Question about Hooks

[Patudo]

Fred, that photo of the bent hook. Was it a wahoo or a mako?

Blue Marlin Hook Question - Post #34:

Just in from Hawaii. This happened when a big mahi hit a Little DaisyBar being run on a bent butt 130 with the appropriate drag. According to the angler, the mahi took off like a bat out of hell and pulled 100 yards of line off the reel before the real reason for his "super bull pull" performance made an appearance. It was a big mako that caused the long run. That run ended when the mako burst out of the water, pounced on the mahi and bit it in half. Then, seconds later, it came back for the rest of the mahi, got hooked and proceeded to do this to a Mustad stainless.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Ace,

The picture with the black and green squid and the rigging pulled out for you to see it is a circle hook. The bottom shot, which is actually a zuchinni FatBoy Squid, is an 11/0 Hays.

The JT Specials have been spec'd out by Josh and Chris. They come with Hays Hooks only.

Ah, I see that my shadow , the mighty Patudo has discovered my error on the straightened hook picture . He's right, that was a hook that was in a dorado that a mako grabbed and took off with. No deception intended. I just forgot the details and the point on stainless hooks opening under pressure remains, but thank you for clarifying things. I have seen this happen far too many times on wahoo and marlin, along with points breaking off of stainless hooks in those species as well. That's why I switched over to all forged Sea Demons long ago. As stated, the Hays hook is by far the strongest stainless type that I have ever seen and I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

[Marlinhunter2]

The hooks our captains used in Cat Cay this year for BF Tuna are Mustad 7698 in 11/0 & 12/0. Never had one bend or break.

[WahooKing]

The Hays is a solid hook...Jabu style yet in s.s...One of the strongest.

I've opened points on popular brands of Southern Tuna hooks...A hook I've been using for the past couple of yrs is QuickRigs Southern Tuna...open and/or closed throat...no problem what-so-ever and high Wahoo hook up ratios...The elongated point and smaller barb makes easy penetration...Esp. on the Wahoo's bony mouth.

[Patudo]

I've seen the Quickrig southern tunas. Excellent product but the ones I saw are heavy in the wire which is good for some applications but not so good for others. The skipper that was using them had quite a few complaints about his hookup ratio.

[WahooKing]

I've seen the Quickrig southern tunas. Excellent product but the ones I saw are heavy in the wire which is good for some applications but not so good for others. The skipper that was using them had quite a few complaints about his hookup ratio.

P

Can't say on the Marlin application...The times I do get out to Marlin fish, I pretty much use single Hays...the gauge does seem heavier than a Mustad yet smaller than the Hays...I'll put the calibers to it.

For my application...those Southern Tuna hooks are straight up killers...We took 1st place 3X....3 different events at the Wahoo Challenge Series (Bahamas) last season...clean sweep...1 short strike and landed a total of 45 fish or so in the 3 events...hookup were solid even though the overall bite was weak....it was picture perfect...no need for us to use anything else.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Yup, those QR Southern Tuna models are good uns too. I was partial to the Hays Stainless' for most of my fishing, whatever it was for, but that Southern Tuna is favored by a goodly number of our customers.

We sell both.

The weakening dollar is playing hell with all imported goods prices and hooks are not being spared in that regard. A word to the wise!

Quick Rig Howard was here for a visit two weeks ago and will be back again for meetings in a day or two.

Website & on-line store www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com

[WAHOONBOX]

THERE IS ONLY ONE REASON A HOOK DOES THIS....IMO

THE POINT. IF A HOOK IS NOT PERFECTLY SHARP AND THE 'CHEEKS' OF THE HOOK ARE TOO THICK.....THE HOOK WILL BARELY ENTER THE BONE OF THE FISH BUT WILL NOT PENETRATE PAST THE BARB CAUSING UNDUE PRESSURE ON THE EYE OF THE HOOK...(FULCRUM POINT)


THIS IS NOT SPECULATION ON MY PART. IT IS GOSPEL GENTLEMEN.

WHILE I HAVE NEVER FISHED THIS STYLE OF HOOK....I CHALLENGE ANY HOOK-ANY STYLE TO DO THE "STRAIGHTEN-OUT THING" IF THE HOOK IS FILED PROPERLY

A HOOKS POINT MUST BE THE SIZE OF A "HAIR"

A HOOK PASSING THRU SALT WATER DULLS THE POINT

ANY MISSED CONTACT "STRIKE" WILL DULL THE POINT

A SHARPENED HOOK WILL DULL ITSELF BY HANGING ON A RIGGING BUCKET FOR A FEW DAYS EVEN INSIDE A BOAT.

[bisquit]

These comments bring a question to mind: How many days, trips, etc., is a hook good for? Or, how often do you change hooks?

If you sharpen hooks as aggressively as Marty, how long can they last?

[offshore]

I had this 7732 open up earlier in the year when a big blue marlin made a screaming run. We attributed it to poor poor penetration. Since then I have resharpened my hooks and made the barbs slightly smaller. I also went with the Hays hooks on all my big trolling lures. Will report back with results after the summer is over....Mark