Speaking J hooks here, what type of hooks do you like for your plugs and which ones for your standard horse ballyhoo ilander combos? I have notice that a lot of people are using the tuna recurve hooks (7691) for plugs but it seems like more people like the 7731s for bait fishing. What are your thoughts here?
We still use J's for lures, but when bait fishing I strongly urge you to switch to circles. Its better for the fish, and your hookups might improve. For baits we use 19/0 or 20/0 eagle claw circle sea's.
Birdhunter:
The thinking behind the different styles is that on lures, you get more of a slashing strike, so you want more of a traditional J-hook like the Hays:
On the meat, the fish is trying to actually eat it, and with a short dropback you can use a hook with the point angled in a bit toward the shank like the southern tuna hooks. Less chance of the fish throwing one like this but harder to get that slashing hookup:
I've also seen double-hook lure rigs set up with the tuna style in the front/head of the lure and the open style in the back as a stinger with the idea that you get the best of both worlds, but for me personally I will only rig semi-stiff single hooks in any lure (and I really like the Hays hooks for that purpose).
Of course, since this is a Circle Hook forum, if you're using 100 percent natural bait, then you really should try a big circle hook bridled up--waaayyy fewer pulled hooks and a ratio that's just as good if not better than Js. Just my .02...
Okay Swami, what you are telling me is the exact opposite of what others have said. From what I have gathered, most folks use tuna hooks in plugs but the 7731s in the meat. Now I am confused. As for the circles, I know he benifits of circles but this is not a debate of circles vs J, it is J vs J. Thank you everyone for the input.
First, I really apologize for any confusion--I'm no expert when it comes to lure fishing, and like anything else there's a dozen ways to do it depending on who's giving the advice. This is just the way I was taught to do it, nothing more or less.
I checked around a couple other places though and found some interesting stuff. First, Roddy at Legend Lures uses an open hook, namely his own Hays Hook shown above. Peter Pakula also uses his own hooks, which are open with just a bit of curve toward the shank at the tip:
Here's an example of a couple Moldcraft hooksets.
Like I said, I'm sure not trying to come across as an expert, just offering a couple points of view as I was taught. Hope this helps,
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