Circle hooks, some important points.

[Tommo]

Having recently been showing some guys how to use circle hooks properly, I thought that it might be an idea to do a mini tutorial on these excellent hooks.

Circle hooks are not for all fish, they will only be effective on large mouthed species that eat their prey whole. Fish that peck at a bait are unlikely to be caught on circle hooks. The way that a circle hook works is that it gets swallowed along with the bait, due to the point being protected by being bent in it doesn't prick the fish. Once the fish swims off the bait and hook is pulled back up through the fish's throat by the line tension and as the hook is leaving the mouth it swings into place and the point penetrates the jaw, further pressure from the fish taking fright and bolting causes the hook to self set. It is for this reason that circle hooks are used almost universally on long line rigs. They do not need to be set, the fish sets the hook itself! Due to the shape of the hook, once it is set it seldom comes out, the harder the fish pulles the deeper the hook sets itself.

It is crucial when baiting up with circle hooks that the bait hangs from the hook, without blocking the gape in any way. Ideally the hook should be threaded through the very end of a longish bait, with the bait dangling from a totally exposed hook. With live bait it is best to simply pop the hook through the top lip or nose of the fish. With bigger livebaits, eg for billfish or larger game fish the live bait is best bridle rigged. When bridle rigging a bait the bridle should be attached to the circle hook as close to the hook point as possible, and not in line with the shank, as normally would be the case with a J-hook. If the pressure from the bait is near the hook point as the hook is pulled out of the mouth by the line tension, then the hook will swing into place more efficiently. It is easy to do a demo to test how it works by dropping a rigged circle hook through a hole formed by your index finger and thumb (simulating a fish's mouth), then pulling it back up slowly, with the line streaming out of the corner of the "jaw". You will see how the system works.

The ideal way to attach a circle hook to the leader is to snell the hook, with the line coming in from the front of the hook eye. This is important, as you want the line to ba continuation of the circle, adding to its effectiveness.

When a fish takes your bait, it is important to curb the instinct to strike. Rather drop the rod tip, giving the fish an extra second or two to swallow the bait, then allow the fish to take up the tension, or simply start reeling at a steady pace. No striking is necessary, and if you do strike you may well pull the hook out of the fish's mouth.

Some circle hooks come with an inadequate amount of bend, ie the hook point is not well hidden enough, this often results in fish being hooked in the stomach, throat or gills. These hooks need to be tweaked with pliers, bending the hook point further in. Others, such as the VMC sure-set circle are the perfect shape, but for some reason the manufacturers have opted to make the point offset. Once again this results in far too many hookups internally and defeats the whole object. It is easy to bend the hook point in line with the shank with some pliers and you then have an excellent hook.
The advantages of circle hooks are: They get a solid hook-up on species that can be notoriously difficult to hook through hard, bony jaws eg tarpon, tigerfish, billfish and springer. Fish that often throw hooks on the jump (same species) cannot throw a circle hook due to its shape. You seldom miss a fish that has eaten the bait. A clean jaw hook-set means a clean release, with no damage to internal organs. Circle hooks are really great for novice fishermen who are not sure when to strike, no matter how long you let the fish feed he will not be gut hooked. Circle hooks are an excellent option for the above species and also species such as tuna, kob, garrick, kingfish etc.

Most billfish competitions now have made it mandatory to use circle hooks when fishing with bait. I am very pleased to see that SADSAA has implemented this rule as well at last, well done to them and particularly their president Marius Vermaak for a responsible and forward thinking approach. 

I have attached some pics below, in the first one the hook on the left is a VMC sure set circle out of the box, the hook on the right has been tweaked with pliers to get the hook point in line with the shank.
The second pic illustrates the snelled hook with the line coming in from the front of the eye, to continue the circle effect.
The third pic is a few variations of shape of circle hooks available. The one on the left is the traditional longline circle hook and has about the most effective shape, just a bit thick on the guage of the wire for normal fishing.

[nico]

Hi Tommo,
 
First off, thanks for an excellent post.
 
While fishing for daga a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give the circle hook thing a go. While I did get pickups, I never got a hook set (I didn't strike). This may just be me being a poor fisherman or maybe using the wrong hooks, but I was wondering if circles are effective when bottom fishing at depth with a heavy sinker? My thinking is that possibly the hook and bait gets pulled out of the fishes mouth by the heavy sinker before it is properly swallowed?
 
Would love to hear your opinion!
 
Cheers,
Nico

[shagnrelease]

Thank Tommo!! great post!

[shagnrelease]

This may just be me being a poor fisherman
 
Would love to hear your opinion!

my opinion...

[nico]

my opinion...

You may very well be correct 
 
BTW, I was using Owners, as attached, maybe the point is not turned in enough?

[jaenswart]

great post Tommo, thank you. Have some cred

[Marthin]

Tommo very good success has been had with Galjoen and White stumpnose here in the western cape on circles.

[Tommo]

Hey Nico

Those daga should be circle hook victims... It could be that they were feeding a bit shy, as happens with daga at times. Maybe they were moving around mouthing the bait and felt the weight of the sinker then dropped it? If that were the case it may be an idea to use a longer hook snood to give the fish a bit more time to eat.
It is also crucial that the hook is totally exposed, with the bait just hanging off it to get a good hook up.

Marthin, I am stoked to hear that you Cape boys are experimenting with circles and different species. Great news that the gallies and stumpies are falling to circle hooks too. I used them in Moz at night fishing off the beach with ghost crab as bait, absolutely deadly. Bonefish, Natal Stumpnose, springer, grunter all perfectly hooked. 

[Tommo]

Nico those Owners are a great hook, but I would give them a small tweak. Just put the pliers below the barb and bend the point in a few degrees towards the shank, that should do it...

[shagnrelease]

You may very well be correct 
 
BTW, I was using Owners, as attached, maybe the point is not turned in enough?

Nico, just a thought as you know I am not a bottom fishers ass, but would it not help  to have your hook snoot running freely on a swivel with for a meter or so up and down between another two stoppers or swivels, this should allow for the swell and for the weight of the lead pulling the circles to early??

hope this is understandable as my drawing skills are a bit crap

[nico]

Hey Nico

Those daga should be circle hook victims... It could be that they were feeding a bit shy, as happens with daga at times. Maybe they were moving around mouthing the bait and felt the weight of the sinker then dropped it? If that were the case it may be an idea to use a longer hook snood to give the fish a bit more time to eat.
It is also crucial that the hook is totally exposed, with the bait just hanging off it to get a good hook up.

Thanks Tommo. I was using a very short snood as the current was pumping. Also, I fish braid straight to my trace on the KP, FA suggested I use a very long nylon leader to add some stretch.
 
Anyway, we will try it again if the weather ever lets us out at night before the daga season goes off.

[nico]

Nico, just a thought as you know I am not a bottom fishers ass, but would it not help  to have your hook snoot running freely on a swivel with for a meter or so up and down between another two stoppers or swivels, this should allow for the swell and for the weight of the lead pulling the circles to early??

hope this is understandable as my drawing skills are a bit crap

I understand exactly what you are saying, and a free running swivel is actually the correct daga trace... if you are not a lazy ass like me with lots of hooks and baits on the line :)

[Tommo]

This is what you want your bait to look like, not pretty, but effective...

[nico]

This is what you want your bait to look like, not pretty, but effective...

How would you rig a ghost crab? Through one leg or pincer maybe?

[Tommo]

With a crab, pull off a leg, insert the hook into the socket where the leg was attached to the carapace and bring it through the shell, so that it hangs off the hook in the same way,

[Tommo]

Another method, particularly with bigger ghost crabs, is to wrap the (live) crab with some ghost cotton, then hang it from the hook, using a good few turns of ghost coton between the crab and the hook, almost like a bridle rig idea. The crab should be separated from the hook by about 1or 2 cm of cotton.

[Tommo]

Someone did a post a while back that looked interesting. They cut triangles of chamois, or thin leather. The broad end was superglued to the crab carapace and the thin end could be threaded onto the circle hook. I thought it looked like a great idea.

[tkei]

I would say some species just do not work with circles, for some or other reason.
My brother has seen and tried these hooks, all makes types, shapes etc on coppers and not 1 has set. Various anglers, so not 1 guy doing it wrong. very wierd. J hooks work well and they are usually hooked in the mouth or lips and are seldom gut or gill hooked on j's. maybe its got to do with how they take the shad or mackrel.

[Sailor]

Tommo thanks for a very good post. I have learned something new today. Have some cred.

[LUPO]

Great report there Tommo.  Some very interesting points you make.