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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Two schools of thought are generally accepted.
1. Thicker heavier hooks like 4x VMC's
or
2. Thin wire (standard) hooks like standard VMC's, Mustad, Eagle Claw.
Some feel the heavier hooks are better for strength reasons, some feel that they like thin wire hooks for ease of penetration.
What's your preference..?
Suppose I should have set this up as a pole but I'm not quite bright enough for that..:)
Mark
Musky Adventures
Eau Claire, WI
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Posts: 1916
Location: Greenfield, WI | Sharp hooks are my preference! With all the equipment available such as long graphite rods and quality reels with the great drags, there isn't a muskie out there that can't be boated with most any size and thickness of hooks. Sharpness and the ability to both sharpen the hooks initially, and maintain the sharpness is the main importance to me. |
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Posts: 1046
| Mark, Along with a good honed hook(as previously stated) for me the bait determines what hooks and split rings I use.I tend to up-size most baits from what the manufacturer puts on, then bait action determines thin or thick! Handy |
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Posts: 376
Location: Lake Vermilion Tower, MN | Hi All,
I use both styles but I like the thin wire for one simple reason.
Cutting them is much easier than the heavy duty 4x hooks.  |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | I really like the short shank round bend mustads the best. Next would be the round bend VMC. The 3/0 mustad has a gap as big as any 5/0 hook in another style. |
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Posts: 2061
Location: Belgium | for crankbaits: gamakatsu
for jerkbaits and bucktails: VMC conecut and mustad roundbend (not the heavy ones but those on slammers) |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | It is totally bait dependant as Handy said, but I rarely use the extra heavy ones anymore(a bit thinner hook penetrates much better). My favorite hooks for most purposes are Eagle Claw 774M9standard Reef hawg hooks), as they come the sharpest and stay sharper through rock collisions better than most. Second choice is the Mustad round bends. I too typically size up a bit and often take the middle hook off many baits.
Edited by Reef Hawg 4/3/2003 8:08 AM
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Posts: 1939
Location: Black Creek, WI | I'm a thinner is better kinda guy too. I favor the Mustad Roundbends (love the short shank and thin wire design).
ReefHawg.... where the heck do you buy those EAGLE CLAWS????? I've looked everywhere and can't seem to find them..... not even on the Eagle Claw website.
jlong |
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Posts: 375
Location: In the slop! | Thorne Brothers has them. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | Ty Sennett gave me a phone number to call for them. Drop me an email and I'll try to dig it up. |
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Posts: 5230
| That eagle claw hook is really sharp my hand and the fish no that.The owner hooks and gamakausta are the razor sharp, single and smaller trebels,wish they made some big sharp trebels.The VMC I have had hooks break on sub 40ty fish and I can not keep them nearly as sharp as the above hooks mentioned.On the other hand VMC is much more affordable than the other hooks.Why do the bass fisherman have sharper hooks than they musky fisherman?0723 |
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Interesting responses....
Personally I have come full circle...From the thin wire to changing everything over to 4x vmc to now going back to primarily standard diameter Mustad's and Claw's...
The reason I switched in the first place was because of loosing several very large hooks due to the hooks beginning to straighten out. After doing some reflecting on the incidents I basically deducted that I was overplaying the fish. Too many years of using "pool cue" type rods and mono or dacron line I guess.
Will be calling Thornes for Eagle Claws...
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Posts: 105
Location: Kawartha Lakes, Ontario | I use Eagle Claw bronze 2X forged (4/0 on most baits) for the same reason guideman mentioned. They're easy to cut, allowing for a quick release. They're also cheap and I haven't lost a single fish on them (while trolling) since I started using them 2 years ago. If you maintain the correct amount of pressure on a fish, I can't see these hooks (or most other brand name hooks) ever straightening out. The main thing is to keep your hooks sharp and have confidence in the equipment you're using.
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Posts: 32959
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I like the thinner wire as well, but feel that any properly sharpened hook will penetrate and hold. The best way to be sure that will happen is to check the gap. If you can place the eye of the hook and one point of the hook on your palm and move it across your palm without it immediately sticking a bit, change the hook. |
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Posts: 956
| Round bend Mustads are my pick.
But like Steve V. said, SHARP!
JLong, how about that 5/0 round bend! |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Mustad but not thin wire. |
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