Float Fishing is Riveting

The Sharp End

You wander into the tackle shop to buy some hooks, and there in front of you is a huge array of sizes and variations. Why so many hook types, sizes, and shapes? Well this is one market where hooks have been developed to meet the demands of different methods of fishing, and the type of fish targeted. So this article will try and de-mystify some main choices you may think about in front of the hook displays.

Hook Sizes

The numbers that define hook sizes can be confusing, but the system is really very simple. Hook sizes are based on a nominal hook size of zero. Hook sizes with a number followed by a zero increase in size as the number goes up.

For instance a 4/0, ("four bar oh"), hook is one size up from a 3/0, which is one size up from a 2/0, etc.

Hook sizes not followed by a zero, decrease in size as the number increases.

For example a size 3 hook is smaller than a size 2 hook, which is smaller than a size 1 hook.

While nearly all hook manufacturers follow this basic numbering system to indicate the increase or decrease in size of each hook within an individual pattern, there is unfortunately little standardisation in overall size. For instance what may be a size 4/0 in a Mustad hook may not necessarily be the same as a 4/0 in an Eagle Claw hook.

For the purposes of this article, all hook-size recommendations are based on the Mustad hook sizes. As an aside, most writers in books and magazines appear to assume the Mustad standard hook sizes when alluding to or recommending hook sizes.

How Big Is Enough?

First a quick lurch into trout fishing. Dyed in the wool saltwater fishermen are often amazed at the large size of trout that can be caught on seemingly tiny hooks. Trout of two or three kilos and over are routinely caught on barely visible sized 18 hooks and smaller.

The same can be true in saltwater as those who use small ‘keeper’ hooks will attest. Regularly, snapper are caught on the 1/0 or 2/0 keeper hooks. It is not a huge mind jump to think of the size of a 12/0 big game hook, hanging out of the jaw of a marlin. Size is relative.

As a general rule I judge the hook size I need to use, as a function of the bait size I am using, not the size of the fish I am targeting. The fish I am targeting determines the bait size.

If I am using a whole skipjack head when chasing big snapper I will use a 10/0 to 12/0 hook, but when using pillies, a 4/0 or 5/0 is the norm.

It is an enlightening demonstration to tie some line to a hook, place the hook point in a piece of wood, and haul on the line. The amount of force required to bend the hook out is usually much more than you would normally pull through a rod with a correct drag setting.

If a hook straightens during a fight it is not usually a function of the hook size, but a function of the quality of the hook

Stainless or Not?

The prime reason that seems to govern the purchase of stainless hooks is storage. Stainless hooks will not rust as fast as non-stainless hooks in the tackle box. But stainless hooks have some disadvantages.

They are softer than non-stainless hooks, and do tend to bend out more easily or more often.

Because they are softer, stainless hooks do not stay as sharp.

Stainless hooks do not degrade as fast underwater, and in fish. An important conservation factor.

They are more expensive.

There is a rule that must be observed when storing unused hooks, stainless or otherwise. Never store used hooks with unused hooks. I try to keep new, unused hooks in their packets and only take out what I think I need for the trip. Even fumbling about in a packet of hooks with hands wet with seawater can set off rust and corrosion.

Sharpen Hooks?

Books and articles written just two or three years ago usually contained encouragement to sharpen hooks before fishing with them. ‘No hook is sharp enough to fish straight out of the packet’ was the advice. If you use ‘laser’ or ‘chemically’ sharpened hooks, this advice is bad. In most cases trying to sharpen chemically or laser sharpened hooks will actually blunt them.

Chemically sharpened and laser sharpened hooks are made in much the same way. Once the hook is formed, the points are treated with a chemical and then introduced to a laser beam, or other control source, which wears away the metal leaving a very sharp point.

If you do sharpen non-laser or non-chemically treated hooks there are a number of factors to bear in mind.

All sharpening produces heat. Too much heat will reduce the temper of the hook and can soften the point. This can lead to points bending over, or breaking off. It is important when sharpening hooks to use a slow stroke with the file or stone.

Be careful not to remove too much metal from the point. There is a fine line, no pun intended, between a sharp point and a weak point. It is too easy to think of a hook point as always being pulled into a fish in a straight-line pull. However, this is not always true. Many times the pull is at an angle to the point. If there is not enough metal in the point it can break off or bend over.

Barbs?

Here is a little piece of surprise from the history books. It seems that barbs were initially introduced, not to hold the fish on once hooked, but to stop the bait coming off.

I often fish with barbless hooks. I guess what launched me into barbless hooks was acting as a deckie on a commercial tuna boat off the Three Kings many years ago.

On these trips we would tow handlines, pulling tuna lures. We were fishing for the Japanese market, so the object was to land the fish in as top condition as possible.

The system was simple. The hand lines were secured to the rails of the boat by string of a known breaking strain, and then to a Dan buoy. If the fish was big enough, the string broke and pulled the handline, attached to the buoy, overboard. We simply did a turn and went back to pick up the fish.

On good days we would pick up ten or more yellowfin tuna.

Here is the important news, the hooks were all barbless. Here is even more important news, even when the tuna had been under a buoy, and there had been slack in the system, I did not see one tuna come off the hook.

There is an important aspect about this that cannot be ignored. The breakaway system we were using ensured that hooks were always well and deeply set. This, I think is a key point, barbless hooks are easier to set.

Easy Release?

The prime advantage of barbless hooks is that they are easy to remove. If you regularly release fish, you should use barbless hooks.

You can make hooks barbless by filing off the barb, but I have found that sometimes the heat generated by filing does reduce the hook’s temper and weakens the hook. I prefer to use a pair of parallel-jawed pliers to crush down the barb. This does the job without damaging the hook.

There is another advantage to barbless hooks, and it is one that the commercial boys have homed in on. In a hot bite, it is easier to remove the hook, easier to remove residual bait, therefore you can get another bait back into the water much more quickly.

And the first time you sink a barbed hook into a part of your body, and have to go through the drama of having it removed, you will become a barbless devotee.



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