Daiichi Circle Hook are Incredible!

[8fishermen]

I have used circle hooks for many years. I have tried many manufactures and types of circle hooks. I finally found what I was looking for.
I have searched for a hook that could handle large and small fish. The stretch of Pearl River that I fish produces thousands of eating sized fish along with many big fish. It is not uncommon to catch a 10 to 20 lb blue when the river is running fast. Most fish are eating size though, so what to do with your hook size????? Do you go big and miss some of the eaters or small and miss some of big fish?
Last weekend I tried the Daiichi 3/0 Octopus Wide circle hook with incredible success. We caught fish from 2 lbs to 30 lbs. Each was a perfect corner of the mouth hook set that was lodged behind the plate. We landed 10 fish from 12 to 30 lbs. We landed 4 fish from 6 to 9 lbs. We landed Three fish that were 2-3 lbs. Some pics I posted are in an earlier post http://www.crappie.com/crappie/catfi...-big-fish.html. We miss few very few bites. I only lost one fish, about 12 lbs at the boat. We released all but one of the larger fish unharmed. The one we kept could have been released as it was unharmed by the hook. I am very interested to see how it fishes when the fish are in the 1 - 3 lbs range.
I will try to post how we rig these hooks later.

[ShilohRed]

If you like those, your going to love these. We use Charlie Brown Octopus Circle hooks. There almost the same hook. But you can also set the hook with these. Fish are caught in the corner of the mouth.
The 5/0 in these are on the small size for a 5/0. But man they are killer on small fish and big fish also.
Charlie Brown hooks
Pete

[NIMROD]

I use plain old bait hooks by Eagle claw in # 2. These little hooks are strong enough to hold a big fish and are great for small ones too. The price is about 4.00 for a box of 50 too.I've caught thousands of Catfish on these hooks , some well over 30 lbs too. I seldom usemuch over 14 lb test line either.

[8fishermen]

Nimrod,

I have used Eagle Claw many times and find they are not very sharp out of the box. If you sharpen them, they start rusting quickly. I prefer hooks that are very sharp out of the box.
We release quite a few fish and have started releasing almost all of the larger fish so they can breed. No one that I know of around here release big fish and that is not good. I did quite a bit of research on catfish and the larger fish are responsible for maintaining healthy populations. They also don't eat very well once they start getting that layer of fat on the outside of the fillets.
I like circle hooks for two reasons: They give you a solid hook set in the corner of the mouth making release easy on the fish and the fish hook themselves which is great when taking novice anglers and children (which I do often).
Anyway, I am sold on circle hooks. There is a really good reason the "Long Liners" use them offshore, They are deadly when left alone to do their job.
As far as cost, we are talking pennies here. Where I fish, I very rarely loose a hook due to breaking off. I believe you get what you pay for.
All in all... We are after the same thing, and that is confidence. If you get that with Eagle Claw, Fish On brother!

[ShilohRed]

If your looking for a hook that is sharp out of the box. Sharpest hook out there. And catches fish like crazy. Matzuo has that hook.
As for catching catfish. My wife and I have had so many days were 100 lbs of fish in less then 3 hours is ok. Any less is a bad trip. I have had days were by my self I have put 300+ lbs of fish in the boat that is with just me. For small fish as in the pictures above small hooks are great. But when fishing for big fish and big baits they just don't work.
But again most do use 2 big of a hook anyways. I grew up commercial fishing. We only used a number #1 japan hook on our trot lines cleaned on avrage of 1000 lbs per day. Wish they still made that hook.
Pete

[8fishermen]

Reread my earlier post. I sounded a little rude.:o I did not mean to so I hope no one took offense.
Anyway, Shilohred, You mentioned two different hook manufactures, Which one do you like best and why? How do you you rig them?
I use a sinker side and sinker bumper (made by Team Catfish) over a Spro power swivel. Main line is 65 lb braid. Leader is 40lb Ande Mono. This system is very versatile allowing weight changes in seconds.
Another reason I prefer the circle hooks is the heavy sinkers we use. Right now the Pearl River at Jackson is flowing 14500 cfs and it would take 6 to 8 oz to even almost hold in the current. All that current and 30 yrds of line swirling in the water behind the boat make hooking up with a j hook difficult.
There is also a technique used on the Mississippi river when fishing wing dams where 16 to 24 oz of weight is used. Some buddies of mine fish for giant blues in 100' of water that suspend around 80'. No one really knows why they do this but some massive fish are caught this way. Imagine trying to set a hook 80' deep with a 16 oz weight in the way They use circle hooks here for good reason.

[ShilohRed]

Reread my earlier post. I sounded a little rude.:o I did not mean to so I hope no one took offense.
Anyway, Shilohred, You mentioned two different hook manufactures, Which one do you like best and why? How do you you rig them?
I use a sinker side and sinker bumper (made by Team Catfish) over a Spro power swivel. Main line is 65 lb braid. Leader is 40lb Ande Mono. This system is very versatile allowing weight changes in seconds.
Another reason I prefer the circle hooks is the heavy sinkers we use. Right now the Pearl River at Jackson is flowing 14500 cfs and it would take 6 to 8 oz to even almost hold in the current. All that current and 30 yrds of line swirling in the water behind the boat make hooking up with a j hook difficult.
There is also a technique used on the Mississippi river when fishing wing dams where 16 to 24 oz of weight is used. Some buddies of mine fish for giant blues in 100' of water that suspend around 80'. No one really knows why they do this but some massive fish are caught this way. Imagine trying to set a hook 80' deep with a 16 oz weight in the way They use circle hooks here for good reason.

Sorry don't know how I overlooked this.. The Matzuo Octopus Sickle hooks If I'm going to use a standard hook.
How if I'm going to use a Circle hook its the Charlie Brown Octopus Circles all the way. Rigging the Circles I snell 2 of them one as a stinger hook. Theres about 4" between each hook. Or fix the top hook where it slides on the main line. I do this where I can adjust the top hook to fit when I use a half of a skipjack.

The Sickle hooks most of the time I rig them 2 hook rig also. But I fish with a sinker on bottom then up to a 3 way swivel then off that one to a 2 hook rig then from that 3 way on up to one more 3 way swivel. Then one more 2 hook rig. I control drift with this rig. It may well be behind the boat 100ft to 200 ft. Wear the blues out this way. I fish below Pickwick Dam in West Tn doing this. But also fished the Ms river this summer this way. Where it took 16 oz or better to hold bottom I can use less them half of that and fish drift fishing..
We also have the sinker slides..
Pete

[GCD]

Try the Daiichi Circle Chunk Light Bleeding Bait hooks!

I use them in 3/0-5/0 for fresh and saltwater, the 3/0 is a good all 'round hook!!!

[WhitePerchJerker]

Those Daiichi's are great hooks, very sharp.