Circle Hook w/ Herring ???

[hooked]

Make sure that the hook point is not buried in the bait. It needs to be exposed so that it can catch in the corner as it travels out of the fish's mouth. 7/0 is not too big if you are looking to catch a striper.

[beachwalker]

Use a treble.

they fit perfectly in the herrings mouth.

Rarely have a miss when I do that.

you loose to many herring with a single. They don't cast very well.

good luck !

[Notaro]

i used these hook size when chunking herrigns at rockport. as for treble to liveline herrings, i gotta love those. BW, u re right abt the treble, u cant just miss a fish if u are using a double hook rig.

[MrHunters]

it didnt "seem" too big when i was looking at different sizes....

If you are using the back end of the herring do you know of a good way to keep it securly hooked?? I bunch of fish and crab got free meals last night while I was trying to figure out a sucessful way.

The problem with herring is they are too damn fragil to get a really good cast in. And if you do you only get about 2 or 3 before the lips and or rear end are torn off.

But the bass seem to like em so Ill continue to use em!

[blue oyster]

you might have been into smaller fish , sometimes they have more guts than brains , all they do is toture the herring and the fisherman . the times i have used the circle hooks i have had great luck with hook sets , like the dad fisherman said you dont set the hook with these , let the fish run a little then lock the reel the fish hooks themself . the only time i found circle hooks dont work well is cod fishing .

[MrHunters]

I would like the day to be over now so I can try the right way! I was probably just ripping the hook out of their mouth without it even touching their lips!

The times I did bring the line back in to check the bait, it was just basically a skeleton of what was once my bait. Clever little fishy.....

[beachwalker]

you can tell if you've missed a LARGE fish with herring when the thing comes back in crushed at the neck.

I should have also stated that the treble is usually used from a boat and the single is used when hooking them through the back when I fish from shore. but usually I always use the treble in the mouth because I get more consistent hook-ups. and yes on letting them run with it. at LEAST count to ten, then just close the bail and slowly retrieve and they hook themselves. Just like liveling a snake.

good luck

tonight i'll be doing this technique fo sho

[MrHunters]

ok my question has morphed now from BW last statement. I was single hooking through the mouth but you say you go through the back??? How do you do this without loosing the herring.... If i dont hook through the mouth it just tears through the meat of the fish.

I've tryed a somewhat sowing hack technique around the spine but that only kind of works.

[beachwalker]

here's one method. obviously with a treble. yes, you can single hook the spine, too