Circle Hooks with a PIN

[Beatsworkin']

What do you guys think?

[madgaffer]

i use vmc 8/0 or the elf2004 circle hooks for whites. I crimp my hooks onto my leader and set my pin rig up by feeding it in with the leader and crimp. same as u would fishing a j hook pin rig for tuna fishing with an islander. except now i use a smaller chugger or bait head in front of the bait.

[Beatsworkin']

I soldered the copper to the plated hook, so it won't move.
The PIN is a little high, can be cut down to size.
I should have taked the picture without the leader.

[jbones11]

What are you trying to do here ? Fish a bally on a pin rig using a circle hook ?? Why go circles and pins together ? Go J hook and pin for tunas and rig your circles on nakeds fully exposed for billfish. These kind of throw both styles together and defeat the purpose.

[Beatsworkin']

Just trying to use circle hooks as much as possible.
This is an idea to keep the circle hook in place when trolling a naked ballyhoo.

[Hroonk]

What kind of circle is the top one with the long shank? Doesn't that defeat the design/intent of the circle?

[Beatsworkin']

Don't know where I got that hook.
I doubt it will gut hook a fish.

[Sportsman]

Originally Posted by Beatsworkin'

What do you guys think?

wrap a 10" piece of monel around a loop in the smallest barrell swivel you can find. run the clean end of the monel straight down through the bait's head and out his throat. make a couple of wraps through the eye sockets and behind the gills. finish out by wrapping the excess down the baits nose and bill. use a 7/0 Eagle Claw circle hook that the barb just barely fits through the top loop in the barrell swivel above the baits head. have plenty of baits pre-rigged. when a bait washes out, just pull the bait from the hook and add a fresh one.

[captjohn22]

I crimped my pin rig but I had a small egg sinker in between the hook eye and the crimp. Set it up just like a J hook with a rubber band and went 6 for 6 on yft Saturday out of OI.
KISS, it worked.

[Hroonk]

That's pretty cool to hear, CaptJohn.

I'm assuming you put a skirt or seawitch in front of the circle pin rig like a normal j hook? Also, did you happen to notice if the circles hooked them in the corner of the mouth? (I'm assuming the tunas crashed the baits and hooked themselves.)