circle hooks

[Pete B]

slippery said:

admin said:

A few of us used them on the boat last year & thought they were good, I dont know if it guaranteed us anymore fish but neat lip hooks were guaranteed. Also those runs we all seem to suffer like the fish has picked the bait up, ran then simply drop it seemed to result in more hook ups with the circles.

Out of interest do you fish with light drag as to let it run when it takes the bait or up against a set drag and use a quick strike?

Strikes are a no no!
You get alot of self hooking with circles especially with a bit of tide. Reeling into a bite will connect as will a gentle raise of rod tip.
The biggest benefit is the runs that are commonly just dropped seem to connect! dont ask me why? light drag allowing a run or drag up would see the rod bending over the gunnels, it was a regular occurance summer 06.

We were lucky to fish some really productive marks from our own boat. The bream fishing was frantic - a good fish every cast so we really got chance to experiment.
The bites were so plentiful we were actually trying different ways of not hooking them to find the right & wrong ways of using circles, striking definetly did not work. Occasionally you would by pure luck or by having enough stretch or slack line to take the snatch out of the strike.
I found the best way to set a circle was to wind down, slowly raise the rod until you either feel the weight of the fish or a decent bite & then reel into it & continue the lift.

Very good runs from decent bream, red mullet, bass, smoothhound were all self hooked.
As Darenw said about the little bites prior to a run, I watched this many times & each time I would pay a little more line out & eventually a run would be triggered, as soon as the run started it seemed as though the fish was hooked then.

Circles are great once you have put the instinct to strike aside.

[slippery]

That is what i was doing but using mac head, dropped load,s giving them a while to run and just lifting the rod up, nothing everytime! I will try again this coming season and put it down to a bad night.

[RichardB]

darenw said:

maghouse said:

Thats interesting, I dont strike on anything ? ie. any hook, any fish ... my theory is all you are doing is pulling against a fixed lead (unless a pulley rig of course) so seems you will gain nothing or am I wrong ? Interested to know what others do ...

I seldom strike either, most of the time I have the rods up and whatever comes along tends to hook itself, having said that when I have held a rod for bites ( bass in fishing in particular) I have noticed that you often get a small bite before the rod pulls around. Perhaps I should be striking earlier!!

Most of my shore bass fishing invloves the use of plain leads of only 2 oz. On a decent sized fish the weight of the sinker is almost irrelevant (that being the point). The hooks are usually 4/0 or 5/0 Js with big baits.
So, once the fish is running I'm in the habit of giving it a good whack to set the hook home ! As Darren said you can often see or feel small movement before the big hit. I take this as the warning to get ready, rather than hit it straight away as I don't think the bass has fully hold if it at that stage.
This is usually successfull, but I suffered a number of dropped runs last year and can see the sense of what Pete and others are describing with circles - definite method change required though !

[darenw]

pecheur said:

Daren what size of bream we talking, must be good uns, what bait do they take, is this from Wight area, i know when theres loads on the ground they go mad your right bit like piranhas, but better looking fish, nothing better than a good thingy/male fish when they fresh out.

Only little ones mate, they attack a big squid bait like piranha!!!! and sometimes get hooked on the pennel and these fish can only be a lb if that. We pick them up in the eastoke- sandy pt area on hayling is. as a bycatch, along with the odd baby smoothound.

[Pete B]

Slippery, are you using them from beach or boat?

[squideyebarnes]

he is in canary islands for a week with 2 days boat fishing 20c there.I am of tomorrow and using some 8/0 circle tomorrow so will find out.

[RichardB]

squideyebarnes said:

he is in canary islands for a week with 2 days boat fishing 20c there.

Lucky #~@% !!!!!

[slippery]

admin said:

Slippery, are you using them from beach or boat?

I used them from the beach but there is 15ft of water directly below where I am fishing.

[eccles]

Been using circle or "semi-circle" hooks for over six months now and not striking at all. Thinking back, I have maybe lost 3 or 4 fish but everything else was hooked - I am talking mainly from the beach aspect although the two or three times we took the new boat out, I hooked every bite without fail.

[dean macey]

dont know if its just me but i use vivivas,and kamasan,up to a 3o and never strike at a fish.i have always thorght that with todays sharp hooks and the weight as a type of bolt rig it was unlikly to help by continually striking.just the same when coarse fishing especially with the pole as you just need to lean into them gently and your tackle set up correctly will do it for you.

[slippery]

deanm said:

dont know if its just me but i use vivivas,and kamasan,up to a 3o and never strike at a fish.i have always thorght that with todays sharp hooks and the weight as a type of bolt rig it was unlikly to help by continually striking.just the same when coarse fishing especially with the pole as you just need to lean into them gently and your tackle set up correctly will do it for you.

I tried that to, I think that they are just not the ticket for mac head baits as the fish needs time to turn n take it I will have another go this year though.

[dean macey]

i have never used a bait that big,the biggest being sandeel or a whole small squid,on traditional hooks only.
i am going to try some livebaiting as ive been shown on here so i will need to buy some big hooks so i will have a look for some semi circles as well.
i am alright for livebait as mick only gets tiddlers and will keep us all well supplied.

[Pete B]

slippery said:

admin said:

Slippery, are you using them from beach or boat?

I used them from the beach but there is 15ft of water directly below where I am fishing.

I must admit I'm not sure of the answer, Im yet to experiment with them from the beach nor have I used them with mackeral head but as eccles said from the boat I also had a very good hooking rate, near 100%.

I did wonder if it was anything to do with how direct you are in the boat.
As I say, whenever a run was made or induced it was always hooked in the boat.
From the beach without using circles the few typical bass runs havent connected, to even have half a chance I think you have to be holding the rod in anticipation of a run, I wondered with the circles if this would improve?

[slippery]

admin said:

slippery said:

I used them from the beach but there is 15ft of water directly below where I am fishing.

I must admit I'm not sure of the answer, Im yet to experiment with them from the beach nor have I used them with mackeral head but as eccles said from the boat I also had a very good hooking rate, near 100%.

I did wonder if it was anything to do with how direct you are in the boat.
As I say, whenever a run was made or induced it was always hooked in the boat.
From the beach without using circles the few typical bass runs havent connected, to even have half a chance I think you have to be holding the rod in anticipation of a run, I wondered with the circles if this would improve?

No where i get them they are very confident and to hold your rod would be missed fish ,I leave the rod well alone till the run has devolped and stepped up a gear then lift n wind if they feel you pick up the rod early they drop the bait the same way if you react with the rod in your hands the opposite of everthing I have read or been told but my hook up rate is good on j's. Bear in mind though I use massive baits mac half or whole so a quick response will lose the fish..........

[Pete B]

I think this is the benefit of circles - they dont have a chance to spit it. In the boat using circles every time I had a run the slighest bit of resistance (light drag) seemed to set the hook. Only my experience but this was the big selling point for me.
Rattles from average bream would need to be set with a reel into & lift but runs from better bream, bass, red mullet & smoothhound seemed to automatically connect, I may of just been lucky I guess!
Pete