Circle Hooks

[mjd1973]

Has anyone ever used circle hooks when float fishing for steelhead? If so what size?

Thanks for any info.
mjd1973

[John]

I've used them for bottom fishing and fishing off the piers with limited success and more failing than it's worth. I don't see any reason to use them float fishing in moving water. You should know the fish has your bait and set the hook soon enough that it doesn't have a chance to swallow it. I've gill hooked way more fish on spinners than I ever will bobber fishing the river.

[REG]

I have used them almost exclusively on the rivers for about 4-5 years, but recently I have been shifting back some to regular hooks. I also use them on the pier, but so far the only advantage I see there is when someone doesn't set the hook, like my son. But back to the rivers where I almost exclusively bobber, oh, er float fish. If you like rod snapping hooksets, then these are not for you. They work best when you just tighten down and start reeling. As such, I like to use them on large water where I might employ loooong, spool-emptying drifts.

[longdrive]

I have tried the octopus circle, but have had better success with a dropshot hook for under a bobber. One of the companies makes a circle fly for saltwater hooks, and I have only used them for hybrid bass. The application for running through a pod of salmon without snagging and only hooking up with one crushing the fly on purpose would be the same as getting the fly past/over the backs of 100's of drum to get to the bass down here on the OH.

[ninja115]

Coming from the sunshine state I can say that circle hooks are used for mainly one thing down there. Bottom fishing in 100+ feet of water. At that depth (or greater) it can be hard to effectively set the hook, and circle hooks essentially set themselves when the fish tries to spit it out or swim away. I'm not saying that everyone uses them. In fact there are many more people who don't use them than people that do. I've personally tried them in shallower waters doing some inshore saltwater fishing and found them to be a different beast. If you do decide to give them a try, be sure to let us know how it turns out for you. Everything is always worth giving a shot once, and it's not like you can't bring along and tie on another traditional hook.

Some advice, as stated before, DO NOT SET THE HOOK!!!!! Just start reeling very gently until the hook sets itself. Also, I would recommend going a hook size or two over your normal traditional size hook(probably two). A bigger size circle hook always seems to work better. So if you normally fish a size 6, go to a size 4 or 2 circle.......normally a 4 go to a 1/0.....etc.. The hook will look huge, but that's how its designed to work. Good Luck either way!

[dansst]

We have been using circle hooks for several years for salmon and steelhead while fly fishing. We fish with standard hooks most of the time because you can get a better strike to hook-up ratio. We use the circle hook whenever we are fishing a stream with a real rocky bottom or fishing large pods of fish. You will not snag the bottom or snag fish as often as standard hooks. As mentioned do not set the hook just keep a tight line and the fish will turn and hook their self. Have not used them under a float .

[FishKilla419]

They work great for float fishing steel. But you can't set the hook or you'll lose them.

[jsting]

Recently tried circle hooks while floating spawn for kings. Epic fail. Of the dozen or so take downs I only managed to hook two kings and landed one. Tried different sizes and different counts before setting the hook with the landed fish coming on a size 1. It was really disappointing cause the kings were really taking spawn that day and while I enjoyed seeing the take downs I would rather have had all the take downs result in solid ups. I will be going back to regular hooks next trip. I left my box at home that had the regular hooks because I packed light so I couldn't make the change on water. Lesson learned.

[ninja115]

Tried different sizes and different counts before setting the hook

As mentioned do not set the hook just keep a tight line and the fish will turn and hook their self.

But you can't set the hook or you'll lose them.

Some advice, as stated before, DO NOT SET THE HOOK!!!!! Just start reeling very gently until the hook sets itself.

Not trying to be rude, It's just that "you" CAN NOT set the hook. It does it by itself. Or, at least it should.......You can't put ANY force into the rod until after the fish does, or it will come out.