Coloured Hooks!

[S-Kippy]

Speaking personally I would always opt to disguise my terminal tackle at any given opportunity. Whether it matters to the fish may be open to question. The fact that it inspires me with greater confidence is not.

And that,I think,is it in a nutshell.....anything that gives us more confidence is a good thing. Unobtrusive works for me and I'm more inclined to concern myself with line colour than hook colour.

 

[redfin123]

I think its a personal thing if an angler thinks it gives him an edge so be it, personally I do,nt think it makes an iota of differance.

 

[Philip]

I remember I spent a fair bit of time trying to catch a big Roach from a Clay pit in the South East quite a few years ago. It was well known they where in there but they where difficult to tempt.

One of the tactics was to spray lots of maggots in and you would catch lots of little Roach and Rudd which the water teemed with, but if you kept feeding eventually if you where lucky one of the big ones would appear in the swim and start whizzing about taking the maggots on the drop as you fired them in. Then it became basically a lottery and you feed and cast out and hoped the big one would grab it before one of the little ones did. However to make things even less in the anglers favor the big Roach also had this incredibly annoying habit of whizzing towards the slowly sinking maggot but then veering off at the last second just as you thought you where about to nail it.

Initially I was convinced they where seeing the line so as you would I went lighter and lighter...but it seemed to make no difference..I started to go stupidly fine...i even started to try Carp hook lengths like Multistrand with the threads teased off to cut it down to an incredibly fine diameter...but still it made no difference. Then one day for reasons I cant really recall I stuck a bit of bread on the hook, completely covering it...Wham ...one of the big ones nailed it first cast. Thats odd I thought and tried again ..Wham again ! ...another good fish. I ended with 6 or 7 that day. It became apparent the fish where not spooking to the line..they where spooking off the hook ! ...If I left it exposed the fish would veer off ...if I buried it they took it without hesitation!

I never did try colored hooks there but I have never forgotten those Roach and I think if I had tried them, colored hooks would have been a real edge on that lake.

 

[barbelboi]

I believe it would be difficult to establish whether or not camouflaged tackle makes any difference..............what is probably easier to believe is that if it makes any difference it will be considerably less for a bad angler that a good one.
Jerry

 

[frothy]

If the hook type, size, gauge pattern ect is best for the bait/situation then I think the colour should be the least relavent factor. I rather fish knowing I've got the optimum hook for the job be it a shiny metallic rather than camo one I'm unsure about...

 

[mark brailsford 2]

Anyone seen the piece on Bob Roberts and Stu Walkers Video where he puts a bright blue plastic duck in the middle of a shoal of feeding Barbel? throws the Idea of camouflaged gear right out of the window mg:

 

[chefster]

I got some white hooks for bread fishing ,but i dropped them all in the snow!!

 

[cg74]

Anyone seen the piece on Bob Roberts and Stu Walkers Video where he puts a bright blue plastic duck in the middle of a shoal of feeding Barbel? throws the Idea of camouflaged gear right out of the window mg:

IMO it does not throw the idea of camouflage (concealment) out of any window, it does illustrate perfectly that a large alien object no matter how in your (or should that be, the barbel's) face it might be does not trigger the fishes sense of danger.
And why would?

If they incorporated the duck as a part of their set up, like a lead or feeder and fished it often, do you think the barbel would learn to associate it with danger - I think they would over time.

It's not about camo this or camo that; for me it's just about dulling things down a bit and not making things to overt.

I've yet to see a fish spook away from a lead, why, IMO because nigh on all leads are dull and fairly nondescript.

 

[barbelboi]

I also prefer to dull things down a bit, however to me it's far more important to have the right bait in the right place. Some years ago we were given some stonze and crystals to try - I don't remember any noticeable improvement on catch rate over plain common sense.
Jerry

 

[chefster]

In summer,carp actually attack a feeder to get at the bait inside it,so they cant be that put off by foreign objects thrown in amongst them,i dont believe the feeder is completely invisible to them.....

 

[cg74]

In summer,carp actually attack a feeder to get at the bait inside it,so they cant be that put off by foreign objects thrown in amongst them,i dont believe the feeder is completely invisible to them.....

Chefster you need to look at the broader picture. Most waters you'd opt to use a method feeder on will presumably have a high stocking density, which by their very nature removes much of the innate wariness fish display.

Taught line is a prime example; put a tight line in front of heavily pressured specimen carp that lives in a sparsely stocked water, chances are if it sees the line it'll steer away from it.
If it swims into the line, it usually spooks the hell out of it, with the fish fleeing at speed.

Whereas on heavily stocked waters they don't tend to behave in such a way. Usually they are seemingly oblivious to fishing line.

Big carp, even on low stock waters can be readily taken on a method feeder but if caught a few times in a short space of time, then they often back away from method feeders.

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

Perhaps I'm alone in my thinking but I've always worked on the premise that the biggest specimens of any species are likely to be the most cagey. It seems logical to me to imagine that they have got to be the biggest by reacting to circumstances and threats more readily than their peers.

That definitely seems to be true of pike and carp from my experience. Pasty carp and jack pike are likely to be suicidal in their haste to feed on anglers baits by comparison with their larger brethren.

 

[chefster]

I agree with the line being taught spooking fish,but thats because they feel it surely,but can they see it? if so no fish would ever get caught,would they?personally, no matter what waters i fish carp can still be a difficult species to catch,would always do my utmost to disguise my terminal tackle

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

BTW I was around my mate's the other night and he fed his tank fish. all he has to do is pick up the tub of food from an adjacent cupboard and the fish mass on the surface of the tank. It's a phenomenon typical to all aquarists and of course blows away that old '3 second memory' nonsense.

No matter what way you shake it up, or describe it -conditioning/association/memory whatever- it seems to a simpleton like me to be irrefutable evidence that they can learn or remember. Why on earth wouldn't wild fish have the same faculties?

 

[chefster]

Perhaps I'm alone in my thinking but I've always worked on the premise that the biggest specimens of any species are likely to be the most cagey. It seems logical to me to imagine that they have got to be the biggest by reacting to circumstances and threats more readily than their peers.

That definitely seems to be true of pike and carp from my experience. Pasty carp and jack pike are likely to be suicidal in their haste to feed on anglers baits by comparison with their larger brethren.

Have you ever fished Clattercote,Boddington,Daventry etc ,the fish are far from "pasties!,going up to high twenties and they are,nt always easy to catch!!

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

Have you ever fished Clattercote,Boddington,Daventry etc ,the fish are far from "pasties!,going up to high twenties and they are,nt always easy to catch!!

I thought that was what I said Chefster??

 

[cg74]

Perhaps I'm alone in my thinking but I've always worked on the premise that the biggest specimens of any species are likely to be the most cagey. It seems logical to me to imagine that they have got to be the biggest by reacting to circumstances and threats more readily than their peers.

That definitely seems to be true of pike and carp from my experience. Pasty carp and jack pike are likely to be suicidal in their haste to feed on anglers baits by comparison with their larger brethren.

To expand on your point about big fish being cagey. I don't think that it's all about (or even close to) them becoming conditioned (learning) to dangers. IMO they don't fit the shoal's dynamics, simply by being bigger; whether they are 10-11lb barbel on a river where the shoalies are 5-7lbers, or on Boddington res where the carp shoal fish are predominantly 8-12lb and anything over about 16/17lbs is splintered off.

Shoaling behaviour in fish is part of their innate survival instincts, and a major thing with the formation of a shoal is uniformity, as anything 'abnormal' is ousted because it's a target.
So yes the bigger fish are cagey but still perfectly targetable.

Chefster, when the weather finally gets warmer and you're on Boddington and catching shoalies at 30-40 yards try cast over them by 5-10 yards using a bomb and a 10mm boilie and if you feel the need 2 or 3 broken boilies via PVA, I bet you'll pick up a few bigger fish.

 

[chefster]

I absolutely agree with this comment,as its quite a well known fact that the bigger fish often hang past the feed/shoal area ,be it on the pole ,waggler or feeder line;bp

 

[mark brailsford 2]

BTW I was around my mate's the other night and he fed his tank fish. all he has to do is pick up the tub of food from an adjacent cupboard and the fish mass on the surface of the tank. It's a phenomenon typical to all aquarists and of course blows away that old '3 second memory' nonsense.

No matter what way you shake it up, or describe it -conditioning/association/memory whatever- it seems to a simpleton like me to be irrefutable evidence that they can learn or remember. Why on earth wouldn't wild fish have the same faculties?

My plecs sleep in their caves during the day but if I go to the cupboard under the tank to get out the fish food for the others during the day out they come...crafty little (well big actually!) buggers to hover up the left overs

 

[maverick 7]

Back to the original question....I like the red maggot hooks when I am fishing in Chesterfield Canal during the Close Season. The ones I use are not very strong but perfect for the 2 to 3lb chub I get there.

I am not that sure they are any better than any other hook to be honest but I always believe that fish can see end tackle and if I can use a component of my end tackle that disguises what it is ...then I tend to use it.

I also love using them when I am trotting on the Trent for roach and chub too......

Maverick