Today, my buddy I went fishing and on the first cast of the day we gut hooked a catfish, it was bleeding like crazy and it made a lotta noises, I felt absolutely terrible! Had to cut the line and release him with a high chance of dying a painfuk death, thanks for this tip! I want to avoid repeating this at all costs
I just bought an assortment of circle hooks. After watching your video I looked and found the were offset. I tried your test and they did bite in on the one side. I then got out a pair of pliers and bent the hook so it was inline. It worked like the inline hook. So you don't have to throw away your offset hooks. Just bend them straight. Best to use two pair of pliers to protect your hands, especially if the hook breaks.
I would like to add a comment to your excellent presentation. My pespective comes from a background as a lure designer, a licensed fishing guide and a dental surgeon. On multiple occasions, I have petitioned the State of Florida to eliminate barbed hooks, especially circle hooks, but to no avail. The perpendicular position of the circle hook point, to its shank, negates any need for a barb as it in itself will secure the catch. In our national parks, and In Washington State, it is illegal to fish with barbed hooks. The ultimate test is attaching a barbless single hook to the tail of a metal jig. This is one of the easiest ways for fish to throw the hook because the weight of the lure is being leveraged in the jaw as it is jumping in an attempt to torque the hook out of its jaw. After 41 years of jigging for chinook salmon, with over 16,000 salmon brought to the boat, less than 5% of the fish were lost. All the jigs used had a single barbless siwash-style hook connected to their tail. Metal jigs fished were the Crippled Herring (Rapala), the Kandlefish (Wahoo Fishing Products) and the Sonic BaitFish (Mack's Lure Company). A very critical bonus, with a barbless hook, is that it can be removed from any part of the human anatomy if accidentally snagged. No need for the emergency room especially if the hooking accident occurs where medical facilities are not available. END.
Snell the hook, with the leader coming out of the point side of the eye. Should offer even more protection from gut hooking; it tucks the point even more. If I tie on with a uni or clinch knot, or loop, the hook can swivel or turn in the knot. When I snell, as described, I almost never get a gut hook.
Thanks Tony! Totally respect the conservation of fish! I've been fishing many places I've fished with plenty of places that anglers don't care...and we need to respect and do it the right way! I'm not perfect as well...it hurts the amount of money I've burnt on wrong hooks...but it makes sense!
I use them all the time for fishing a variety of plastics. Snell the hook to give the plastic something to grip then either nose hook or nip thought the nose and tail like you would with an offset worm, tucking the beak back into the skin of the plastic to make it weedless. I catch hundreds of perch on them. Mostly using creature, worms, minnows and grubs. You can also wacky rig and dropshot rig very successfully with them. I have used this almost exclusively the last couple of months. Plenty of fish. I also use for fishing bread baits for carp :) Mouth hooks 99% of the time. Not trying to advertise, but the exact method of rigging is in my vids.
Circle hooks are more or less designed to put some bait on them, throw it in the water and lay back. Set it and forget it. The idea is that you don’t have to hold the rod to set the hook and your actually not supposed to set the hook as the fish will do it for you. Fishing with plastics the rod is in your hand and your using feel to set the hook. That being said I think fish attack moving bait differently than bait sitting still on a hook. So if you used a circle hook on plastics you’ll most likely loose more fish because you won’t be able to set the hook as good while it’s moving.
Offset circle hooks catch more fish than inline circle hooks... Only use inline if theirs lots of catch and release required for competition or undersize fish.
Nice video... do you think using this kind of circle hooks could be useful and valid for replacing the lure trebles or even for softbait rigs like the Flukes or plastic worms and minnows too?
I was using owner mutu light circle hooks #1-2 (which are offset) and i kept deep hooking 30-50% of small fish that took my bait and there was no way to get the hook out since the width of the hook was as wide as their stomachs. I was even using a snell knot. So I switched over to a drop shot rig just to avoid the deep hooking and killing of small fish but I'l give a normal circle hook a chance when the warmer seasons come
I recall a test of 300 rainbow trouts hooked deep. 100 the hooks were removed. 100 the hokks were left and the line cut. The last 100 were just handled as if caught, to make three identical groups. The one with the hooks removed, had some (it was 20+ years ago - I don't recall the number at all) deaths - the two other groups barely any. So if you do hook deep, I'll say cut and release, or take it home and release the good fish no matter the size. Small fish are for eating - big ones are for bragging and releasing.
THANK YOU!!! I just started using circle hooks and ive catch 3 cats and unfortunately the were deep gut hooks (i also had my drag super loose lol oops) i didnt have my pliers so i had to cut the line 😭 i felt so bad but there was nothing i could do. Now that ive found your video im gonna go try again with tighter drag and get true circle hooks. Hopefully all goes well!!
im confused, did you gut hook on circle hook ? also you should not use tight drag with these ,leave bail open and when it takes the line close the bail but have the rod pointed at the fish horizontal to the water, once you feel the tension slowly bring rod tip up towards 90deg then it sets the hook
Thanks so much for this. I'm a 49 year old catfish man and I just tried these two days ago. They were small, 5-10 pounds but I was getting frustrated as to why they kept getting gutted. I think I know why now.
you said your catfish kept getting gut hooked and that you now know why,, im a bit confused ,is this because you just discovered the use of circle hooks thx to this video or were you already using them but still getting gut hooked? so i am asking what exactly did you figure out ,using circle hooks or knowing how to use them?
exactly the offset circle hooks in my opinion defeat the whole design purpose ,glad someone else said it but you should use snell or loop knot on them and not tie any knot to the eye
hmm i can't understand why they have these offset circle hooks on the market either but perhaps commercial fishermen use them to ensure a good catch ratio and cheat the system or law that tells them to only be using circle hooks on the tuna or other large market fish they going for
@Salt Strong, don't you guys sell offset circle hooks? I'm confused. It seems you and others believe in-line is best way to go. Or is there a time for each?
I have some 7/0 slightly offset circle hooks and also tried to bend them back (no, I did not buy them). They aren't bent as far as the one in this video, but it still isn't 100% inline. Hopefully I won't gut hook any fish with them.
You are absolutely ignorant about offset circle hooks and should therefore offer no opinion on their function ! I have seen and used them for bottom longline where the fish set the hook themselves . The hook sets most often in the cheek spiraling in and less often in the lip . Never I repeat never have I seen a gut hooked fish . This as I see it is the problem with easy access public forums such as you're using .
Try using those in any striper or big game tournament and see what happens. I've gut hooked several cobia with offset circle hooks . When you hsve loose drag where the fish runs with it and swallows the bait they will indeed get gut hooked with offset hooks
