previous experience tells you to try to jerk the fish out of the lake and onto the opposite shoreline behind you....but if you can make yourself do nothing, the hook up rate is darn near 100%.
I've also had good luck with circle hooks used conventionally on soft plastic baits like the Senko rigged wacky style. Bass tend to swallow these things, so using circle hooks, and again learning NOT to try to set the hook, just reel the fish in, gives you a hook in the corner of the mouth rather than down in the gullet or gut.
Like any other piece of equipment, hooks are tools that you can use to your benefit, IF you learn to use them correctly.
Buddy
Well, thank you all. I guess it's time for some informal testing to be done. I will tie up some streamers on conventional hooks as well as the circle hooks and do a comparison. Unfortunately i tie waaaaay more than i fish so it will probably take some time to get results, unless i have some volunteers who want to do the actual testing for me.:)
Rich
With the circle fly hooks I described above and a strip set, my hook land ratio improved to 97% for LG mouth bass which is about a 15 % improvement in my statistics over J hooks. I fish with all barbless hooks. If you strike with the rod or use circle hooks not made for flies your statistics will go the other way.
Learning to strip strike translates well to saltwater . Just my experience