Red Sickle Hooks...Good Or Bad?

[jkwildhunting]

I picked up 1k red sickle hooks recently and poured a bunch yesterday. Just curious if anyone else uses these?

They look SHARP with red hook but I have heard both good and bad stories. I used a jig with a sickle hooks 5-6years ago but it was a crappie jig with a #2 or 4 hook small and I broke 5-6 hooks in a days. Did they fix this issue or are the red sickle hooks still "brittle"?

Making a bunch of jigs for some buddies and would rather not give them bad hooks?

Anyone have any other good leads on red hooks? I see captainhookswarehouse has VMC red ones for about same price are those decent sharpness and strenght wise?

So far I really like the sickle hooks as they are super sharp but if they break then I do not want to mess with them.

[KurtG]

Have been numerous issues with sickle hooks in the past. Matzuo has been good about correcting the problems and I havent heard any negatives for over a year.

I like the red except it is not a durable finish.

[HookinEyes]

95% of my jigs I use sickle hooks. Some red, some black, some bronze.

I love em.

I haven't had any issues with them being brittle. Every once in a while I come across a few out of a bulk pack that are missing barbs or bent.

[chershey]

I used the same 3/8 oz. jig with a sickle hook for 3 days last week and probably caught 40-50 fish on it. Still very sharp up to the point when a large pike decided he wanted it. I wasn't around rocks. I fished earlier this year on the face of a dam covered in rip-rap. When I would snag up, the sickle hooks seemed to retain their sharpness better than standard hooks, but still only good for a couple of snags.

[T Mac]

IMHO, , they are one of the better hooks out there for some applications.
I like the shape a lot, ...for crawler harnesses and on rigs.

[sdjiggerman]

i was using the Diachi 1/0 jig hooks because they were nice and strong. Never had a problem with them bending. Are these sickle hooks a heavier wire or are they fairly sturdy?

[2XL]

They are not what I would consider a heavy wire but they are decent hooks for the money. I have never had one fail on me when fighting a fish. They have put Northerns up to 42", Flatheads in the 20 to 30 pound range and countless snagged big carp in the boat for me without a hitch. Also, they are wicked sharp.

That being said, I did get a bad batch of the red sickle hooks about 5 -6 years ago. I had a few just break (one broke into 3 pieces) when trying to retrieve them from snags. I know the one broke into three pieces because all three pieces were still in the twister tail I was casting. I am thinking I just got a bad batch of hooks but I won't fish with gear I can't trust so I won't use the red ones again. I have been using the bronze ones with zero problems.

[CTS]

I cast Matzuos almost exclusively. I stay away from the red and bronze hooks simply because I prefer the black chrome.

Matzou has had a couple glitches in hook strength in the last couple years but as mentioned they took care of customers quickly.

Most of my jigs are cast as crappie jigs but I do cast some walleye heads as well and swear by the Sickles.