I used to use the Eagle Claw L042 for Walley/smallmouth and loved them. I might have to try them on stripers. I have settled on using the Gamakatsu red octopus hooks, but they are expensive and I miss a lot of fish when the hook turns into the bait. Rick K showed me a trick with a piece of rubber band, but it still happens once in a while. I experimented with a bunch of hooks last year and settled on the octopus. I will say never buy the gamakatsu value pack circle hooks, I’ve never had so many hooked fish come off while reeling them in, almost comical
… and I miss a lot of fish when the hook turns into the bait. …
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
I got tired of the hooks turning into the herring and stabbing them in the head. Now I just go in the mouth and up through the top of the nose. Totally eliminates that from happening.
I tried that, the bait doesn’t seem to live very long hooked from the bottom. Do you hook in the mouth and out through the top or up through both lips. Maybe it the #14 hooks you use.
I tried that, the bait doesn’t seem to live very long hooked from the bottom. Do you hook in the mouth and out through the top or up through both lips. Maybe it the #14 hooks you use.
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
Edited due to my lack of reading comprehension
I ain’t quite to #14’s yet…lol, but I do use the small light wire hooks because I think they may not do as well hooked like that with a heavier hook.
Anyway, I just started hooking them like that sometime last year and it seemed to work prety well. Hoping to get back out there soon and try it out some more.
Wow…what a sensative topic! lol… Well I guess I am a minority like Murraymaker. I have tried almost every hook that is mentioned in this post and for me the Owner MUTU Light #1 is my all around hook unless I move to large gizzards bigger than 6 inches. I used them on DR, PB’s and FL’s. I rarely miss a fish that bites and can probably count on both hands the number of fish I have lost once they were hooked. I have also done tests with very well known striper fisherman among us and put his Eagle Clay L042 on his roda and Owner circles on mine. My catch ratio was nearly double his. I saw alot of yanking and attempting to set hooks but for whatever reason they never set. I also like this hook for the fact it rarely fowl hooks like most every other hook out their including other circles. The J in the center of the hook usually forces the live bait to stay centered. I have also caught fish well over 20 lbs and never had one straigten or break. It all about good equipment, loose drags, and some skill fighting fish. Just my two cents and like someone said its what you have confidence in and what you have faith in. Three others that have fished with me have switched over after they see the results.
“My biggest worry is that my wife (when I’m dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it.”
Barrons in columbia had had them time to time, but you cant count on them being there 100% of the time. Other than them i haven’t found locally. I usually pick up a couple packs when I go to Beaufort.
As far as bulk you may try basspro or somewhere online. I havent really looked for them in bulk because of the price. But like most owners they are lazer sharp and stay that way. And have never had one rust in any way, so i reuse them ALOT and never throw one away.
Sports Acadamy has some 8 packs, but I get mine in 46 packs on Amazon. I just ordered 2 packs of #1’s last week. Received them in 3 days with free shipping
Owner Mutu Light Wire black nickel… #1 up to 4/0 (depending on bait size). Most herring and smaller shad up to 6" on a #1, on all my freeline/planer/cork rods. Mustad Demon Light Wire Circle in 1/0 on my downrods. The Mustad Demon 1/0 is smaller than the Mutu #1. You can’t just go by “size” between manufacturers…
You can buy the MUTU in 100 packs. You can get them from Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas. You can also order them on-line directly from Owner and Mustad I think. Owner sent me a nice sticker and patch when I ordered some stuff from them a few years ago.
My opinion is that you rarely “set” a hook when you are fishing with a rod in a rod holder. Also my opinion, the circle hook is superior to the J hook or wide bend hook in “setting itself” unless you are cut-bait fishing and let the fish swallow the hook. You can “set” the hook when you remove it from the rod holder to try and make sure the hook bites through a fish’s lip or jaw, especially on a larger fish with a tough bone… but that can be done equally well with a circle that is “skin hooked” only… Another thing about a circle hook that I believe is an advantage, if you have to play a fish for a while, the circle is more likely hooked in the corner of the mouth, where-as a J hook or wide bend will stick anywhere the hook touches. That means many are hooked inside the mouth and the leader rubs against the fish’s lip every time he turns or changes directions, abrading the line and weakening it.
I do have a couple of big bait rods I have experimented with, rigged with Gamakatsu Shiner hooks, which are wide-gap hooks similar to the Eagle Claw 042 and a dropper loop tied back to a treble stinger. The jury is still out on them, as I have not caught many fish on them so far. This is not the hook’s fault or the fish’s fault, but my fault and the fact I have fished so little in the past two years
No right or wrong here… just opinions. I love to have these types of threads on the message board to see what everybody’s doing
Funny how something so basic turns out to be one of the more interesting threads on here in a long time. Just shows ya there is more than one way to skin a cat catch a fish.
I use circle hooks only when I fish big pieces of cut bait. I fish hartwell alot and I don’t pull planers much except this time of year. The way I keep from gut hooking fish is I set that hook real HARD!!! A sharp hook will pull from the rim of tgat fishs’ gullet and get stuck in the jaw most of the time. I used to fish Murry a lot and to read some of ya’lls post I wanna fish it more. I love that lake. #2/0 Or 3/0 j hooks for me though. 30+ fish are what I want!
I buy my Owners from Barron’s like Chip said but beware they may not be there…I buy them every chance I get and know I am a victim of my own circumstances since my partner and three other MSC members are using them now.
“My biggest worry is that my wife (when I’m dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it.”
and the fact I have fished so little in the past two years 
