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Off Set Hook Points

Mr Fish said:
Once upon a time, it seemed to me that most hooks you bought were offset, but not these days.
Certainly when I started out, pond fiddling mostly, they always seemed to be, from what I remember.
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Yep what i remember is those small horrid brown wire coloured mustad course fishing hooks that were litarally death traps for perch . They were that small a discorger would slide through them .
 
I fish fresh water but was interested in the offset hook points.
That is what made Me look on this site.
I too can remember buying hooks that were barbed and off set. ( size 16 )
When I was 14, use to go to Welling and Buy from Gentrys the fishing tackle shop.
Use to go Dartford lakes with My mate and fish. ( 65 years young now )
Since I retied, I have taken it fishing up again and forgot about the offset the hooks use to have.
I have also now started to off set the hooks too. I think it helps with the hook ups and I tried the book test, pulling them through. You can pull a non offset right through.
If the hook point is offset to the right it is called Kirbed, if it is to the left it is called reversed.
 
I used to but found no difference in hook up rates.
 
Got some very old new stock for Salmon fishing with shrimp? @flappy our resident Salmon expert! there 2.0 and look like an opened circle hook point part is straight then curves it like normal j then curves in a larger one there not Marinised so rust soon! but flatties etc brill as goes in mouth as a small hook but then as pull becomes a large one so mouth hooked!
 
I tend to use barbed beak up the shank hooks with an offset in various sizes depending on what sea fish I am after. Also buy mine in bulk and generally mustad make.
 
Offset hooks might increase hook ups but I wonder if offset points might also increase the chances of gut hooking fish species of the type where you tend to let a bite develop, rather than striking soon into a bite, and also for those species that you want to let run and then which slow/turn and swallow a bait.

I'm pretty sure that offset circles will gut hook much more often than inline circles will but I wasn't sure how much more offset J hooks do this compared to inline J hooks. However, reading the previous comments it does look like offset J hooks also increase the chances of this. I guess if you are targeting fish where you are striking quickly after bites occuring then offset hooks could be an asset but for species which you let run or let a bite develop with than I guess it's each to their own on whether they are happy with the increased chances of gut hooking.

I don't do freshwater angling so I can't comment on that but for me personally as a saltwater angler, I'm happy to stick with inline hooks. I'm fairly sure if i used offset circle hooks I'd end up with more gut hooked tope. I'd maybe consider trying offset hooks with congers as they can grab a bait and swim backwards and you need to strike fairly soon to avoid them getting back into their lairs but I'm not an expert though, I'm just bouncing some ideas around and would be grateful to hear if anyone has used offset hooks for congers and if it has made any difference.
 
If you practise catch & release with flatfish perhaps offset points not a good idea. My experience is that they lead to flatties being gut-hooked too often.

I have seen match fishers simply pulling soft longshank hooks out of deep hooked flounders. Those flounders being kept in a bucket of sea water for weighing before being released!

What is the point of that? The fish will be pretty well gutted and no doubt most will soon die!

For many years I have put a 10 deg or so downward bend (towards the hook point) half way along the hook shank. That makes the hook point act almost like a circle hook and improve the chance of the point lodging behind the jaw.

With flatfish it worked quite well, with pollack on ragworm or sandeel bait (slow retrieve) nearly every fish hooked in the top lip.

Now I am doing more freshwater fishing I am using hooks with down turned eyes and knotted with the trace line going through from underneath the eye and tied to the shank. Again it has the same effect as a circle hook with the hook point being turned in behind the jaw. Even with boilies and hair rigs and fish being left to self-hook I have not had even one fish deep hooked! That's of hundreds this last three years!

IMHO offset hooks are designed to deep hook, primitive and unnecessary with all the tackle choices available today.

As is often said.....reaching for my tin hat now! :rolleyes:
 
I fished Monday night ,2 rods 2 driffant rigs ,1 rid was ordinary j bend hooks the other semi circle hooks ,all night it was a Whiting feast both types of hook cought same amount of fish ,but the fish I cought on the semi circle hooks were all lip hooked and soooo easy to unhook ,those on the j bend hooks were mostly deep hooked and made unhooking a problem ,,so infutour I'll be us6 semi circle hooks
 
Mike hemming said:
I fished Monday night ,2 rods 2 driffant rigs ,1 rid was ordinary j bend hooks the other semi circle hooks ,all night it was a Whiting feast both types of hook cought same amount of fish ,but the fish I cought on the semi circle hooks were all lip hooked and soooo easy to unhook ,those on the j bend hooks were mostly deep hooked and made unhooking a problem ,,so infutour I'll be us6 semi circle hooks
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Where you off to this week?
 
personally I like straight eye and straight point hooks for most of my fishing coarse sea or fly...slightly inturned eyes on my favourite carp hooks still straight point and long shank though ...
 

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