Traces/Hooks

[Kine262]

I get their emails so if I see one coming in, I'll try to remember to give you a shout.

Cheers mate. I usually see they are on sale at Aldi or Lidl about two weeks after they have sold out!

 

[Kine262]

You can buy the "pen sharpeners" from e-bay, tapered one end straight the other, I've had one for 20+ years, fantastic little tool.

There is no hard & fast rule for hooks/traces, change them when they need changing, might do 2-3 trips, might do 2-3 casts.

Also think before you dispose of them, I treat old traces like medical sharps, they get put in some sort of plastic tub/bottle with a lid,
when full I tape it closed & stick on a label that says "used fish hooks/sharps" because waste is still hand sorted in places.

I do similar with a small plastic box but just snip the hooks off and pop them in their, whilst the trace body goes back into a bucket for the components (or sometimes the whole trace) to be re-used.

 

[Wolf]

I don't mean this disrespectfully Wolf, but if you don't think your used hooks are good enough for you to use again then why give them to a junior?

They are good enough to use again,when I was a junior the old guys passed their hooks they had used once to me & my mates, and I started passing my ones on when I became a adult,i've done it for years.Also if I see a junior using the wrong trace, when I'm fishing,I will always give them one or two of mine .

 

[Mike hemming]

Hi all
I was just wondering, how many uses would you get of a trace and hooks in particular? Is it common practice to replace the hooks and line after each use?
Thanks

Me well I use my rigs many times I just check for nicks and bugged hooks and will often sharpen the hooks I don’t see the need to scrap each trace after using them unless a strap or doggie wreaks them

 

[Robbie_B]

Thanks for all the replies and info, I'm glad I asked, has given me plenty to think about, I've never really done any maintenance on rigs, always used the same, it's all about to change

 

[GPSguru]

Hi all
I was just wondering, how many uses would you get of a trace and hooks in particular? Is it common practice to replace the hooks and line after each use?
Thanks

All my fishing is from my boat, I only use a trace and hook once, it goes in the bin when I get back from fishing.

Also check your hook point frequently when fishing, several times over the years we had a point go very blunt, and had to re-rig. You only need to hit a rock etc.

 

[Chrisbl]

I fish nice clean beaches mainly and I only use rigs once, they’re taken home and stripped down and anything usable I’ll use again. Hooks are always binned as the points are quite often fecked and as gps mentioned they can go blunt surprisingly easily so I do check frequently.

 

[crablante]

...Same with shock leaders- I won't risk reusing them again so load a fresh one on...

Your casting must be ferocious

 

[crablante]

...I do find a lot of the chemically sharpened hooks don’t hold a point or sharpen very well, so I’d certainly put a new one one rather than make do with my naff sharpening efforts!

Same - I've used the same 2 circles hooks once a week for nearly 2 months I find they retain their sharpness for the first month (I fish clean sandy beaches) BUT after that I file the points and although they're sharp, they're just not as sharp as they are out of the box.

P.S. I wouldn't say I'm tight BUT I do like to reuse and not waste...despite this it's time to change my circle hooks

 

[welshtroutfisher]

Your casting must be ferocious

Yep it's not the best I must admit.
I do fish a lot of rock marks and find the leader and sometimes a few yards of mainline can feel beat up