CIRCLE HOOKS OR J HOOKS YOUR OPIONS

For the last 3 years i have been using circle hook along side J hooks when fishing from my boat.
I mailly fish Morecambe Bay and of Walney Island.

My preferance is now circle hooks based on my findings
The priciple of a circle hook is that as a fish takes the bait the hook swivels and takes hold in the corner of the mouth.
Circle hooks were devised to increase the hook up rate of bouyed line fisherman by removing the need to strike.

They have reduced by 80% the number of flat fished deep hooked,as the hook takes hold before they fish has time to swallow the bait.
Using both lug worm and live sandeel, both baits are more fiddley to put on the hook but with pratice it becomes easier.
With the hook taking hold in the corner of the mouth you get a good secure hook up with out the need to strike. It is also less harmful for catch and release.

A couple of bonuses I have managed to land more tope when using sandeels, with the hook lodging in the corner of the mouth they cant bite off the trace.

This has happened to me now on three occasion with year when bass fishing in the bay. I have had three fish this year 5lb+
to 7lb+ and when I have landed them have found a small pouting about 3 - 4 in also on the hook as well as the bass. With a circle hook as small fish nibble away at the bait, In this case lug there is always a small amount left on the hook. Along come the small pouting and they can easily get the hook in there mouth and are hooked. Along came the bass a natural live bait bang a thumping take. I have not experianced this with J hooks.

If you are considering trying them there is a tip to make then work. DO NOT tie them on as you would with a J hook. The hook needs to be tied on to a loop in order that they can swivel to take hold properly. I use a double overhand loop this has served me well.

Hope my observasions have give food for thought and debate

Good post cookie, the circle hooks seem to be very popular with a lot of anglers now, we use them alot and like yourself find them a very good hook and more so now you can get them in a finer wire.... also a big fan of the semi circles aswell.

We first started using circles a few years ago down on the south coast for the black bream and found the same, much better hook ups and almost every time in the scissors, makes unhooking much more easier and no harm to the fish either.

Also use them quite a bit from the shore in certain areas with similar results, and more recently been using them to very good effect with soft plastics, they are a very good hook when rigged correctly, i have to say tho...... the J hook still has it's place

I do agree with you the J hook has its place in my tackle box as well.
I have not yet tried then out on tope and want to do more tope fishing next year.
Has anyone experiance of using circle hooks for tope ?
How do you rig them?

I've used them in back to back testing when Tope angling.
Just to pick up on a point before I elaborate. Circle hooks do not hook up before being swallowed. Exactly the opposite. They rely on being swallowed, its the action of sliding back up the digestive tract into the mouth again that ensures the hook lodging into the scissors of the jaw. The hook point cannot penetrate until this location due to the inward turned point.
I've now rejected them from my Tope fishing because of a number of reasons.
The cicles rely on sufficient pressure to drive the hook into the jaws by immediate pressure against the line. I use 15lb main line for Tope angling in association with uptide rods. The size of hooks I use for Tope means you just can't guarantee sufficient line pressure to drive a hook in past the barb. With the normal J hooks I use a 30 foot rubbing leader of about 50lb b/s with a running ledger. I use a bead on BOTH sides of the swivel link carrying the wired grip weight. This means when a Tope picks my bait up and runs with it in it's jaws, it comes after 30 feet of leader, to an abrubt bump as the leader and beads hit the joint knot to the main line. This action sets the hook firmly into the mouth of the fish. I adopted this method having fished with skippers Bob Cox and John Rawle for a number of years. Probably the best sport angling skippers the UK produced (so far). With this set up I find fewer dropped baits and the most success of jaw based hook holds. It's a little difficult to describe the importance of a bead each side of the sliding rig but once seen it's importance is blatantly obvious.

nice one guys i use them with jellie worms the new skipper of the sea urchin from whitby is peter rose same tel number07855439380 ill sus him out on the 9th oct