Sickles failed me.

[fish_4_all]

I actually do like them for how sharp they are but their holding power so far leaves a lot to be desired. No it wasn't crappie, it was trout but I lost 4 fish right at the dock today and my sons lost 5 combined which never happens with my other hooks.

I don't know if I was not setting the hook hard enough or these hooks just suck for trout but I am not impressed so far. Before the sickles today I could count on 1 hand the number of fish I had shake a hook in the water after getting them to the dock. Above the water sure, but not in the water.

I tied them on using a clinch knot if that might have made any difference. It was 1/16 #4 that all the fish were lost with.

Did I do something, could it have been the hooks or was it just bad luck?

[OKSTATEjiggy]

I personally never use sickle hooks. I lose a ton of jigs just using regular hooks, but those things look terrible. And I catch probably 95 percent of the fish that bite my jigs.... regular ole bronze hooks, none of this fancy shmancy needless stuff

[robbor]

Sorry to hear, id have to wonder if they were bass or crappie. I do my best to always set the hook fairly strong as id rather lose a fish to a pull out or mouth tear than than lose a good fish because he was never really stuck. While fishing weedless bass jigs i have watched my friend lose fish after fish because he is not setting the hook, more like just lifting or loading the rod tip and never really hooking them. I use the ron popiel modow "set it and forget it". If you set it good enough initially they are on for good.

[fish_4_all]

They were trout, haven't gotten into any bass or crappie with them yet. I thought I set the hook, I did the same i do with my regular fly hooks and no glory. The good thing is they were not huge fish but losing so many fish with them makes me wonder if I need to set them harder being they are longer tip hooks than I am used to.

Oh well, at least I know small jigs work almost as well to at least get bites and hook ups as regular flies even though I don't land as many with sickles.

[laserdoc]

I met the owner the other day of Matzuo hooks. We talked a good hour. He told me alot about the sickles and his other hooks.He had been in the hook business for years. Used to work with Eagle claw and designed the Lazer Hook they have He said the walleye guys first started using the sickles back in 2001 and it has just taken off.
Flatfish,,,,Did the hooks break or did they just get off because you did not set them hard enough. As sharp as they are I would not think you would have to set them very hard.
I plan to talk with him today and can ask him about it. Were these rainbow trout?

[buzzmanmo]

Here in sw mo. we use sickle hooks all the time. No problems, hook up rate improved.

[creekslick]

I caught a 25lb cat a couple weeks ago on a #2 sickle with no problem.

[Don G]

Just another gimmick to catch a fisherman...I have used them and see no advantage over regular hooks...If your hook ups have improved you were probably doing something wrong to start with..

They are fantastic for catching brush piles, etc.., but so are treble hooks

[kcir]

Some days fish arn't taking the bait right the only thing you can do is keep hooks sharp and change colors or baits.

[Slabo]

I have been using Sickle hooks for a couple of years and this year was the first time I had any problem missing fish on them. The fish were hitting very hard and sucking the jig in very deep on the few that I hooked and I noticed they were just barley hooked in the roof of the mouth so I took the hook and bent the shank so the point was sticking up more and that solved the problem no more missed fish. So it could have just been the way the fish were hitting that day.