All Circle Hooks Are Not The Same

I have been using circle hooks almost exclusively on Lake Norman since I release nearly all the fish that I catch. I really never took a hard look at the shape of the hooks that I buy because I never thought it made much difference.

Recently I have noticed that I and my fishing guests were getting an unusual number of drop off bites, meaning that the bite seemed strong but after a turn or two of the reel handle, the fish dropped off. A few of these drop-offs is normal but recently the ratio of catches to drop-offs was almost equal. This caused concern on my part so I took a good look at the hooks that I was using.

Because of the way I fish, I loose quite a few hooks and for some reason the stores have been out of the normal circles so I purchased what they had in stock. After taking a good look at the hooks I was using I theorized that the specific hook that I had was possibly causing the heavy drop-off rate. See the illustration below.

Ay first glance the two hooks look the same but they aren't. The right hook is the normal circle hook and the gape is nearly a perfect circle. The hook on the left has a s lightly offset gape so that the edge of that hook (c) causes that edge to be much further away from the parallel of the hook shaft (a). Notice that that distance (a) is nearly twice the distance from the shaft that the normal hook distance (b). This might not seem important at first glance but ass the hook is pulled up out of the gut of the fish, this greater distance (a) prevents the circle portion of the hook from catching the mouth of the fish and the hook simply pulls out of the fish. This is almost the same effect as jerking on the rod when retrieving the fish.

I purchased a complete new package of hooks and re-hooked all my rods. On my next trip my catch rate was 14 to one meaning that I caught 14 of the 15 fish that bit the bait. Doesn't seem like a very big difference, but the result kind of proves that sometimes the smallest thing can make a difference when bass fishing. It also shows that we are never too old to learn new things.

Fishing is Getting Hot Again

 I haven't been posting a lot lately but I have been on the water when the weather gets warm. I can't see any reason to got out there and freeze my but when I can simply wait until a warmer day. Well! those days seem to have arrived and the fishing is good. I call this the pre-pre spawn period. The water is getting warmer and the fish realize that the time is coming for the spawn. The bass are moving into the deep water ends of the creeks and coves and they are feeding heavily in preparation for the spawn. The water is a bit warmer at the mouth of the coves and they can still feed at the drop offs in the deeper water. As the water warms into the 60s they will begin to move further into the shallower water but now they are still deep in 30 feet or so of water.

I don't get many opportunities to get a photo of myself but this time it was necessary to have a buddy take this one. These are 5 and 51/2 pounders and I got them both at the same time. These are the biggest bass that my boat has caught this season.

There was a shortage of bait and I was forced to use some larger shiners but the bass gobbled them up as soon as they were dropped into the water, strange  thing.

I have been fishing in any drop off that i can find that leads to 30 feet of water. That's where I am finding a lot of fish. Also boated a couple of 20 pound plus blue catfish and the other day and a fishing partner brought in a nice striper. My wife and I were sitting on the boat tied at my dock and she landed a 20 pound blue cat the other day. Things are great on the water so get ut and fish.