Ever fallen out with the hooks you use.

[silvers]

They look the same to me so I've just measured my 16's and they are indeed the exact same wire thickness

I’ve just done the same with 18s and you’re absolutely right! I haven’t used the wide gape’s much yet ... perhaps I should have a bit more confidence in them!

Thanks for prompting that ... one fewer range of hooks to carry then ... as both are forged they should be equally strong!

 

[108831]

I play chub pretty hard Alex,these days I use 5.5lb silstar for that reason,I quite like the side tape hooks,one issue I do have is the size 20's have a small spade and 5.5lb tends to pull off the spade when giving the chub stick,I've had up to 11lb barbel by design on 7.9lb silstar and they put more strain on the hook than chub,that was on 18 carbon chubs.

I've been chatting this morning to Des Barker,Drennan carbon chub hooks are his favourite hook of all time,just say they are mine too.... Good luck on the Wye champs the weekend,hope there isn't too much water on it...

 

[steve2]

Out of interest I thought I would look at wide gape hooks sizes against standard hook sizes. On the patterns I checked the wide gap hooks in some cases were nearly two sizes bigger that the standard hook size.
Also I found some packets of Sealy Speedbarbs and Goldstrike, and a packet labelled Richard Walker Carp Hooks and Model Perfects. Now those I haven’t used in years. I must have a 1000’s of hooks in drawers that I am never going to use.

 

[sam vimes]

There has undoubtedly been a bit of size creep over the years. There is also an awful lot of inconsistency. However, no one hook size scale has ever been universally accepted, so it's almost inevitable.

A bigger gape has always thrown size comparisons. IIRC the Redditch Scale pretty much ignored gape as a factor. That meant that wide gape hooks always seemed massive compared to normal hooks of the same size.

Now we are in a situation where almost all hooks are imported from the far east. I highly doubt that any hook factory is remotely interested in the Redditch Scale. I doubt that they even sell to UK importers using the hook sizes UK anglers are familiar with. Even if they do, what common scale are they working to? It's as likely that it's the UK brand that arbitrarily decides what number will be on the packet.

 

[silvers]

I play chub pretty hard Alex,these days I use 5.5lb silstar for that reason,I quite like the side tape hooks,one issue I do have is the size 20's have a small spade and 5.5lb tends to pull off the spade when giving the chub stick,I've had up to 11lb barbel by design on 7.9lb silstar and they put more strain on the hook than chub,that was on 18 carbon chubs.

I've been chatting this morning to Des Barker,Drennan carbon chub hooks are his favourite hook of all time,just say they are mine too.... Good luck on the Eye champs the weekend,hope there isn't too much water on it...

Thanks Alan, the Wye level is just about perfect for Hereford town stretch ... so I’ll probably draw out of town!
There was a 97 pound roach catch on Wednesday from the peg below the town bridge.

 

[Lark]

A bit late to this thread (been laid up after major surgery).
I had a massive falling out with Kamasan Animal hooks about 6 or seven tears ago. I'd used them without problems for ages then, for some reason, they started straightening on me and pulling out. Never got to understand why this suddenly started happening as it was just about all sizes in barbed and barbless variants (mainly 12's and 14's though).
Never felt I could trust them again. So I've got about 20 packets across the ranges unopened and they will remain that way.

 

[Richox12]

But what did you change ? Other items of tackle, rigs, where/how you fish etc etc ??

 

[Lark]

I went almost exclusively over to Preston PR range in the medium and heavy gauge variants in barbed and barbless.
Never had a single problem since then and presentation so much better, particularly with hair-rigging.
Have spent a lot of time scouring the internet buying up old stocks of PR's since they were discontinued.
Still use B611's for float and pole work though - can't see me ever changing that.