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| Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [30 messages per page] Muskie Fishing -> General Discussion -> Circle hook experiment, Wed. |
| Message Subject: Circle hook experiment, Wed. | |||
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| I finnally tried them, and was pleasantly surprised with their effectiveness. I went out yesterday with some smaller suckers(10-13" range) and used the 7 and 10X sizes. I had 4 hits and 3 muskies hooked right in the corner of the mouth(40", 35", and 33". The 4th fish was very small and spit the thing out. I'll continue to use quick strikes for the most part, because I hated waiting(although the average wait was 2.5 minutes a hookset yesterday). I wanted to see if they worked so I could use them in certain instances where my quick-sets get snagged frequently(heavy weeds/leaves and shallow jagged rocks). I also wanted to prove that they are at least better than single hook straight swallow rigs, as I plan to give some to friends(including a couple guides) who won't convert to quick-sets. I plan to experiment a little more with some bigger suckers in the same lake system(good population of medium sized fish). Any comments, opinions? | |||
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| Jason- I haven't used them on ski's yet. I used them once for smallies in spring and after some getting used to, they did work pretty well. I hated the waiting part too. Real hard to break the habit of setting the hook when you've been doing it for 30 years or so. Results with the smallies were about the same. All the ones I caught were hooked in the corner of their mouth. | |||
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| OK Jason, We really have to get together. Based on what you wrote, I went out, bought a pre-rigged blood red circle hook (that's all they had). Today, I had a guide job and decided to give it a try, along with a quick strike rig. The quick strike rig got bit right away and the fish was hooked in roughly 30 seconds. We had three more sucker bites, all on the circle hook. The circle hook was bit shortly after. I followed the fish with no pressure on it. It went a short distance, stopped and when it started off again, 12 minutes later, I instructed the client to lift the rod tip and start reeling. The fish came to the surface and came off! The second was a repeat of the first episode. So, thinking that maybe I had the client get on the fish too soon, I waited until the fish made it's second run and followed it for quite some time. 20 minutes later, the fish came off. The third time, we had just motored to a new spot, I turned off the outboard, dropped the sucker in the water and a muskie immediately took it. We again followed it when it made a short run. It stayed down for an eternity and this time, we waited a full 30 minutes. The fish came loose again. All of the suckers were rubber banded on using small, thin rubber bands. The hook was offset and I made sure to straighten it out and sharpened the hook till it almost hooked me just by looking at it. Just call me frustrated. Steve @ G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods. http://www.herefishyfishy.com [:blackeye:] | |||
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| Jason and Steve, I e-mailed you an article on circle hook use from a couple years ago. Plus, here's my $.02 worth on the subject. Run a rubber band through the nostrils, just like with the Herbie rig. Put the ends of the rubber band over the hook, and then twist it until it is tight against the fish. Then run the hook back under the rubber band to "lock" it in place. This keeps the sucker firmly attached. I usually run two rigs, one in the front, one in the back, and both with rubber core sinkers(1/2-1 oz., depending on suckr size) I run the rear deeper than the front. The front I run about 4-6' down. No bobber. Just put the reel on the clicker, free spool. You'll know when a fish hits it, you'll hear it. Or if in the front, you'll probably see it slam it(really awesome). Pick up the rod, keep it in free spool, and just keep a little tension on the line. Let the fish run with it if it wants to. Don't put too much tension on it, just enough to keep the line slack free. It may surface, and lolligag around a little. Or it may go straight to the bottom. You'll feel it as it chomps on the sucker to kill it, and turn it. I've been waiting 10-15 minutes. You'll kinda have to learn when it's ready. You'll feel some really agressive chomping, and then the fish may move off a little. When you're ready, just start reeling. Don't set the hook, just reel. If all goes well, the sucker is swallowed, the band breaks, and the hook slides out, catching the corner of the mouth for a solid, safe hook up. I had one last year that I saw hammer the sucker, and go straight down with it in 8'. Could just barely see it on the bottom. Although I normally wouldn't do this all the time, I was able to put just a little more tension on it to actually bring it up a foot or so off the bottom several times. I was able to see the sucker sideways in it's mouth, then let it go back down. about 5 minutes later, I lifted it again, this time the sucker was turned, with just half of it sticking out the mouth. About five minutes later, I couldn't see the sucker at all. It was time! Just started reeling. You can feel the hook slide out a little when the band breaks, then feel the whole weight of the fish when the hook sets itself. Less than a minute later, I had a nice fat 43" in the net! One more thing. Some of the circle hooks may come with a little offset, the point is kinda twisted out a little. Not sure if this could potentially gut hook, but I bend it back so it sits flat. Hope this helps, Tight Lines All, Shep[;)] | |||
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| Had 2 hits on circle hooks today(using rubberband method), and my girlfriend boated a nice one, and she lost the other(band didn't break, but I don't think it was a very big fish), had one other take that ran and dropped(big cats in this stretch love to do this). Oddly, the quick strike rigged sucker never was touched. The results have been good enough to keep doing it for awhile. | |||
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| Okay I am going to pose a question here. Will these circle hooks work for harnessing suckers for casting? Or is harnessing suckers for casting a thing of the past and will more likely harm the fish? A bunch of guys that I fish with are diehard sucker fisherman in the late fall. They will not fish with anything but a harnessed sucker. I have gotten them to switch the trailer from a single hook to a lift off but can't get them to move away from this single hook while casting. Although none of the fish that we have ever caught have had the hook deep it is still a very likely problem. Of course most of the fish are also never really hooked with the single hook because when harnessed the hook doesn't break free from the sucker. I have since switched to using artificial while casting. I guess my main question is is there a way to pitch suckers without having the fish swallow the bait before setting the hook. Lets face it there is nothing more nerve wrenching then sitting and waiting for that fish to turn that bait and get a good hookset on them. But it would still be more satisfying to know that that fish will live to fight another day. Thanks, Troy Patterson | |||
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| Troy, I'm sure they would work, and I usually cast my sucker a few times at days end myself. | |||
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| Jason, what's your email address? Todd | |||
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