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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Please, I don't want this to turn into a shouting match between people, I am just looking for simple answers like, I have caught 2 on circle hooks, both in the corner of the mouth, or I have gut hooked 1 musky and I stopped using them, or I have gone 3 out of 8 on circle hooks, but all three were in the corner of the mouth.
How have you done with circle hooks?
Personally I have gone 4-4 with them, every one hooked in the corner of the mouth. That was about 5 years ago and I haven't used them since.
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| 50 for 50 corner of the mouth on pike and carp. Never tried on musky |
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Posts: 2378
| no exact numbers, but i have had some good success with them. only had a few badly hooked.
i only use them on tipups for pike. never tried with big suckers for muskies |
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Posts: 190
| I have 0 for three in the sameday last fall. Got to watch all three fish eat them and waited over the top watching untill the tail was almost gone, backed off applied pressure till they began to swim away and leaned into them. I was able to see the hook in the corner of all three fish but when they turned towards us the hook would cam out of the corner. The cool thing was I had takers on circle rigs on days they seemed to not want quick strike rigs. I think I was using too small of hooks, what size do you suggest Mike. I also wonder about them but other than not staying hooked up I can say no bad experiences................Doug |
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Posts: 5874
| I did pretty good on circle hooks for about 3 years when I used them. Almost always in the corner of the mouth. Hook ups were about 75%. Had one that was hooked on the tongue, and it released fine. Dave D knocked of a real nice fish with the net on the first circle hook fish I ever had on.
I switched back to quick strikes because I missed setting the hook! |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Mike, I started using them last year, and I'm definitely staying with QS rigs. I stuck one out of 5 fish that ate the sucker with the circle hook. Personally, I think it takes too much time to wait the fish out. I did notice that usually when the fish ate the circle hooks, they wouldn't touch the suckers with QS rigs, so maybe use them when the bite is tough. As far as the fish I did get on it, it was hooked in the corner of the mouth. I did get a pike a few years back that was gut hooked on the circle hook though, but it was a smaller pike. |
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| I've done well with them, but I don't feel they're neccessary on the bodies of water we fish. I rig them with a med. strength orthodontic rubberband thru the nostrils. Only fish I had die on me was when experimenting with them years ago. I made the mistake of using a circle hook with an offset shank that hooked the fish in the throat. Only a true circle hook should be used. The most important part of the rig to me other than the type of circle hook is the strength of the rubberband. That hook has to pop loose from the sucker or the musky will just spit the whole thing. |
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Posts: 696
Location: Northern Illinois | This is the first fall I get to fish in sometime. Making that said, my Dad and Uncle have been using circle hooks for 2 years now and they have had all fish hooked in the side of the mouth. I'll be the judge though and am looking forward to it! |
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Posts: 8782
| Used them once. Hooked a 34" pike in the throat. Bled like a stuck pig. She swam off, but I wonder if she made it.
Hats off to the guys who are successful with them and don't kill any fish, but I ain't one of them. Besides that, sitting there with the rod in your hand waiting for the fish to eat the sucker? I'm not cut out for that! |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | I use them in saltwater all the time with great success. I bought some really large ones to use through the nose of some 10" soft plastic baits this year. I am anxious to see how they do. I am going to try them where I used large wide gap worm hooks in the past. I'll let you know how is works out. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Chicago, IL | saltwater they are great, never tried with musky though |
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | Have hooked numerous large sturgeon using whole suckers for bait, none of them have been gut hooked but some do pull loose. I think if you are fishing with bait (live or dead) though there is always an elevated risk of injuring the fish.
jed v. |
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Posts: 285
Location: NE Wisconsin | Tried them a few years back. The first fish was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth. The second fish puked the sucker out at boat side. The third muskie I had to cut the leader. I hope rather then being gut hooked, the rubber band just didn't break! But I will not use them again!
John Aschenbrenner |
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Posts: 156
Location: Oconomowoc, WI | Great in saltwater where fish like tarpon inhale the entire bait. That rarely happens with musky. They can have a sucker t-boned for seconds, minutes, or hours and it's impossible to tell for sure when they've got the whole thing down in there mouth/throat/stomach. Too much uncertainty with added risk of gut-hooking is definely a no for me. Never have and never will.
I know several people who have or do use them and my best guess from all the reports is less than 50% hooking percentage, with a couple dead fish, and much wasted time.
They will get hit at times when a barbed wire fence QS rig will not but there are several ways to downsize a QS rig to make it less visible and bait action prohibitive. |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | What are you saying Kevin, that I used barbed wire fences for sucker rigs??!!  |
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Posts: 686
Location: Tomahawk, Wisconsin | Had an 0 for 6 day with them and will not use them again, fishing gin clear water and tried various timing, positioning etc......... you let a fish swim around for a half hour, watching em and still don't get a hook into em, not for me, I guess I'll let the pros deal with it!!:)
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | Used them for one fall, I think 4 years ago. I can't remember exactly, but was like 9 for 14 or something like that with 2 fish throat hooked. Got the hook out but it took time and effort. Enough for me to put them away. They were inline models too, and hooks were not 'set'. Wierd, because I use them for cats, and have never throat hooked one. I did get more pickups on them, even in darker water, but will sacrifice that from now on knowing I'll throat hook a few. |
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Posts: 156
Location: Oconomowoc, WI | Joel,
Actually haven't seen your QS rig so it may or may not be one that I make fun of. You were, although, included in the people I know who use or have tried circle hooks. I felt your pain that day on 5-O. That was too bad. Oh yeah, caught 2 nice fish on QS rigs that day.... 
Edited by Kevin Mahlberg 5/3/2006 10:01 PM
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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | Circle the hooks, Jasper, the muskies have got us surrounded!
Kevin
Sunday, 5/7, day one of the plan in action. |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Quick-strikes baby !!!
Why wait?
Why let a muskie swallow anyhooks?
Feeding windows can be very small on some days. Quick-strike rigs can produce 3 fish in a 1/2 hour while you wait 1/2 hour for a fish to swallow a sucker.
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