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Hooks, Hooks & More Hooks


mrdevon

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When talking about rigs people often come to the conundrum of what hook should I be using when tying rigs?

 

We have have short shank, long shank, curved shank, wide gape, in turned or out turned eyes, varying degrees in size and material to name a few

 

But just what hook would best be used for what?

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This could be a very interesting Thread, will be good to see what, where, and why people use certain hooks over others in different situations.

Im sure there are a lot of "which hook" threads mind, lets hope this is more in sightfull rather than just arguments over brand of hook :wink:

Lead by example mrdevon :)

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I only use 3 or 4 different hooks in a mixture of sizes, That caters for most situations IMO..

 

ESP STIFF RIGGER.... In size 6,7 and 8, I use these with mono hooklings as the out turned eye helps the mono sit perfectly and doesnt kick out at an angle.

 

KORDA WIDE GAPE.... In size 8 and 10, I use these with short and coated hooklings, I just think they catch hold quicker than a kurve shank for example in these hooklinks.

 

CURVE SHANKS.... In size 8 and 10, Depending on bait size, I use these for my pop up presentaions.

 

Hope that helps a little :wink:

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Other than recently using the chod, ive pretty much used the same 3 rigs for the last few years. Rigs very similar to what you see they guy in the mags and the guy in the next peg using. Obviously there are a few subtle changes but in general I use long curved shank hooks for my snow man presentations, curved (long and short shank) hooks for my pop-ups, and a wide gape type pattern for my standard bottom bait rig preferring to use a straight point rather than beaked point where I can :)

I also tend to stick to size 6 in all patterns generally :)

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  • 3 months later...

Can i add another question into this post? What company of hooks do you prefer to use?

 

I am guilty of using the korda wide gapes this season, as this was my first season of carp fishing, i seen an episode of thinking tackle, thought they look great, and used them all season, ive had quite a good season on them but how many fish have i not hooked up due to the bluntness off the hooks, which i have only recently read about.

 

So, i want to go into the 2012 season, with a new hook which i will be more confident in, as i will be fishing a more challenging water and cant afford to not hook up due to a blunt hook. So what company should i go with? people mention the fox arma points? the fang twisters? i hear gardner make good hooks?

 

Please help?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Ross :)

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esp raptors for my bottom bait presentations. the short shanked, beaked point inturned eye type - with rig tubing, curved slightly inwards, they can be used on braided hooklinks for small pop ups too.

 

JRC do a pattern that is a long shank, inturned eye with a slight Kurv-shank appearance, they are good for pop ups but make really good universal hooks.

 

kamasan B175 heavy pattern fly hooks were my favourite for a very long time, but cannot find a stockist of them at the moment.

 

ESP do a Kurv-shank pattern that i use for pop ups and snowman rigs, but i love the use of shrink tubing, where as curv-shanks do not really require shrink tube.

 

as a footnote, none of these are barbless as i prefer barbed hooks. i do have one pack of barbless ESP curv-shanks for waters that insist on their use, i find a curved shank presentation is the best barbless pattern as they tend not to move about or pull out as much as other barbless patterns tend to.

 

:roll:

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Cheers Cob and ouch.

 

You both seem to mention the curve shanks, and most of my fishing is on bottom baits they seem ideal, and I've never used shrink tubing over the eye of the hooks.

 

With wide gape hooks I did put shrink tubing on the curve of the hook to make the point heavier, is that needed with curve shanks.

 

Cheers again for the help guys

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to be honest, you dont really need the tubing with kurv shanked hooks.

 

the concept behind the curv-shanx was that the hook flipped over as the hooklink tightened in the carps mouth finding a hookhold, which was the reason why shrink tubing was used over the eye of the hook on long shanks/other patterns, for this "hook flipping" it all stems from the original idea behind the "bent hook" rg which was used a lot in the 80s-90s which was a long shanked hook, like an aberdeen pattern or o'shaunessy bent at a 45 degree angle about 1/2 way up the hookshank, then tied in a knotless knot and hair rig arrangement presented a really agressive angle, but did cause some serious mouth damage and is now since banned on many (if not all) waters.

 

you can use a tiny section to pin the hair to the hookshank,like i do. the way i fish them is to choose my chosen braided hooklink, - they are not as good with mono hooklinks - but thats just me, tie a loop in the braid for your hair loop, thread my chosen bottom bait/boilie onto it - so i can accuratley measure the hair. then i get a small piece of shrink tube, thread this onto the braided link, then thread the hook through this tubing, hookpoint 1st. so this leaves you with a length of braid with a boilie attached and and a hook attached to the braid by a length of shrink tube, but not yet tied on.

 

i like relatively long hair lengths, so i measure out my chosen length and place the rig tube so it sits on the bend of the hook, i want the tubing to sit oppasite the eye, if that makes sense, then i tie the knotless knot as normal with the braid coming out through the front of the eye.

 

if you imagine the eye of the kurv-shanx hook as the top and the gape of the hook as the bottom, then the shrink tube sits at the gape of the hook directly below the eye of the hook. does this make sense? then i have a hair length of 0.5" from gape of hook to top of bait.

 

then once everything is set, i steam the shrink tube down into place and its job done.

 

as you drag the rig over the palm of your hand, or dangle it over your finger and pull it back, you will see that as soon as the hook encounters resistance, it flips over and digs in. i find having the hair in this arrangement makes it more "flippable"

 

as it works best when the hook encounters resistance, a semifixed/helicopter rig arrangement works best.

 

ouch. :roll:

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no dramas mate, what we are all here for after all. i know different anglers have different opinions on the palm test, but it gives me confidence and its not doing any harm, so where is the problem there? i have read from some "big name" anglers in magazines that the palm test is irrelevant but it makes me happy so thats that.

 

regardless of hook or rig choice, you are looking for that "flipability" so it spins and finds a hookhold as soon as the carp takes the bait.

 

:roll:

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no dramas mate, what we are all here for after all. i know different anglers have different opinions on the palm test, but it gives me confidence and its not doing any harm, so where is the problem there? i have read from some "big name" anglers in magazines that the palm test is irrelevant but it makes me happy so thats that.

 

regardless of hook or rig choice, you are looking for that "flipability" so it spins and finds a hookhold as soon as the carp takes the bait.

 

:roll:

 

Yeah, completely agree, just want that hook to flip round, which i feel i could do already to a certain degree, but using the korda hooks, how many flipped round and didnt penetrate the fish's mouth leading me not getting a fish on, so was hoping to find a decent hook that are reliable and effective.

 

Cheers again mate.

 

Ross.

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I wasn't happy with the hooks I'd been using so I started trying out a couple of new ones earlier this year, and I've found the Nash Fang Twisters work well for me.

I use them on a straightforward knotless knot rig with a fluro hook length of about 7 to 9" and a hair length of about 1 1/2" with a 15mm bottom bait.

I've found they give a good hook hold, often in the bottom lip and I've caught more fish since using them without making any other changes.

I've found they're a bit smaller compared to the same size hooks in other patterns, so I've upped the size I use (4's & 6's instead of 6's & 8's)

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Cheers nick, they all mention the Fox arma points which no1 has mentioned in this thread, looks like il be playing around with a few different patterns next season to find the one that suits me best.

 

Thanks all for the help :)

 

Ross.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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