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[dave c]

Hello all: with the upcoming coho season I'm curious if anyone could weigh in on the pro/cons of circle hooks vs traditional octopus?

[CohoJake]

From what I understand, circle hooks are good to avoid deep hooking of fish that tend to chew and swallow.  I don't think they would work well with coho that usually spit the hook out faster than you can set it!

[BMo86]

I agree with jake on this one I think the bite would be too quick with coho,  I’ve used circle hooks for sturgeon fishing and they work well but I think that because its a longer bite.

[DanL]

I believe as far as salmon fishing in rivers goes the major benefit of circle hooks is that they greatly reduce foul hooking.

However when you get a strike you arent supposed to set the hook, but rather tighten up the tension and as the fish turns the hook lodges in the corner of the mouth.

As such they have some utility in applications like fly fishing, but probably much less so when short floating roe. If you try and react to a soft take, and set the hook, you will just pull it out of their mouth more often than not.

[fishingwithjohn]

gamakatsu barbless octopus...I cant remember the last time a fish popped off...they do lose their sharpness after a few fights though

[dave c]

Tks guys. Was curious.  Have never tried them. Dont think i will

[bigblockfox]

Wasn't a fan of the barbless gammies. In size 2 they bent way to easily. Only rock Owners now.

[Hike_and_fish]

Wasn't a fan of the barbless gammies. In size 2 they bent way to easily. Only rock Owners now.

Me as well. Owners for everything. Circle hooks for Sturgeon when fishing big roe bags and that's it.

[RalphH]

experimented with them a couple times when fly fishing. Foul hooking is not eliminated but fish get off very quickly. Never landed a foul hooked salmon on a circle.

Found they worked well on a retrieved fly. Just keep stripping or use a slip strike and the hook will be set. The set is very positive & seldom lost a fish.

I believe as far as salmon fishing in rivers goes the major benefit of circle hooks is that they greatly reduce foul hooking.

However when you get a strike you arent supposed to set the hook, but rather tighten up the tension and as the fish turns the hook lodges in the corner of the mouth.

As such they have some utility in applications like fly fishing, but probably much less so when short floating roe. If you try and react to a soft take, and set the hook, you will just pull it out of their mouth more often than not.

[typhoon]

Use circle hooks for any horizontal presentation (i.e. not drag free short floating) and your "catch" rate will drastically reduce.
I hate snaggin' chum.

[ByteMe]

I have been using circle hooks exclusively over the past 5yrs, on the beach for pinks, in the river for all species and especially fishing for fall steelhead as they are keyed on salmon eggs, by either tying on an egg fly or a pegged bead 2-3" above the hook, have never had a deeply hooked fish, all hook ups are in the corner of the mouth what RalphH said is very true...once hooked they very seldom get off, and if you have a tendency to strike, make sure is low towards the shore which drives the hook into the corner of the mouth, having the confidence in using them was the toughest transition for me at the start

[Every Day]

On good advice from a buddy of mine (after a really rough losing streak in steelhead early season), I ran circles the rest of the year.

My results were as followed:

Trout bead: You almost (literally) never miss a fish. Landing rate went from 40-50% to the high 90's. I fished a sliding bead above a size 4 (regardless of bead size) gammy circle for the absolute best results.

4 inch worms: I did not lose a single hooked up steelhead. Fish typically hook themselves. I will not fish another hook with a 4 inch worm ever again. Size 1 circle gammy was best.

6 inch worm: Didn't work whatsoever. The fish seem to bite the middle of the worm and never really get hit by the hook. I wouldn't ever recommend a circle with a worm larger than 4 inches long.

Bait: Very mixed results. I lost 3/4 steelhead with size 4 hooks during steelhead season on solid float downs/hookups, so abandoned it (especially after the spectacular results on other methods). I have been trying them again Chinook fishing on the stamp. My findings is that you need a minimum of a size 1, but a size 1\0 is better (so low clear conditions on spooky fish it won't be ideal). Roe needs to be smaller than the gap of the hook so as not to cover the point. You do miss some fish, but we haven't lost one yet that's actually been hooked.

Roe bags: hang the bag off the bottom of the bend of the circle hook. We used size 4 gammy hooks again and so far the method has been 100% on hookups (granted small sample size of 5 fish - I dislike roe bags in general). I believe this works well because the hook point never is covered. Prawns have also been 100% landing rate with well over 20 fish hooked now - same thing, thread it on and hang it off the bend of the hook.

Spoons: took a lot of tweaking, but I'm fairly confident in them now. Overall I'd say on steelhead that it is similar to normal hooks on a trailing system. Maybe slightly higher. Size 1 hook is the sweet spot. Where they shone was on brown trout for some reason, landing % was up drastically. I look forward to trying on coho.

Other notes:

I was told when starting to not set the hook with circle hooks. I've personally found that to be false. I tend to reel down quickly until I feel some weight, and then set hard every time, and it has worked very, very well.

[psd1179]

On good advice from a buddy of mine (after a really rough losing streak in steelhead early season), I ran circles the rest of the year.

My results were as followed:

Trout bead: You almost (literally) never miss a fish. Landing rate went from 40-50% to the high 90's. I fished a sliding bead above a size 4 (regardless of bead size) gammy circle for the absolute best results.

4 inch worms: I did not lose a single hooked up steelhead. Fish typically hook themselves. I will not fish another hook with a 4 inch worm ever again. Size 1 circle gammy was best.

6 inch worm: Didn't work whatsoever. The fish seem to bite the middle of the worm and never really get hit by the hook. I wouldn't ever recommend a circle with a worm larger than 4 inches long.

Bait: Very mixed results. I lost 3/4 steelhead with size 4 hooks during steelhead season on solid float downs/hookups, so abandoned it (especially after the spectacular results on other methods). I have been trying them again Chinook fishing on the stamp. My findings is that you need a minimum of a size 1, but a size 1\0 is better (so low clear conditions on spooky fish it won't be ideal). Roe needs to be smaller than the gap of the hook so as not to cover the point. You do miss some fish, but we haven't lost one yet that's actually been hooked.

Roe bags: hang the bag off the bottom of the bend of the circle hook. We used size 4 gammy hooks again and so far the method has been 100% on hookups (granted small sample size of 5 fish - I dislike roe bags in general). I believe this works well because the hook point never is covered. Prawns have also been 100% landing rate with well over 20 fish hooked now - same thing, thread it on and hang it off the bend of the hook.

Spoons: took a lot of tweaking, but I'm fairly confident in them now. Overall I'd say on steelhead that it is similar to normal hooks on a trailing system. Maybe slightly higher. Size 1 hook is the sweet spot. Where they shone was on brown trout for some reason, landing % was up drastically. I look forward to trying on coho.

Other notes:

I was told when starting to not set the hook with circle hooks. I've personally found that to be false. I tend to reel down quickly until I feel some weight, and then set hard every time, and it has worked very, very well.

Nice. I had a pack of circle hook but only used as shank for articulated fly. I should take it out for real use then.