Non offset circle hooks

[DanL]

Can anyone tell me the difference between offset and non offset circle hooks? I used circle hooks with fairly good success last year and it was suggested that non offset circle hooks were less likely to gut hook fish. Also does anyone know where to get these? I would also like to get some colored non offset circle hooks. It seems to me that most circle hoos are offset. Thanks

[Phil T.]

A little twisting with a plier will take the offset out of the hook. Now, I've a question for you. Did you find that they worked better if you used a hook a couple sizes larger than you would for that bait and a normal hook? When I first tried circle hooks on bait rigs, I was missing fish until I used a bigger hook. If yo look at the point gap, it seemed so logical.

[DanL]

Yes a larger hook seemed to work better.

[Toad]

DanL,

Non-offset circles almost always catch at the fulchrum of fish's inner jaw, while offset models with a "hangnail" point often penetrate flesh prematurely. Simply, offset circle hooks sport point sections not inline with the shank. They're what's also called 'reversed' or 'kirbed.' Lay an offset circle hook on a table-- it won't lay flat. A non-offset hook will. And these hooks will slide through the fish's mouth smoothly until reaching the inner jaw.

Try Eagle Claw's L702-- best non-offset circle hook I've found. Note also, that rotating the bend of an offset circle hook to non-offset often voids the hook's function completely. By the way, you're right, all major manufacturers (except EC) of freshwater circle hooks offer modified offset versions only. Beyond Eagle Claw, you'll have to look to saltwater models to find non-offset circles.

-a friend called Toad

[Backwater Eddy]

A octopus style circle hook, such as a Gamakatsu Nautilus, has little or no off set and functions well on walleye, pike, and perch.

I use a lot of circle hooks while guiding, and Gamakatsu is by far my favorite. Daiichi also makes very good circle hooks, they are more of a true off set and do tend to find a gill or gullet more often then a Gamakatsu shall.

Out of thousands of catfish and assorted other game fish in 2001 I seen very few gut hooked fish on octopus style circle hooks.

Remember when using a circle hook your rod weight and action is very important in the system. It will need to be much more slower in action to load the hook properly. Glass rods often do this better then graphite with E-Glass by far the best in performance as well as durability.

Backwater Eddy ~ ~ ~><sUMo> ~ ><>

[Phil T.]

In my state, each angler is allowed two rods. I started using circle hooks on my "dead rod" and on my wife's rods when bait rigging. In each of those cases, the turning fish set its own hook. (My wife reads when she's in the boat.) Rod action didn't seem very important.
As for changing the hook's gap while straightening offset, it didn't happen. It's easy to compare the gap of a modified hook to an original. I simply held the hook's bend with pliers and pushed sideways on the hook eye.