Blue Marlin Hook Question

[merry marlin]

Brad, When we used to trawl all lures I liked the 7732 , 12/0 Stainless with bigger model Moldcrafts.

For bait We pulled only fresh dead or live albies, king mackerel or mahi's rigged catalina with between a 10/0 to 12/0 stainless7691. I'd probably pull today the 20/0 circle Mustad or Owner that is more ethically correct..... Also if you hook it, it'll allow you a mistake or two without the fish coming off.

For smaller Albies we rigged it like a balyhoo with a 16/0 Sea demon 7731, although catalina with smaller hooks is my favorite.

Go Get'em Man!
MM

[Patudo]

JMO - very little experience with bait so the following comments relate to lures only

The supposed advantage to an inward pointing hook is that the point angle better follows the pull of the leader. I pretty much agree, and if making a free swinging rig or tail hook that's the style I'll try and use. Are the Dojo hooks in Swami's post available in the United States yet?

If the hook rig is shrink tubed or taped into place I must admit to being less bothered about the style hook nowadays so long as it has the right gape (I'm quite fussy about this and prefer a slightly larger gape eg 10/0 Jobu versus 10/0 Mustad or vice versa to match with particular lures) and will set easily on the drag I like to use for whatever line class is being fished. Plus of course it should be as sharp as possible. I mostly use various styles of 10/0 and 11/0 for blue marlin fishing with 12/0 or the 11/0 Jobu (which is a big hook really more like an 11.5/0) in some larger heavy tackle corner baits and 9/0 in the smallest lures. One real positive nowadays is that 9/0 and even 8/0 size hooks are available that are really strong without being too thick in the shank. A 9/0 hook is an awfully small piece of metal to have to hang on to a big blue marlin with. As for rigs I like and use the single hook rig a lot but for some applications am still an unreconstructed fan of the non-PC, drag and snag two hook 180 rig and also the 60 degree free swinging rig aka the "danglers of death".

[costaricasportfishing]

I use Jobu hooks in my lures. Eagle Claw 2004EL 8/0 for Sails and 12/0 Eagle Claw for Marlin pitch. I really like the Jobu hooks for my plastic.

[thums up]

Lures we use 7691s everything else circle hooks. I even use circles for sharking up here in NJ.

[Wound Up James]

open bite (7731) vs close bite (7691)...??

single hook vs. double hook...??

As a good friend of mine always says,' if one was better than the other, we'd all be using it...'

one thing for sure is that over the years, stainless has gotten a lot softer and more likely to straighten out on you....galvanized hooks are strong, but a lot a maintenance for daily charter use....i went to all Hay's hooks last year, and although it takes a little getting used to putting a point on them, once you've got an edge on them, they're the reel deal..........

[birdhunter]

Thanks for the input guys. On another note, do you prefer stainless or galvanized for your plugs? And what is the advantage of using the stainless? We will be pulling them charter fishing and in tournaments.

[merry marlin]

Nice thing about stainless is that you just rinse and start over the next day, next year... I have some that haven't been in the water since 1999 on lures that have been in the water 50 times and I'd drop them in the water in 2009 without thinking twice.
Now as to this question of them opening up we fished with # 80lbs line and never went over 40 lbs of drag. Never had one open up on that kind of tension. But also we didn't play cowboy following the fish and taking the leader on a green fish...
If you open up the hook then you can tell a good story and double the size of the fish, we'll be happy to believe you!!!

[fish4bills]

open bite (7731) vs close bite (7691)...??

single hook vs. double hook...??

As a good friend of mine always says,' if one was better than the other, we'd all be using it...'

one thing for sure is that over the years, stainless has gotten a lot softer and more likely to straighten out on you....galvanized hooks are strong, but a lot a maintenance for daily charter use....i went to all Hay's hooks last year, and although it takes a little getting used to putting a point on them, once you've got an edge on them, they're the reel deal..........

Hey James. How about some tips to putting good points on the Hays hooks. I'm not sure if I'm gonna use mine again this season I've tried several ways of honing the hooks and just can't satisfy myself that I'm getting the penetration power that I can with Mustads. Switched to Hays last season and love the design and the strength but just not confident in them yet. How are you doing yours?

[calebw]

Take a look at this article. http://www.pakula.com.au/Docs/Articl...20Rigging.html

[Wound Up James]

Now as to this question of them opening up we fished with # 80lbs line and never went over 40 lbs of drag. Never had one open up on that kind of tension. But also we didn't play cowboy following the fish and taking the leader on a green fish...
If you open up the hook then you can tell a good story and double the size of the fish, we'll be happy to believe you!!!

Merry M. - I've got a bunch of 7691's that are open wider than 7732's thanks to Blue Marlin.....also have a pair of 7691's that closer resemble pretzel's - neither were the result of pulling on the leader !!! One of those fish we pulled the hook on, the other was a 150# Blue that came in tail wrapped in 8 mins in a tourney...neither had more than 20# of drag and both hooks were shot...when you've got the fish of a lifetime or the tourney $$$ fish on, would you want that same hook ??? .....i could ' tell you a good story', and 'double the size of the fish'....or, i could send you the pics !!!