Fishing Hooks an Essential Part of the Fishing Equipment

Fishing hooks are an essential part of the fishing equipment. It’s important to have a selection of hooks that are well-suited to the size and the species of fish you are targeting, as well as the type of fishing which you intend to do. For every angling need, both fresh and saltwater, there’s a choice of hooks.

Hooks come in a great amount of shapes, styles, sizes and colors, thus making it very confusing. The vast array of fishhook with different patterns and sizes are largely due to the many different fishing methods, the size of the fish’s mouth, the type of bait and artificial lure used to entice them.

Materials

Most hooks are made of stainless steel, high carbon steel and alloys. To protect them from corrosion, some like carbon steel hooks are varnished or lacquered, or coated with bronze, cadmium or nickel. This type of hooks is specially made in mind for saltwater fishing use. Freshwater anglers seldom have to use this particular type which is also much more expensive.

Size

Fishing hooks size is expressed in number. The larger the number, the smaller the hook, and therefore a #12 hook is smaller than a #2 hook. And #1 is not the biggest hook. After #1 the next larger hook or number is 1/0. Thus, a #10/0 hook is larger than a #1/0 hook.

Fishhooks are designed with different shapes to suit the different types of fishing. But basically there’re 3 designs which are commonly used by sport anglers. And they’re the J hook, treble hook and the circle or C hook.

J hooks are available with short or long shanks. They’re the most common and a big favorite for fishing with natural bait. And as well as for tying artificial flies and lures. Most anglers carry along a few hooks of different sizes of this type in their tackle box.

Treble hooks are used mostly on artificial lures but not on fly tying. And sometimes used for rigging dead or live-bait.

Circle hooks or C hooks as they are sometimes referred to, are big and round, with the hook point bending inward. They’re great for billfish and bottom fishing. The hook-up rate with these C hooks is pretty high, because they latch onto the jaw of the fish firmly when hooked. But unlike the J hook which you need to strike when fish-bite, the C hook is a self-setting type without having to strike at all. All you need to do is keep the line taut and the fish will hook itself when it tries to move away.

Some of the popular styles include:

• O’Shaughnessy-These fishing hooks are best for saltwater boat fishing. They’re strong and able to withstand hard use, which can be used with cut-bait, fish or squid and even whole live or dead-bait.

• Aberdeen- A light wire and round bend hooks which are good for freshwater fishing.

• Sproat-A very popular hook used for fly tying and artificial lures.

• Bait Holder-The beauty of this hook is the barbs on the shank which prevent cut-bait from sliding into a ball. The right kind of hook for natural bait presentation.

• Weedless-A hook used for fishing among weed and debris. It’s shielded from below the eye to the point with a sprung wire guard.

• Carlisle- A long shank hook which is very strong, used for bait-fishing. Best used for toothy species.

The most important thing of a hook is its sharpness. Hooks must be sharpened before and during use. The exception is chemically-sharpened hooks which are real sharp compared to any others. Using hooks that are not sharp will not do the job well.

Another advice I like to mention is don’t skin on fishing hooks. Buy and use only high quality branded hooks. It’s no point having the top range fishing equipment but using cheap, poor quality hooks. Cheap and low quality hooks always let you down. Happy fishing buddies, wherever you’re based.

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