Jason Thorp

Why would you sharpen hooks? It seems there must be a lot of people who were not born or forgot how it was back when we always had to sharpen hooks so let me explain a few things that may be helpful. There are a few ways to make a hook penetrate efficiently but there are basically two common ideas about this that I know of. Here's mud in yer eye. The first is to file the hook point (or design it in the first place) to have cutting edges. Some examples would be Mustad Knife Edge (are these made anymore?) and Owner (sort of). Back in the day many of us would try to file the hook point into a triangular or diamond shape from point to barb. The disadvantage is that this will cut up the fishes mouth and will make a bigger looser hole making it easier for the fish to unhook itself in the course of battle. It's also bad if you intend to release the fish. The second way that I know of to sharpen or design the hook to begin with with a needle point. And example would be some of the needle point hooks from Mustad (surely they still make those, right?). The advantage of the needle point is that it doesn't do as much damage to the fish's mouth so it stays buttoned up a but better and is batter for releasing the fish (especially if the hook has a shorter barb). Yes, Owner hooks do not need to be sharpened out of the package but due to their cutting design they cut the hell out of the fishes mouth. This is bad for the reasons state prior and it is very difficult to resharpen (but I have done it before). Gamakatsu is the way to go because they do less damage to the fish and are easier to resharpen. If a lure comes with anything other than Gamakatsu, Eagle Claw TroKar, or Owner is most likely going to need a at least a slight touch up with a file out of the package. Some of the VMC and Daiichi hooks might also be exceptions but in any case anything that does not pas the thumbnail test is not sharp enough. Those really cheap hooks that come on some lures that are silver in color are sometimes next to impossible to get sharp enough and when you do they often don't stay sharp for long. My advise is change them out with premium hooks. Even if the hooks look like premium hooks do the thumbnail test because I have seen lots of new lures with the coating to look like premium hooks (and they are good but...) but they don't pass the thumbnail test. Touch them up with some sort of file or hook sharpener and then you will be ready to rock 'n ' roll.