bending your hooks?

[Tony from Oak Point]

Well, with so much fishing pressure on the pond I am fishing in the bream are getting pickier. The other day I was getting tired of them stealing the salted shrimp off of my hook w/o getting a fish. I took a #8 aberdeen J hook and bent the shank in the middle about 20 degrees so that the barb pointed straight towards the eye of the hook.

This really improved my hook up ratio. Curious if anyone else has tried this? I have been fishing with a variety of hooks lately and went through a couple circle and straight hooks of various sizes and was still getting the bait stolen. I suppose by bending the shank I ended up with something a bit like a tiny kahle hook.

[dixieangler]

Have you tried keel hooks? Same sort of style except there is an extra bend up near the eye to straighten the front of the hook shank so its level with the barb. If the bent Aberdeens are working for you, probably no need for the keel hook though :D.

[Tony from Oak Point]

Thanks dixieangler, I found a pic on yahoo for those keel hooks but I have never seen them in the store. Bet I would find them in the fly tieing section.

I may just stick to bending my own. Come to think of it when I was a kid we put to good use a few hundred jig hooks that my dad bought at a garage sale. I guess the physics is about the same, with the eye and the point of the hook a bit more closely aligned. A week ago I had great luck with #2 VMC short shanked circle hooks at the same location.

[SwampHunter]

Try circle hooks. They hold good and easier to hide in the bait.

[reelcrappie]

Take a look at tru-turn hooks. They have a offset in the shank and seem to work well for me.

[Mopar Matt]

Take a look at tru-turn hooks. They have a offset in the shank and seem to work well for me.

I use tru-turns as well. They do seem work better.