English "bait hooks"

[Ray Kunz]

I have used Mustad 37160 bait hooks for curved body nymphs but have always wondered why such an odd shaped hook was ever devised fin the firsst place. Can anyone help?
If it was really for "bait" what kind of bait and why the odd shape?
Please don't take this quiery off track by suggesting some other hook brand or style.
Thanks for the direct comments.

[greenlantern]

I,ve never used those hooks, but in England, bait fishers use maggots a lot. Maybe the larva stay on that type hook better. I use maggies and waxies too, maybe I will try some.

[Eric-WD]

My Guess would be that it is designed for a dough bait, I can see a big blob of dough sitting on that hook real easy.

Just my guess,

Eric

[bspitt]

similar hooks like that fishing live shad or minnows. Just seems like the live bait would stay on longer & better with the wide gap. The shape of the hook will allow you to hook the baitfish through the lips instead of the back. This would allow the shad or minnows to live longer & swim more freely / easily, therefore attracting more fish.

see this pic:
http://www.bassnedge.com/tips/tipimages/CBWWS-3S.jpg

BP

[DazWah]

Used for maggots or meal worms.

[bugman]

i use those hooks for tying some bass fly paterns like shad, clousers tied from wings & flash and a coupe more paterns... never tried that hook with spinning deer hair buggers... now im gonna hafta just to see what it looks like...

[StevenOjai]

I fished these style of hooks a few weeks ago. We applied a red monocord to the hook shank and called it a "San Juan Worm". Size 2-4. Caught a number of large Browns with the fly in the 16-24" class on a Sierran river. I was surprised that they would go for such a large simple pattern. It's a barbless stream and the design led to a good hook set.
Regards, Steve

[kjackson]

This style of hook--at least the old Herter's version-- is why I started tying flies. My father heard about how effective a grub tied on this hook was, so he ordered a tying kit from Herter's plus some of these hooks, a mink tail and black hackle. That fly was indeed a killer, and is still. I've used them and other patterns with good success. They are very good in moving water situations.

On a side note, I used these hooks for bait fishing, and they seemed to be better at hooking fish than the standard bait or egg hooks.

[EdD]

Forget about using them for bait. Those hooks are good for emergers, streamers (37160 Krystal Shimmy), reverse parachute dries, and all sorts of things. I love 'em.

Ed

[sagefisher]

I use them from size 8 up to a size 2 for a San Juan Worm variation called the Gaff. I use 'V' Rib over an underlayer of the same color as the V Rib. Great for trout and I even caught a Whitefish on a size 4 Gaff once. I tie them in Red and also in Pink and a few in Purple.

Larry ---sagefisher---