Ever fallen out with the hooks you use.

[rayner]

From paste to pellet to caster I have a yearning to change the hooks I've been using.
I for a long while have been using either Kamasan B611s, B911 or Tubertini 808 for caster and maggot.

Unhappy with the paste hook I used which didn't seem to be quite right, the wire appeared too thick for me. They were Drennan specialist, strong but very heavy wire.
Pellet hooks were Kamasan 911 extra strong, OK with the wide gape but I prefer a round bend which they aren't.
OK for caster but I still have every confidence in a round bend.

Over the last couple of months I been thinking of changing the hooks I use, the more into thinking of a change, the more I grew to dislike Kamasan even more. Strange I know, Kamasan have a decent following, I can't say I can remember any problems.
I will probably stay with Tubertini for silver fishing but for carp in particular I'm changing to Gamakatsu Power Carp.
Anyone else felt the urge to change.

 

[sam vimes]

The short answer is no, not as such. I've tried hooks that I've not got on with in the longer term. I've seen hooks change slightly and me not be happy with the changes. I've seen more than the odd hook discontinued. Once in a while I've seen bad batches or quality reductions. Occasionally, I've found a new hook of similar pattern and characteristics, to a long term favourite, that has gone on to usurp that favourite.

 

[peter crabtree]

In my carp fishing days, for soft pellet or paste these hooks were very reliable. Cheap too ...

https://www.fishingtackleandbait.co...gle&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=UnitedKingdom

Not tried the power carp version as the above never let me down.
I also found the Drennan equivalent too heavy gauge.

 

[rich66]

Funny this topic came up, for the second time ever I’ve had a hook open up on me this afternoon. Pretty sure it was a Kamasan. The fish was a ghost carp probably around 6lb. I had it happen a few weeks ago too that was a B911 hook length.
Perhaps I just need a heavier gauge hook.

 

[john step]

Funny this topic came up, for the second time ever I’ve had a hook open up on me this afternoon. Pretty sure it was a Kamasan. The fish was a ghost carp probably around 6lb. I had it happen a few weeks ago too that was a B911 hook length.
Perhaps I just need a heavier gauge hook.

I have not had a hook open up on a legitimately mouth hooked fish. I have had them open up when foul hooked and the hook being pulled in a wrong angle.

I would qualify this by saying I have just remembered an exception. That where I used ultra fine silver fish hooks to deliberately open up when hooking errant carp.

 

[stillwater blue]

I've been using kamasan or Drennan hooks for a long while, I sometimes wonder if I'm missing out on a better product as I'm unwilling to try something else but then I'm very happy with them. Thinking about it I only really use three patterns of hook although one is now discontinued so looks like I'll be changing at least one pattern after all.

In my carp fishing days I was a big fan of Korda hooks until I bought several packs of wide gapes in which 8 out of ten where blunt, the odd blunt hook was par for the course but 80% of the hook being blunt seemed a little on the high side. I swapped onto ESP hooks and was much happier.

When it comes to lure fishing for pike I use VMC hooks, they're blunt out the pack but sharpen very easily, more importantly they're fine in the wire so penetrate very easily. Everything is a trade off.

 

[rich66]

I have not had a hook open up on a legitimately mouth hooked fish. I have had them open up when foul hooked and the hook being pulled in a wrong angle.

I would qualify this by saying I have just remembered an exception. That where I used ultra fine silver fish hooks to deliberately open up when hooking errant carp.

Interesting John, I’m pretty sure the one I had today was lip hooked, I’d almost got it to the net when it slipped off. However until you’ve got it on the bank you can never be 100% sure, and certainly a foul hooked fish is a lot harder to control and exerts more force than a properly hooked one of the same size.

 

[rayner]

Sam's said that some models have been discontinued. Korum cs series are a favourite with me, they too have for some reason have been discontinued. Luckily I have around 100 tied in an hook wallet.
Gamakatsu are not the cheapest hook but that's not really a consideration, it's the hook I've settled on for it's round bend and off set point.
I reckon that 911s in sizes 14s and 16s do spring open under pressure, the 911 extra strong don't seem to.

 

[john step]

Interesting John, I’m pretty sure the one I had today was lip hooked, I’d almost got it to the net when it slipped off. However until you’ve got it on the bank you can never be 100% sure, and certainly a foul hooked fish is a lot harder to control and exerts more force than a properly hooked one of the same size.

Rich, I think the reason that foul hookers bend out is that I think the hook often does not penetrate fully and that extra pressure you mentioned is upon the hook at a funny angle. Ie not at the centre of the bend.

 

[spenbeck]

I've stopped using B520's and B611's and instead use B560's and B711's.

 

[S-Kippy]

Personally, I think far too much is made of hook pattern/shape and wire guage. I think hook manufacturers are no different to supermarkets in that respect....Mrs S knows better than to send me out for ( say) washing powder....the choice is bewildering but they all basically do the same job. I feel the same about hooks....give me a bog ordinary round bend anyday...micro barbed preferably. I have no time for these oddly shaped pellet hook/ method hook things...be off with you I say.

Totally agree about ESP hooks...expensive but lethally sharp and as strong as you like. My big fish hook of choice.

 

[nottskev]

I've got all my all my stuff for sitting on a box, floatfishing or pole fishing, down to two shallow trays. But even with all the barbel and chub hooks (different bag) or eyed hooks for hair-rigging on odd commercial visits (different bag) elsewhere, if anything stops the drawer from closing it will be the bundles of hook packets bursting out of their section.

I once had the fantasy of having my hooks all nicely sectioned in one of those slick Italian magnetic boxes. Until I got one and realised 10 sizes/patterns were going to be nowhere near enough. Which all adds up to saying I still don't know which hooks I like best, and I'm still finding new ones (new to me) for various uses.

I used to have lots of Kamasan 511's - but the policemen are younger and the roach are bigger these days. I had 611's for bigger fish, but I went off round bend hooks for some reason. I tried Drennan Red Maggot, on a strong recommendation, but they didn't seem very sharp to me, judging by how hard it was to hook a maggot, so I forgot about those. I seem to use a wider range of baits these days, and wide gape hooks are a logical choice. I used Drennan Wide Gapes for a bit, but they started to seem a bit clunky and someone put me onto Drennan Wide Gape Match, which turned out to be the ideal small tench/crucian hook. I had some super Tubertini hooks (once you got over the weird sizing) , but I lost track of which ones I liked, and went back to the brands I was more familiar with. I've got lots of Kamasan 560's for general mixed fishing, but the barbs seem to be, or is it me, a bit ranker these days and I've taken to pinching them down, and I'm trying some Gamakatsu Wide Gape Maggots for an alternative. On a water where the roach are chunky and not too shy, I tried Kamasan 911 F1's hoping I'd stop losing the nice perch that turn up among the roach, but that hasn't worked as they still come off too often and I'm advised by a perch angler well known to this forum to try the X version. And so it goes. It would be nice to be able to shut the drawer easily, but I'm not expecting getting the right hook on the line to become any simpler.

 

[rayner]

Personally, I think far too much is made of hook pattern/shape and wire guage. I think hook manufacturers are no different to supermarkets in that respect....Mrs S knows better than to send me out for ( say) washing powder....the choice is bewildering but they all basically do the same job. I feel the same about hooks....give me a bog ordinary round bend anyday...micro barbed preferably. I have no time for these oddly shaped pellet hook/ method hook things...be off with you I say.

Totally agree about ESP hooks...expensive but lethally sharp and as strong as you like. My big fish hook of choice.

Hooks are the most important piece of kit we use, or should I say to me they are.
We'll have to differ with our thoughts. I have the idea that if my hooks are what I feel to be right then that's one less thing I have to be concerned about.
If I have confidence in the terminal tackle I fish better, or so I think, Power lines for hook length, Maxima lines for reels and hooks of my choice then I'm set.
The Gamma Power are a round bend and very sharp, the Kamasan 911 is not a round a round bend that's one reason I lost faith in it.

Reading your post I get a feeling you make your choice of hooks the same as anyone else.
You say you think too much is made of hook patterns, shape and wire gauge.
Then say, give me a round bend with a micro barb. Specific choice to me.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

For me it was more like falling out with the manufacturer, Mustad, as the quality of their hooks for a long time just didn't measure up to earlier offerings.

I am not sure if they changed the location of manufacture or what but from about 2000 the quality really dipped.

 

[rayner]

I can't say the quality of Kamasan had dropped in any way. The 911 were improved with the extra strong version, for some reason I couldn't work out they still made the (normal for want of a better term) 911 plus they added the 911 F1.
The crystal bend didn't quite sit right with me, I now prefer a round bend. I have been having issues with the crystal bend splitting expanders, the round bend rolls on the pellet easier to my mind.
On commercials pellets are a must.

 

[108831]

I don't like kamasan hooks at all,just would not put one on the line,I like a few Drennan patterns,two guru patterns,I'm still using Drennan carbon chub hooks of which I have a cache,unlike S-kippy I believe wire gauge and patterns/shapes make a lot of difference,depending on baits and how your presenting them,especially on the float,but you catch fish on any hooks,it's consistency where it shows,imo...

 

[S-Kippy]

Hooks are the most important piece of kit we use, or should I say to me they are.
We'll have to differ with our thoughts. I have the idea that if my hooks are what I feel to be right then that's one less thing I have to be concerned about.
If I have confidence in the terminal tackle I fish better, or so I think, Power lines for hook length, Maxima lines for reels and hooks of my choice then I'm set.
The Gamma Power are a round bend and very sharp, the Kamasan 911 is not a round a round bend that's one reason I lost faith in it.

Reading your post I get a feeling you make your choice of hooks the same as anyone else.
You say you think too much is made of hook patterns, shape and wire gauge.
Then say, give me a round bend with a micro barb. Specific choice to me.

What I meant was I do not carry umpteen different patterns of hook because the choice is so bewildering today it would drive me insane. I dont think I need a pellet hook to fish a pellet, or a red hook to fish red maggot....I have fallen for this in the past and ended up with a myriad of packets of hooks, most of which have never been used.

I am content with a med guage round bend hook for ( say) maggot for silvers...a wide gape for things like sweetcorn,rubber casters etc if I'm after crucians or tench and something strong for carp and barbel.

I agree hooks and line are the most important bits of kit we use and I wont compromise on either BUT that also means I wont use a hook that doesn't look or feel right to me. Round bends do, probably because I was brought up on them and they've never let me down. I dont like these odd shaped things called " pellet" hooks or crystal bends. I just dont.

Micro barbed if rules permit....if not barbless but I always feel just that bit happier with a micro barb.

I am utterly unconvinced about wire guage other than I wouldnt fish (say) casters on a heavy wire hook because it would split the bait. On the odd occasion guage might make a difference but most of the time I doubt the fish give a monkey's...and the sort of fishing I do now I am nearly always on a big,strong hook or a wide gape specialist.

I am way more interested in how sharp the hook is than what guage it is. I've found a couple of brands that are lethally sharp so I tend to stick with them. These things are in your finger ( jumper or laces) if you so much as brush anything with them. Thats my kind of hook.

 

[rayner]

What I meant was I do not carry umpteen different patterns of hook because the choice is so bewildering today it would drive me insane. I dont think I need a pellet hook to fish a pellet, or a red hook to fish red maggot....I have fallen for this in the past and ended up with a myriad of packets of hooks, most of which have never been used.

I am content with a med guage round bend hook for ( say) maggot for silvers...a wide gape for things like sweetcorn,rubber casters etc if I'm after crucians or tench and something strong for carp and barbel.

I agree hooks and line are the most important bits of kit we use and I wont compromise on either BUT that also means I wont use a hook that doesn't look or feel right to me. Round bends do, probably because I was brought up on them and they've never let me down. I dont like these odd shaped things called " pellet" hooks or crystal bends. I just dont.

Micro barbed if rules permit....if not barbless but I always feel just that bit happier with a micro barb.

I am utterly unconvinced about wire guage other than I wouldnt fish (say) casters on a heavy wire hook because it would split the bait. On the odd occasion guage might make a difference but most of the time I doubt the fish give a monkey's...and the sort of fishing I do now I am nearly always on a big,strong hook or a wide gape specialist.

I am way more interested in how sharp the hook is than what guage it is. I've found a couple of brands that are lethally sharp so I tend to stick with them. These things are in your finger ( jumper or laces) if you so much as brush anything with them. Thats my kind of hook.

I get the idea you are trying to justify your comment, well, not to me you don't. Your thoughts on hooks are as sound as anyone else's.
Because I post my reasons for falling out with the patterns I was using, doesn't make me an expert, I'm far from it. I'm sure there's a number of Magic members who think I'm some sort of an idiot, I can live with that.
I would never say anyone's thoughts with regard to angling are wrong, or any other subject, come to that.

 

[S-Kippy]

I'm not trying to justify anything to anybody....the only person who needs convincing is me. There are certain brands/patterns of hook ( and line for that matter) that I either dont like, dont trust or I think are unnecesary. Other people think differently and good luck to them. I would never suggest they are misguided ( except maybe about Sensor) and I wouldnt expect them to tell me I was wrong either.

The Sensor comment was tongue in cheek by the way. I hate the stuff but plenty of people swear by it...and good for them.

And I dont think I ever said anybody was wrong about hooks. I merely suggested that nowadays there seem to be a myriad of variants ( guage,shape,colour etc) and questionned whether they were all truly necessary or whether it was , to an extent, just clever marketing.

 

[Aknib]

And to think it was all so simple thirty five years ago...

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