I pick up some 3/0 Mustad Ultra Point Big Gun Catfish hooks today. They seems to be a good hook I've see next week at the lake. Going to use them with a egg sinker rig.

do you ever use the circle hooks that mustad makes? goodluck with the new hooks. let me know how they work.

Never try circle hooks. Going to try some get some shad with my castnet!

i like to use the gamakatsu octopus hooks for catfish. never been a fan of circle hooks myself...

I like saltwater hooks for big catfish. They're built strong, sharp, and compact usually to be harder for fish in the clear ocean water that mainly feed by sight to see. I'm currently using 6/0 2X strong Mustad beak hooks for flats and blues and really like them. I've never fished the big gun catfish hooks and have a rough time trying to rod and reel fish with circle hooks. My hookups are just really inconsistant.

I use 8/0 octopus hooks with cut bait, 3/0 circle hooks with shrimp. Catfish have big mouths, so really you need to base your hook size on the size of your bait....

If you have a big piece of bait...you need to make sure the cat will pick the bait up and the hook is large enough to set through the bait.

Example...A big piece of cut gizzard shad (they get up to 5lbs on the James River in Richmond) will slide out of a fish's mouth if you use a small hook.

At the same time, a large hook will tear out of a smaller piece of bait.

I like saltwater hooks for big catfish. They're built strong, sharp, and compact usually to be harder for fish in the clear ocean water that mainly feed by sight to see. I'm currently using 6/0 2X strong Mustad beak hooks for flats and blues and really like them. I've never fished the big gun catfish hooks and have a rough time trying to rod and reel fish with circle hooks. My hookups are just really inconsistant.

Patience with a circle hook is key. When a cat bites, let him take it (I set my drag out to nothing). Once the bait is in the fish's mouth the set on a circle hook is as simple as putting tension on the line.

Patience with a circle hook is key. When a cat bites, let him take it (I set my drag out to nothing). Once the bait is in the fish's mouth the set on a circle hook is as simple as putting tension on the line.

I've tried doing everything by the book with circle hooks and it just doesn't seem to matter, even bought a rod with a softer tip so it would load more evenly, still just really inconsistent, even with the best circle hooks. Just one of those things that works well for some and not for others. One of my favorite parts of catfishing is laying the hammer down on a big fish anyways so using circle hooks takes that away from me too.