snelling or crimping circle hooks

After reading through some old posts on snelling I tried it on our last trip on naked chin weighted ballyhoo. We had no action from the billfish but the dolphin seemed to prefer the naked hoo to the skirted ones in the spread that day, but our hookup ratio was pretty terrible. I know it is too small a sample to mean anything but I wondered if all that excess material between the shank and the tip would be an issue and it might be cleaner with a single loop through the eye and a crimp. Any wisdom to share?

Hydra-Sport 3300VX

I have always crimped J-hooks for ballyhoo rigs, and fished with some good fishermen who did likewise.

I snell circles for cobia, etc. but have also known some who prefer a loop with the idea it allows a circle to do its thing.

Good question.
OM

I always do the same J hook with a crimped loop, I don’t miss too many bites this way. I actually never snell, then again I never have any expectation of catching a Bill!

‘90 Maverick 18.5’ Master Angler/'03 150 18.5/'03 Evinrude
'14 Hydra Sports 3400/ 2 350 Yammys

Put very light drag on the circle hook rigs–just enough to keep line from spooling out–let each fish eat and turn their head before slowly pushing up drag. Should help out your hook ups a lot. Snelling is the best for a circle hooks action to work properly.

Pat Condon
“Carla Dee”

Are you saying you were Snelling j hook rigs?

Snelling is important on circle hooks because it helps it catch the corner of the fishes mouth.

no, just the circle hooks we were pulling naked ballyhoo with. I just wondered if anyone had experience suggesting hookup ratio would be better with the snelled circles or crimps. We had a hard time getting them to stick that particular day, but its hard to draw any kind of conclusion from just a few fish.

Hydra-Sport 3300VX

Snell circle hooks for trolling, and follow breadandbobbers advice above