End of the line...Hooks.

[walrus]

Below is a brief summary of a research project on hooks, I thought it was worth sharing.

Paul's Fishing Kites has participated in large scale hook efficiency research over the last six years and has been involved in the setting of 60,000 hooks over several research projects to answer just that question.

The results make compelling reading as one hook type came out way ahead of the rest.

The sea trials used four 116 hook longlines which were set daily at sunrise.

The lines were left to fish for 1-2 hours.

Longlines were used to avoid any angler bias due to the different abilities and fishing styles of different fishers.

Each set of the longlines had circle hooks on half the traces (snoods). The other half were a combination of Octopus and O'Shaugnessy hooks.

Hook Type	Lip Hooked	Gut Hooked	TOTAL
Circle Hooks Tied	138	10	148
Circle Snelled Hooks	198	12	210
O’Shaugnessy & Octopus tied	69	5	74
O’Shaugnessy & Octopus Snelled	60	21	81

An equal number of each hook and knot type were fished and a vast difference in the catch rates were observed.

The snelled circle hook caught the most snapper by far (210 fish) followed by the tied circle hook (148 fish).

O'Shaugnessy & Octopus hooks whether tied or snelled caught about the same number of fish each (average 78). The snelled circle hook caught around three times as many snapper as the O'Shaugnessy & Octopus hooks.

Gut Hooking Rates
The circle hooks gut hooked the lowest proportion of the snapper catch. Circle snelled hooks gut hooked around 4% of the catch while tied circle hooks gut hooked 7% of the catch. However the circle snelled hooks caught around three times as many undersized fish, so will likely gut hook as many fish as O'Shaugnessy & Octopus hooks would for the same amount of fishing effort
The snelled O'Shaugnessy hooks caught around 10% more than the tied version but observed gut hooking of the catch increased from 7% to 26%

Best Hook for the Fisherman? Well one thing for sure is if you plan to catch and release, use circle hooks and you’ll be more successful.

Link for the full report:
http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/fish_hooks/fish-hooks-comparison.htm

[jorluivil]

I love circle hooks, been using them for a few years now. I don't recall ever landing a fish that was not lip hooked, that helps when you practice a lot of catch and release. Circle hooks are not cheap compared to the traditional J hooks but they are worth every penny.

[grey zone]

Intresting results, but not suprised by the snelled circle hook. A circle hook on a dropper loop works the same way if you put the loop through the eye in the same direction that the tip points. If you put a hook on backwards its very hard to hook anything.

[GregAndrew]

I don't believe anybody thinks that circle hooks lead to anything but fewer gut hooks. But there are at least a couple things wrong with this study. First, the 4% gut hooking stat for Snelled Circles does not match the data, it should be 6% if the other numbers are correct. Second, the catch rate for unattended circle hooks is obviously going to be greater than a hook not designed to trap the appendage hooked. If there were fishermen on the ends of those lines keeping pressure on the fish, i believe the catch rates would be much more similar. A better interpretation of that data might be that the circle hooks are much more "set it and forget it".

[grey zone]

I disagree, I do not use circle hooks for C&R. I'm intrested in what gets the job done. To me the most important of the study is the way circle hooks are put on the line. Passing the line through the eye vs. tying directly to it makes a hugh difference in catch rate, as long as you put it through the right way. This is why I said a snelled hook works like a hook on a dropper loop, very effective. Notice there is very little difference for the J hook. Circle hooks were made for long lines not anglers, so the studies total catch numbers should not be suprising.

For certain methods of fishing its hard to beat them.

[bus kid]

ok I'm ready let er rip...

popcorn-1.jpg

[GregAndrew]

Originally Posted by grey zone

I disagree, I do not use circle hooks for C&R. I'm intrested in what gets the job done. To me the most important of the study is the way circle hooks are put on the line. Passing the line through the eye vs. tying directly to it makes a hugh difference in catch rate, as long as you put it through the right way. This is why I said a snelled hook works like a hook on a dropper loop, very effective. Notice there is very little difference for the J hook. Circle hooks were made for long lines not anglers, so the studies total catch numbers should not be suprising.

For certain methods of fishing its hard to beat them.

Not sure what you disagree with? I only said that the numbers given, for circle snelled, did not match the stated percentage (12/210 =.057 not .04). And that the total numbers of fish caught by the non-circle hooks would be more similar to circle hooks if they were attached to rods actively fished instead of long lines. In 1 to 2 hours sets there is way too much time for a fish to shake a limp lined non-circle type hook loose. I was actually surprised that the gut hooking rate was not much higher for all non-circle hooks since those fish would be less likely to be able to shake the hook. And long lining would provide plenty of time for the bait to be swallowed.

[grey zone]

Sorry I do not mean to come on too strong, but I disagree with your first sentence.