Eel rigging w/ circle hooks?

[riarcher]

Just wondering-
Just picked up a couple of packages of "Owner Hooks". They're new to me, never tried them before.
Size 2/0 & 3/0 MUTU Light Circle
Light wired but scary sharp! Anyone use these for live eeling?
Planing on snelling some up with 25# mono. for the moon tides.
These any good? (wouldbe nice to know before I get that 60#er )

[nightprowler]

Originally Posted by riarcher

Just wondering-
Just picked up a couple of packages of "Owner Hooks". They're new to me, never tried them before.
Size 2/0 & 3/0 MUTU Light Circle
Light wired but scary sharp! Anyone use these for live eeling?
Planing on snelling some up with 25# mono. for the moon tides.
These any good? (wouldbe nice to know before I get that 60#er )

They seem a bit small to me, I use Gami 7/0 circles.
I have a good friend who uses a 4/0 live bait hook and swears by them. With the circle i'm not sure that a 2 or 3 has a wide enough opening for a really good size fiish, or even for a 20-30#er.

[Bill L]

Sound small to me too. You'll want a heavier leader than 25# too. I usually dont go below 50# unless its light tackel fishing

[riarcher]

Your've both confirmed my thoughts.
From now on,,, ear plugs are to be worn in the "tackle shops"!

I'm just getting into circle hooks. Still a bit concerned about rigging live eels with that bent point and getting it to come out where I want.
Maybe I'll stay with the bait hooks for the rest of the season(?).
I live line with the point up through the eye and have a hard time thinking I can hit the mark with a circle without butchering the crap out of the eel and inducing sudden death syndrome.

Thank you.

[Pt.JudeJoe]

Putting any bait on a circle hook takes practice.It took me a while to get out of the habit of thinking the same way as when using a "J" hook . Once you get the hang of it though ,it becomes second nature ,just like the "not setting the hook" part of circle hook fishing.Some guys cannot get used to that. They are not for everybody ,but they work well for me. Try practicing putting the hook in on a dead eel until you find the right "groove" and it will be easy after that.

[piemma]

6/0 Gami Octopus and 50# (80# on the Block) for a shock leader. Don't even think about anything less unless you are into loosing fish because of equipment failure.

[libassboy]

Im not a fan of circles, dropped a few good fish and never went back...
I like the gami octo or gami live bait for eels and a heavy leader of 50lb and up. I also use heavy braid(65), i drag eels thru sme real nasty boulder fields..and like piemma says..its not a time for light gear/tackle.

[stormfish]

Fishing 1 spring day and hooking shorts after shorts with 10/0 octopus hooks and gutt hooked about 6 and 4 of them ended up floaters. Switched to 7/0 circle hooks and success rate was 1 for 3. Not to mention the 1 of missed hook set was the biggest fight of the day I was reeling in for 2 minutes before the fished spat out the bait and hook.

The trick to circle hooks from what I hear is to keep reeling in without and the hook will manage it's way on the corner of the fish mouth. The only bright side is that it doesn't end up in the fish's guts. Down side is having a story of the 1 that got away.

If riggin with eels I do recommend the live bait hooks.

[Roger]

The issue I've had with circles and livelining is that sometimes the hook folds back and the bentback point gets embedded into the bait, resulting is no hookup.

I still like them for herring, scup and pogies, but usually either bridle them or hook through the upper mouth so that the hook cannot fold back into the flesh when swallowed.

[Slingah]

I can't imagine useing circle hooks for eels....
4/0 Gami live bait for me....

[CAL]

I'm with Slingah, no circles with eels. Although I prefer to use a larger Gami live bait hook than him. I think I used to use a 6/0 or 7/0.

[capecodder]

I use circles almost exclusively, Gami 7/0 Circle Octopus. Have had great success with eels, chunks, sand eels, sea worms.... Almost never gut hook, and can't think of any lost fish as a result of circles.

Trick is to just reel without the set. Almost always hooked in the jaw. Last night as I was rigging Sluggos for the first time, I realized I don't even have any non-circles any more....

[Rob Rockcrawler]

I only use circles for eels, 5/0, 6/0 octopus, gami's and the eagle claws are pretty good too. I use regular octopus for chunks the 3 times a year i throw chunk. 40 lb leader for the canal and never had a problem, and rarely miss a take. it aint hard to throw the reel in gear and let the fish hook itself, easier than settin the hook in my opinion.

[t.orlando]

Originally Posted by CAL

I'm with Slingah, no circles with eels. Although I prefer to use a larger Gami live bait hook than him. I think I used to use a 6/0 or 7/0.

5/0-8/0, depending on size of eels