Coloured/ camo hooks & whipping?

We "maturer" gents can look back through the mists of time to "Model Perfect" hooks whipped ( I think the term is "dubbed", north of the point at which "cort anyfing(k)?" becomes "Copped owt?") - er, sorry, - whipped onto nylon with red silk, supposed to make a worm presented on such a hook more attractive.

Thinking about it, it might have been Malloch's salmon hooks...

Anyhow, we were also advised by E. Marshall-Hardy in "Angling Ways" to paint our hooks green, to fish silkweed; or white, for hemping.

Others advised gilt hooks for crust, wheat and sweetcorn; and many rated the matt black of "blued" hooks way over the glittery "bronzed" finish.

Apart from whipping cream bug-thread onto hooks for hair-rigging cheese-paste (as much to give a bit of anchorage for the paste as to camouflage the hook), I haven't bothered much with these ideas myself.

Have I been missing out?

What's the current thinking?

And what experiments have you made, or habits clung on to?

Not something I give that much credence unless the hook I'm using looks completely at odds. I've started using the Teflon coated Korum S3s for much of my fishing and they seem quite plain, which I suppose is a bonus but not my reason for using them.

I'd say the only hook I actively choose for colour is the Drennan Corn hooks, which are gold and seem to to put more big roach on the bank than normal silver or anodised hooks.

I do carry a marker pen for tipping floats or marking rod blanks for depths but I guess I could try mottling some hooks, especially for bottom fishing. See if I think there's anything to it.

I've bought a bulk load of kamasan b611's which are very shiny, i think they are nickel coated and i have caught loads of fish with those but do wonder whether i would be better off colouring them with a black marker

Make a 2 hook paternoster rig (I know...it's deemed as unruly and uncouth etc.) but it's only a tester. Try an ordinary hook and one that has been coloured and see if one outfishes the other. If you see a pattern forming, get rid of the totally uncool 2 hook rig and set up with the better of the two.

Or fish 2 identical rod setups side by side but that seems even more cumbersome.

I always use hook skins when fishing low, clear rivers or when fishing the margins of a lake. Hook glint is can spook wary fish so why take a chance.