circle hooks when sliding

[sea sick]

guys,

i have not had the opertunity to use circle hooks when sliding live bait.
the question arises, would i use them for sliding live bait?

well this can lead to a debate of epedermisese porporsies.

personally i would not use circle hooks when sliding live bait or even dead bait.

my reasons are as follows;
on my recent trip to st lucia i had 8 pulls for the day.

i did manage to land a gt of 22kg on the last take of the day.
but what happened earlier in the day, caused me to have questions over circle hooks

i had 1 pick-up where the shark leaped out of the water "spinner shark", the ratchet went and then the line became slack. i thought the trace had been bitten through. but what i found, was that the kendal round 6/0 hook was bend open just on the take.

some of the other baits, that were taken were bitten off and the one take the garrick bit the hooks into the shad, and the other take, the shad was removed from the hooks.

now it is stated, that when using circle hooks, one need not to strike, but give the fish chance to swim away and then only tighten the line "setting the hooks"

now, by big problem with circle hooks are; when your bait fish is down at the stopper ring, and you get a pull, the nonreturn slide is against the stopper, so the fish have only the length of the trace untill the sinker causes a jerk action, either setting the hook or tearing out the hooks out of the baitfish.
using big j-hooks here could assist in a hook-up, although it might be a bad hook-up.

if you were to use circle hooks, you might just lose that fish that you have been waiting for the whole day.

that is my reasons.

please feel free to comment on this topic by giving your views and experiences.

regards
ss

[Action Man]

Personally I use circle hooks on 80% of my slides. I usually have a mustard S/S 12/0 and then a 10/0 daiichi as a trap hook. Reason is when we fish the transkei you can hook some big fish but it hooked incorrectly it will most likely bite you off or straighten your hook, thats where the circle hook always gets him. With the 10/0 if a smaller fish comes along and starts chowing your bait like those small hammers and greys 9 times out of 10 the 10/0 will get him.

With life baits fishing for garrick and other species I usually use 5/0 or 6/0 hooks preferably j hooks. But then I will always hold my rod, will never put it in a holder as sometimes you have to give the fish line and if you not quick to do so you will lose it

[REEFMAN]

I know that Wes Rapson and Rob Kyle use Circles exclusively on their dead slide baits and on their Swim baits. Have been doing so for a few years now and swear by them. Not sure if they use them to slide livies though - but chances are they do! And their catches bear testimony to the fact that they work, and work well!

[sea sick]

reefs,

I do understand, i was just thinking that disloging the sinker on a pick up, could cause a failed hook up. As the sinker can act as a strike when properly lodged in the sand. When the pick up is towards you, you might have a better chance.

We also need to remeber, that the different species we target, have different feeding habits. Some are gentleman, some are pigs.......

[Half-Pint]

Hang on a sec. You said in your post that the kendal round was bent open? You do realise that kendal rounds are not circle hooks?

[sea sick]

must bite,
Yes, it was bend open, my collection of hooks bend open are growing.

As far as i know, a cirle hook needs a corner of the mouth to be seated.

J hooks, dont need that. Seems i need to upgrade to larger hooks.

Ss

[KING-GT]

Hi SS,

Iv used circles on both dead n live baits and no troubles in getting solid hook sets. I understand your concern with a lodged sinker although id like to think a decent fish aint going to mind the stuck lead mate.

In fact i think it almost helps set the hook quicker.

Circle hooked through the top jaw of a livey or even through the back is sufficient.

Less bent hooks for my collection although more pics added.

Circles work great for male blacks and by them jumping like theres no 2mrw, they cant glex the hook open when they land. In fact it drives the hook home even more due to the angle.

Never lost a fish on a circle. Hope this restores your faith :)

Regards

[Half-Pint]

Your argument seems to be that the circle hook failed you but in fact you were using a J hook. The hook on the right is a Kendal round you will see it is not a circle hook. The one on the left is a Z steel circle check the difference in the points.

[sea sick]

must bite,
Nope, you have it wrong. Never used circle hooks.

It's unlikely that i would ever use them.

The agressive feeding habits of some fish, could cause a failed hook-up if a circle hook is used.

I do know enough about circle hooks, j hooks would seem to be the better option in certain aspects.

Ss