Circle hooks

Fish Or Die

Fish Or Die

Member
Hey guys and gals. Just getting back into stripah fishing since the kiddos are a bit older and I can take them to catch some real bass(not fresh water). Last night they both caught their 1st stripers. My oldest caught a 38 and my youngest a 38.5. I'm not a fan of circle hooks and from my understanding they're to prevent gut hooks. 2 of the 3 fish we caught with circles were gut hooked. I hate to see it because we're C&R and don't want to kill these fish. I'm using Lazer 8/o octo inlines. Are these hooks okay to use? We reeled in as soon as the fish ran. I very rarely gut hooked a fish with my octo gami standard hooks
 
fishing chunks or eels ? what i have found. do not let the fish run with a circle hook. once the fish takes up the slack the hook pulls to the corner of the mouth doing the work. . with eels its like 99% in the corner of the mouth. live bait if you hook in the nose. they take the bait head 1st and can lead to a gut hook. but i use a bridle circle hooks tend to turn into the bait. this helps. and come tight with a gentle lift of the rod. or if you are drifting to fast hook live bait behind the dorsal fin keeping gut hooking down. and Lazer 8/o octo inlines. is all i use.
 
I was chunking maks. They just picked it up, inhaled it and ran. I tried to reel asap. I'm just trying not to set the hook on these circles lol. So used to it and just picked up and reeled. Just hate seeing gut hooks. Hopefully tonight I have better luck and no gut hooks. Thanks for the info
 
Fish Or Die said:
Snell knot best for circle hooks? I use a palomar for everything
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i snell my own. if i am not using Lazer 8/o octo inlines. unfortunately they can get a mack chunk down pretty quick again the only way to minimize the chance is holding the rod and keeping contact with the bait. or keep the drag tighter and 38incher have big mouths and just such chunks in .. its not foolproof circle hooks. . but there is a small learning curve I am glad someone is Catching. i fish Narragansett mostly and this is the worse MAY and June ever for Bass. after the herring push thu. no pogies showed. and the squid were thick most bass stayed out front
 
wdmso said:
i snell my own. if i am not using Lazer 8/o octo inlines. unfortunately they can get a mack chunk down pretty quick again the only way to minimize the chance is holding the rod and keeping contact with the bait. or keep the drag tighter and 38incher have big mouths and just such chunks in .. its not foolproof circle hooks. . but there is a small learning curve I am glad someone is Catching. i fish Narragansett mostly and this is the worse MAY and June ever for Bass. after the herring push thu. no pogies showed. and the squid were thick most bass stayed out front
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Sorry to hear. The last 3 days have been very good for us. Bunch of fish in the high 30's and the one 42in i got yesterday. I'll be heading back after work. I'll just have to hold the rod and see if that helps. Thanks
 
You almost can't use too large of a hook when fishing circles. I can't imagine a situation using live bait for bass where I won't use them since switching over well before they were required. I also only use a non-offset, inline eye and a power snell. Here is a video I did on it back when I was still at The Fisherman.
 
tlapinski said:
You almost can't use too large of a hook when fishing circles. I can't imagine a situation using live bait for bass where I won't use them since switching over well before they were required. I also only use a non-offset, inline eye and a power snell. Here is a video I did on it back when I was still at The Fisherman.
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I snell mine the same way. so the line pulls the circle hook like a lever. and i use 8\0 live bait or chunk. like 99% of the time. 6\0 if must.
 
A few years ago a friend told of a way fisherman were hooking up pogies down south a ways. Now at the time we were using J hooks and I started hooking them in the tail. The J hooks always ended up in the mouth I think circle hooks would do the same. Not much help with chunks, sorry
 
clambo said:
A few years ago a friend told of a way fisherman were hooking up pogies down south a ways. Now at the time we were using J hooks and I started hooking them in the tail. The J hooks always ended up in the mouth I think circle hooks would do the same. Not much help with chunks, sorry
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I hook in the tail or back if don't need to fish them deep. or not in a current. it helps in reducing gut hooking. 100%.
 
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