One of the most important links between a fisherman's success at catching fish is the hook that is used. A successful day on the water can be won or lost by a poor hook. Whether you're a casual fisherman, an avid weekend angler, or a diehard tournament fisherman, overlooking your hooks can make a big difference in having an average fishing day or one that is remembered for a lifetime.
These days of high pressured fishing waters, bites sometimes come less often, making it more important than ever to ensure that we make every strike count. The best way to catch every fish that bites is to use the proper hook for the type of bait you are using and to make sure the hook is sharp.
Through the decades hooks have continued to evolve. And the current decade is no exception. Using special materials and modern technologies for creating the sharpest hooks ever produced and offering styles for every fishing situation, manufacturers have honed our present day hooks into a precision tool for hooking and catching fish.
There are as many hook styles available today as there are types of fish. Hooks have been specifically designed for every type of fishing from panfish to sailfish and everything in between. It's great there is such a myriad of hooks available today. No longer do we need to settle on using a few types of hooks for the many types of baits we fish with. Unfortunately though, as with every good thing, there is the downside. With all the styles available, how do we know which style and size is the best to use? The best way to know what hook is best for each individual application is by familiarizing yourself with all of the styles available and the advantages of each.
Hook Styles
Hook style relates to the overall shape of the hook. I believe the multitude of hook styles can be broken down into a few basic categories - Live bait hooks, Artificial (soft plastic) bait hooks, and Manufacturer use hooks. No matter what a hook looks like it will almost always fit into one of these three categories. And while there are a multitude of styles to be found in each category, I'll only mention some of the most popular styles.
Manufacturer hooks are those hooks used for making artificial flies, jigs, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits. While some hobbyists may use these for making their own lures or for tying flies, most anglers don't have
a need for them, so I won't go into them here.
Hooks in the Live bait category usually includes Octopus style, typically used for rigging live minnows, cut bait or Salmon eggs; O'Shaughnessy, and Straight shank styles used for Minnows and cut bait; and Aberdeen style used for live worms and night crawlers. Most live bait hooks can be recognized by the barbs on the hook shank. These barbs aid in keeping the bait firmly on the hook. Live bait hooks can also be purchased "snelled" meaning they are pre-rigged with about 6 to 12 inches of monofilament with a loop on the other end for tying directly to the anglers line.
The artificial bait hook category typically would include offset worm hooks for rigging plastic worms and soft plastic jerkbaits; Aberdeen, and Sproat are commonly used for plastic worms and the newer Kahle style hooks are becoming popular with fisherman using a variety of soft plastic baits. Some of these hooks also come with shank barbs to help keep the bait securely on the hook.
Hook Points
There are a variety of hook points available, but which type is most effective may be best left up to the individual's discretion and his pocketbook. The more standard points like the spear point and tapered piercing points are mechanically sharpened. They are the most economical and can be easily re-sharpened for reuse with a file or stone. The newer chemically sharpened points are as the name implies. They are sharpened chemically. These are typically much sharper than the mechanically sharpened hooks, but are much more expensive as well. Unfortunately though it is impossible to regain a satisfactory point after they have been dulled. Thus having a shorter life span.
If you have always had trouble sharpening your hooks properly to your satisfaction, or have never wanted to take the time to do so, the latter may be what you are looking for.
