# Hook Question



## Mumbo_Pungo (Dec 8, 2014)

Sorry for all the questions lately. So i typically use #6 j hooks on my seamullet rigs, but since i have started reading on this site i have come across many who use circle or kahle hooks. What are the advantages to using these instead of regular j hooks? Also, if you think i should be using circle or kahle hooks what size do you recommend for sea mullet? 

Oh yea, I also use #2 j hooks for puppy drum when fishing for them soaking bait. Same questions apply above for this too. 

Thanks!


----------



## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Doesn't matter. Don't know the last time I gut hooked a whiting. If you're not missing bites keep using the J hooks. Hook might be a bit small for flea fishing if you do that.


----------



## GC Since73 (Jun 3, 2012)

I switched to circle hooks and I get a higher hookup rate when my rods are in a holder. Fish hook themselves. If you are holding the rod and setting the hook I don't think it matters. The circles definitely reduce gut hooking of flounder. I usually have several rods out and have all staked. Love the circles for that. I don't like smaller than #2 for anything. I fought switching from j hooks for a long time but am glad I finally did.


----------



## Mumbo_Pungo (Dec 8, 2014)

Well i have already snelled a good amount of j hooks for my current rigs. I think i will switch over to circles after i run out. After reading through some other threads and looking around i think it will be best for me. Ive been debating between mono or braid on my sea mullet rod and think i will go with mono. I have my rods spiked a fair amount of the time unless the fish are really biting good. If I going to have it spiked ill just go with circles and mono since the extra sensitivity is not really necessary for circles and the stretch of the mono might even help with the circles. Going mono on my main line also means i can just attach my rigs surgeon loop to surgeon loop and not worry about leader or swivels. 

Can i get some input on circle hook size for sea mullet? 

Also, will circles catch puffers? wouldnt wont to eliminate them from my menu by switching to circles.


----------



## cooper138 (Aug 8, 2012)

#4-#1 mutu-light circles for mullet and pomps. You'll still be able to hook toadies.


----------



## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

if u spike multiple rods i would highly rec'd against j hooks but to each their own, especially if u fish mono.

IMO one of the main reasons i think the river rig ups peoples catch so much is it is the first time they are fishing with a good sharp circle and fluoro....drop config is secondary, JMHO

i will never fish a j hook again when spiking my surf rods for pomps...i spike 6 rods at a time usually...match the hook to the size of flea...owner mutu light #6-#2 usually, eagle claw L197 1/0

if i couldnt fish circles i would fish kahles, #4-1


----------



## bronzbck1 (Jun 13, 2007)

If your the guy that holds your rod fishing then use a j hook if spiking your rod use a circle hook the fish catch them selfs


----------



## DANtheJDMan (Aug 29, 2012)

+1 for greg12345

I tie my own River rigs with #4-6 Mutu light circles and kill whiting off the beach. I spike 2-3 bait/whiting rods and usually can't keep all three out if they are in there. The circles are great when you see the first tap just wait for the other hook to go off too. Unless the thing bows over double the first one. The first fish will bring in the next one and you can pull doubles all day long.

You should have seen the look on this guy's face here in Iowa when I was cat fishing next to him. I saw the first big tap and waited then she went way down. Reeled in an 18 and 22 inch channel cat on a River rig. The guy never got one and I caught 4 more.


----------



## Mumbo_Pungo (Dec 8, 2014)

I mainly fish shrimp. Have never done better on fleas than with shrimp. Must be something I'm doing wrong. 

Thanks for the adice guys!


----------



## flathead (Dec 18, 2003)

I use three different hooks for all my bottom rigs(not counting big drum rigs). If on spiked rods the rigs will be Owner Mutu Light circles, #4 up to 5/0,depending on the bait and species I'm trying to catch. But for folks who have a tendency to jerk rather than let the hook set itself, I perfer Kahles or snelled Gamakatsu Octopus hooks.


----------



## kraus (Jun 8, 2009)

Khales 4's and 2's


----------



## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

Mumbo_Pungo said:


> I mainly fish shrimp. Have never done better on fleas than with shrimp. Must be something I'm doing wrong.
> 
> Thanks for the adice guys!


I can not seem to keep the shrimp on the hook. get's stolen off, Any suggestion?


----------



## Mumbo_Pungo (Dec 8, 2014)

surffshr said:


> I can not seem to keep the shrimp on the hook. get's stolen off, Any suggestion?




Shrimp needs to be fresh and kept cold. If you by frozen shrimp it is most likely old and as soon as it thaws a little will be mushy. Impossible to keep on a hook that way. I try to cut the shrimp into pieces about the size of my fingernail or about 1/4 inch. Any bigger and the fish can just pull it off without having to put the hook in their mouth. I also take the shell off before I put it on my hook. I try to hook it through twice, but that is on j hooks. Might not be possible on circles. 

Doing it this way I will even catch the small pinfish.


----------



## blue82 (Sep 19, 2015)

kraus said:


> Khales 4's and 2's


I also use Kahle hooks size #4 - #1, with #1s being my go to. If my bait is stolen, I switch to something smaller, but I like #1s in case a red or blue hop on. I like Kahles over circles because I spike them and still hook up or hold them and give them a little jerk and still hook up. It's sort of the best of both worlds, and I've never gut hooked a fish.

Since river rigs were mentioned, do people tend to use beads this time of year (November) or go without? Does it really matter?


----------



## River (Sep 30, 2006)

IMO .... Sometimes it does, it is fishing so there's no normal,,,,, I always fished 3 or 4 rods at a time and unless I knew exactly what was going on from yésterday, I always had beads on one rig starting out, sometimes I took em all to beads ...... Sometimes the beaded one got switched back to naked,,,, which is my faverite ....... Orange always was my faverite and black Drum love black in dirty water ,... Then Susan came out with all the different shades of pink, white, blue, etc ..... And I really did well with pink ..... IMO, beads can make the difference between catching and not catching sometimes ..... River


----------



## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

you should go into politics with an answer like that...

but agree, at the end of the day beads are probably not as important as we believe, but i fish orange beads 95% of the time, 5% pink. anywhere from 5-8mm, these days usually 6mm.


----------



## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

also, shrimp from the surf is inferior to sand fleas simply due to difficulty keeping it on the hook on a long cast. from the pier when i am just underhand lobbing it i like shrimp a lot. but i count it as a revelatory moment when i decided to try fishing live fleas instead of shrimp from the surf, tripled my catch of nice panfish, you will catch plenty of dinks with shrimp but have had waaay more quality panfish (>2lbs) on live fleas.

my favorite panfish circle for river or FM rig is owner mutu light. for a traditional double dropper rig which i fish a lot i like the eagle claw L197s as the hook eye is very big and easy to pass a dropper loop through. decently sharp and cheap, only complaint is the smallest size they sell in bulk is 2/0 which is just a touch too large for me, i like the 1/0 which is only available in small packs. these are both offset but have never had a problem with gut hooking.

favorite panfish kahle is eagle claw L141 in bronze size 2, dirt cheap, sticky sharp....gold kahles are good for about 2 fleas then need to be resharpened

favorite panfish j-hook is owner mosquito, use size 1 or 1/0 with fiddlers when sheeping....


when it gets hot and heavy circles is the only way to go. i drop down to 4 rods and even then with my 2 older kids helping reel in fish you cannot keep all baits in the water, fish hook themselves and stay hooked for a long time while waiting to be reeled in, every single time hook is perfectly placed in corner of jaw or lower jaw.


----------



## Mumbo_Pungo (Dec 8, 2014)

greg12345 said:


> also, shrimp from the surf is inferior to sand fleas simply due to difficulty keeping it on the hook on a long cast. from the pier when i am just underhand lobbing it i like shrimp a lot. but i count it as a revelatory moment when i decided to try fishing live fleas instead of shrimp from the surf, tripled my catch of nice panfish, you will catch plenty of dinks with shrimp but have had waaay more quality panfish (>2lbs) on live fleas


I have the opposite experience. I don't run into problems with keeping shrimp on the hook as long as it's fresh. When I fish fleas I often reel in with an empty hook.or just a flea shell with no flea. What size fleas work best for yall?


----------



## bronzbck1 (Jun 13, 2007)

I caught over 20 citation pomps this year and I used beads on every one of those fish, one color bead but don't ask me


----------



## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

mumbo eagle claw #2 lazer sharp circle sea, Owner,khale bronze eagle claw,circle long shank bait hook. I like all these , and in this order. salt your shrimps overnight or less to toughen them.

surf fisher .salt shrimp, small pieces peeled #4,3,2,1,1/0 size for fish up to 12 lbs.


----------



## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Mumbo_Pungo said:


> Oh yea, I also use #2 j hooks for puppy drum when fishing for them soaking bait. Same questions apply above for this too.
> 
> Thanks!


 This is my opinion on j's for pups... They WILL GUT HOOK fish!! I have had excellent luck with j's on big drum,but with pups,I've seen more than one hooked deep with a j... 

When I'm targeting pups I use 4/0 eagle claw circles.. There are many "INLINE CIRCLES" on the market that can compare with the eagle claws but they are cheaper and they work well... Another thought,make sure you use "inline circles",if you are wanting to reduce guthooks..


----------



## time2be (Sep 16, 2008)

I have been using salted shrimp for the past few years and have done good on it. It catches fish and stays on the hook good. You don't have to use any ice on them either.


----------



## Cutbait Bob (Mar 24, 2004)

cooper138 said:


> #4-#1 super mutu-light circles for mullet and pomps.


Ditto...

They are the best.


----------



## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Drumdum said:


> This is my opinion on j's for pups... They WILL GUT HOOK fish!! I have had excellent luck with j's on big drum,but with pups,I've seen more than one hooked deep with a j...
> 
> When I'm targeting pups I use 4/0 eagle claw circles.. There are many "INLINE CIRCLES" on the market that can compare with the eagle claws but they are cheaper and they work well... Another thought,make sure you use "inline circles",if you are wanting to reduce guthooks..


"I have had excellent luck with 4/0 eagle claw circles on big drum"

I decided to excerpt a few of your typed words and form a sentence


----------



## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Garboman said:


> "I have had excellent luck with 4/0 eagle claw circles on big drum"
> 
> I decided to excerpt a few of your typed words and form a sentence


 They'd probably work,but not as well as a 10/0 gami j...


----------



## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

bronzbck1 said:


> I caught over 20 citation pomps this year and I used beads on every one of those fish, one color bead but don't ask me



I wouldn't dare ask you what you caught all those fish on..... But I was curious what your favorite color bead is.


----------



## cooper138 (Aug 8, 2012)

Translucent white.


----------



## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

Orange . . . Both opaque & translucent.


----------



## pmcdaniel (Nov 13, 2013)

For bottom fishing with a tied double drop rig for panfish with bloodworms, shrimp, or fishbites, I always use #2 or #4 Eagle Claw 2x Long Shank. If I'm using fleas I go easy mode and use the Eagle Claw L967 Kahle double rig. If I'm targeting anything larger on a fish finder or Carolina rig I'm using 1/0 or 2/0 circles depending on the size of the bait. I suppose I could use smaller circles when bottom fishing, but I can't remember the last time I gut hooked a panfish in salt water. Seems like they always snatch and run with it and get hooked right in the lip.


----------

