Hooks, eyed or spade?

Derek Gibson · Dec 4, 2016

Everyone will have their own preference, but will that choice be influenced by bait selection.

Equally, would your choice be for micro barb or barbless, and why.?

And do you stick with a particular brand of hook?

mikench · Dec 4, 2016

Eyed and barbless for me Derek. The subtle(alledgedly) nuances of different hooks are lost on me. I know the difference between a size 14 and a size 20; one I can add a knot to and one I cannot

Tee-Cee · Dec 4, 2016

Yes, both for me, obviously depending on the bait... In this cold weather I use Drennan barbless Silverfish maggot hooks to nylon when fishing maggot in 16/18/20 and 22 with the 20 more often than not. Always reliable and catches me some good fish..

I still tie various patterns of spade end hooks in the larger sizes and only revert to eyed when after carp etc

Whatever I use I'm looking for reliability, so once I settle on a pattern that gives confidence I generally stick with it - until something better comes along!

Everyone will have a favourite pattern, though................

flightliner · Dec 4, 2016

Both Derek, spade for smaller silvers and eyed if chasing something a little larger.
I was only in the garage the other day sorting my hooks out into sizes and patterns and my choice is a very catholic one, lots of differant manufacturers too.
I did a count of how many packets there were too---- forty seven in total--- and that was only those in my silverfish collection, look in my ruckie and those I use for say big barbel, tench, bream, carp etx would maybe total some fifty % of my silverfish collection. Then there are pike ---------
Ps--- barbed, micro barbed and barbless depending on rules.

Bob Hornegold · Dec 4, 2016

Derek,

Eyed and barbed, having been brought up with eyed hooks for Specimen fishing, a strong hook hold is essential.

If I needed a small hook for the smaller species I would go for a Spade End, but to be honest the small strong eyed hooks for baits like caster and maggots have never affected my catches.

I use thee knots for eyed hooks, the four turn Grinner, The No Knot and the Palomar, I can't remember when these knots failed me.

I don't like Barbless hooks, on the few times I have fished commercial waters where there have been Barbless only rules, the mouth damage to the fish have been horrendous.

I prefere semi barbed hooks , which give in my opinion an good strong hook hold and cause less damage to the fishes mouth.

Bob

Chefster · Dec 4, 2016

Simple choice really eyed for hair rigs,and spades for everything else..Personally i use B911 for banding pellet/maggot/caster etc..QM1 for method/banding.....Guru F1 or maggot,for most other fishing,sometimes tubertini 808..thats it,...on one note,i do like my hook pointing in,as opposed to hanging straight ,when hair-rigging,helps with hookups..Gazza

S-Kippy · Dec 4, 2016

Like many others its spades for the smaller sizes and eyed for anything bigger. If rules permit then micro barbed for me because I am convinced I lose fewer fish on a mb hook. I'm a tart when it comes to patterns and have no brand loyalty at all.....I've no end of different ones in the smaller sizes and I prefer a round bend to a crystal bend. Dont ask me why...I just do.

peterjg · Dec 4, 2016

Eyed and micro barbed.

Peter Jacobs · Dec 4, 2016

Spade end hooks for me for the smaller species but eyed hooks for my bread flake or paste fishing for larger fish.

I still have a few boxes of the original Mustad 90340's from the early 90's which I have used almost expensively for feeder fishing, unless using a method feeder, obviously. The original 90340's came in odd number sizes for some reason; 11,13,15 and so on.

For the Method feeder I then use a micro-barb eyed hook and will try any brand that catches my eye in the tackle shop to be honest, but I keep a stock of Drennan Specimen Match hooks in sizes 8's to 18's

I also have a bit of a "thing" for the Kamasan 911's for when I want a strong eyed barbless hook.

Unlike Mick, I will not do a count of the hooks in my boxes as that might only serve to class me as a right . . . . hook tart LOL

tigger · Dec 4, 2016

It depends on the type of fishing i'm doing, I use both spade ends and eyed but for the majority of my fishing which is trotting I use spade ends. I always use micro barbed (I think the majority of modern hooks have sensible barbs these days) as I believe barbless are detrimental to the fishes mouths.
I use spade ends for some decent sized fish and even when in a hit and hold situation they don't cut through the line as is often stated by people. My reasons for using spade ends is because they hang much better on the line and don't have a knot stuck on top of an eye making them more easy for the fish to spot, especially... "the clever ones that can recognise your face" !

sam vimes · Dec 4, 2016

Horses for courses. I'll use eyed or spades depending on the size of the hook/bait and the application. I'll use barbless, barbed or microbarbed depending on the venue and the species of fish I'm after.

Mark Wintle · Dec 4, 2016

Almost all spade ends for me nowadays though I have [plenty of eyed for bigger species. In the smaller sizes spades ends are far superior.

A note for Peter, Mustad 90340 were in even sizes originally in the waxed paper in white boxes (late 70s) but a remark by, I believe, Jan Porter, about 22s being like a size 21 led to them being rebranded/packaged in odd sizes in the 90s. I've got all three incarnations.

rayner · Dec 4, 2016

Barbless everything for me as unhooking a fish with even a micro barb is too difficult with my limitations.
I've changed how I now tie eyed, the only knot I use now is knotless, mostly because of ease.
I only use spades for smaller hooks 24s to 18s anything bigger is an eyed.
I favour Colmic or Tubertini hooks in spades. Kamasan in eyed.
Favourite hooks are WN 401s

robtherake · Dec 4, 2016

Despite being a fumble-fingered clot, and after some considerable amount of re-learning, I've largely gone back to using spades for the smaller species, particularly for light line fishing. I'm convinced that they offer a superior presentation with small baits, and TBH, I find it much easier to whip a spade than tie a neat knot on a tiny hook. Even with glasses I struggle to thread fine-wire eyed hooks smaller than an 18. I prefer to tie spades by hand now I've got the knack back. Still not perfect, with quite a few discards, but getting better.

I carry a decent cross-section of hook types to cover all the permutations, but seem to use more Kamasans than anything else in the smaller sizes and lighter patterns. For sturdy small hooks I think the Mustad Stillwater Power and Extra power are hard to beat and they keep their sharpness really well. I'm having to order any lighter patterns online, otherwise it's a 30 or 40 mile round trip - it's a sign of the times, I suppose.

xenon · Dec 4, 2016

eyed and micro barbed -not convinced the difference is that great between eyed and spade-yes, there is evidently more metal to produce an eyed hook, but the difference compared to a spade must be minimal-especially when the distinction that counts is surely that between bait with and without hooks?

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Dec 4, 2016

I use both

Spade end for size 20 and 18 for fishing maggot

Bigger Baird like cubed meat and 2 pieces of corn then eyed on a hair

robertroach · Dec 4, 2016

Like others here I use only spade end hooks in the smaller sizes and nearly always barbless except for grayling when I use a micro barb.

I don't understand why some are saying barbless hooks damage the fish more. I always think there is more damage caused when extracting a barb. I have never noticed any damage whatsoever when I use barbless. I'm sure someone can explain.

bracket · Dec 4, 2016

I use spade end hooks, barbless and micro barbs, for 99% of my fishing. If I do happen fish an eyed hook I tie it exactly the same way as a spade, I don't employ the eye. Just an idle comment that people may want the kick about: The general excepted way to tie a spade is to have the line coming off hook in front of the spade. Me, I tie with the line at the back of the spade so the line pulls away from the spade when playing a fish, not across it and over the edge.
Pete.

tigger · Dec 4, 2016

robertroach said:
Like others here I use only spade end hooks in the smaller sizes and nearly always barbless except for grayling when I use a micro barb.

I don't understand why some are saying barbless hooks damage the fish more. I always think there is more damage caused when extracting a barb. I have never noticed any damage whatsoever when I use barbless. I'm sure someone can explain.

Barbless hooks penetrate deeper and arn't at all fixed in the flesh, they move from side to side, back and forth and cause a hole under the flesh, barbed hooks don't penetrate or move about anything like as much so don't cause the unseen damage done by the barbless hooks. Barbless hooks are apparently a particularly bad choice to use when perch fishing as the perches heart isn't far into it's throat and with the barbless hooks penetrating so deeply they often puncture the heart and kill the perch in the process.

No doubt you'll disagree but your entitled to your opinion. Try pulling a small hook (say a 14's) of each type sharply into your finger and see which hurts the most....if your daft enough LOL.

maggot_dangler · Dec 4, 2016

For Pole use Spades for rod & reel Eyed .

Mainly because on the pole i use loop to loop pre-tied hooks whereas when using rod i tend to use mainline straight to hook so tie them myself i can tie an eyed hook almost with out looking but a spade i got to concentrate on .

PG ...

Hooks, eyed or spade?

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