Thread: Caught a few on the jugs

What hooks are you running? I lost 7 fish Sunday. Somehow the hooks kept coming out. I recently switched to octopus hooks after hearing they are more successful. I beg to differ after the past 3 trips


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Good job Jack!

Originally Posted by Tturk

What hooks are you running? I lost 7 fish Sunday. Somehow the hooks kept coming out. I recently switched to octopus hooks after hearing they are more successful. I beg to differ after the past 3 trips


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I have used used circle hooks for a long while now. I have always had a good catch rate with those. That does depend on the fish trying to pull it under. If the just swim along with it they don't run much risk of getting hooked

Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

Good job Jack!

The niece had a blast. I just unhooked fish and drove the boat

I do not know anything about jug fishing….but I have a solid knowledge about circle hooks. Used them for decades while surf fishing. Exclusively too.

The hook became popular with long line fishermen because it caught the fish in the lips and they could remain alive until the fishermen retrieved their lines. J hooks would go down into their gut and the fish would die and then begin to, well decompose. This meant that they had to retrieve their lines sooner. Perhaps before all the hooks had a fish attached.

There is a video on YouTube showing Cod fish in Norway reacting to a long line. I watched it with enthusiasm. You could see fish approaching the bait, swallowing the bait, and spitting it back out or starting to thrash because the hook struck meat. The diver swam above it all and filmed it.

There are three really good ways to tie onto a circle hook. One is using a Loop knot, another is a Snell, and finally a loop knot that gets inserted into the eye and slipped over the hook and drawn tight. I conducted experiments to see which knot performed best and that was what I came up with.

I had a section of PVC pipe standing straight up. I would fashion up a knot, drop the hook inside, and then pull it to see what happened. Those three knots would catch the lip of the pipe every time. Other knots missed and the hook came free. Now I know that sounds really dumb, but it recreates what is occurring when a fish takes the bait into his mouth.

For Snell knots you want the hook to finish in a cocked fashion. As if the hook is completing a circle. Octopus hooks have a bend at the eye to defeat this cocking as people thinks that is best. It is not best it is flat out horrible. You want the hook to be cocked. When you tie a loop into a leader and then insert the loop through the eye of the hook, bring it over top and then cinch the hook down, you also produce a cocked hook. Both styles produce great results.

The Loop knot allows the hook to flop, and pivot and that allows the tip to stick. Tricky deal for a fish to just spit back out. I caught a lot of fish using loop knots, however when I was going for bigger fish I always chose the Snell as it is an extremely strong knot. Very old design from back before hooks even had eyes. The wraps would coil tight and bind the shaft and it worked.

The catfish does not need to dive. At least not at first. All he needs to do is turn away/swim away from the jug and that will move the hook from going down the gut back out towards the lips. There it will stick flesh. After that the fish will react and his thrashing will drive the tip home. If he dives that too would drive it home. I can see Jack’s point, but still if it gains any sort of stick, eventually he will drive the barb through.

I imagine the jug does not do a great job of setting the hook so make sure your hooks are really sharp. Testing sharpness is easy enough. If you drag the tip across your fingernail, and it slides across leaving no scratch mark, your hook is dull. If it scratches as it goes the hook is sharp. If it sticks in one spot and doesn’t want to slide at all, that hook is extremely sharp. The sharpest hooks I ever encountered were Owner Mosquito hooks. Just handling them my fingers would bleed like crazy. They however come only is small sizes. Too small for catfish. Be a fabulous hook for baiting up bluegill. In fact it would be my first choice, and I would fashion them using loop knots. That combination would be very tricky for a little fish to deal with.

So they made Octopus circle hooks to allow fishermen to snell their hooks and leave them dangling straight down off the line. Horrible plan as it lowers the percentages that the fish will actually get hooked. Octopus beak hooks in a J style are OK I guess, but with a circle tip no good at all. It is why you were missing fish I guarantee that.

I might keep the next catfish I manage on my dumb jigs. We had what I estimated to be a 10 pounder on the other day. Line snapped boat side. I would have tossed him back anyways, but would have enjoyed a quick picture of her and her “trophy”. Good luck out there.

Very little resistance provide by the jug when it is moved sideways. The jugs I am fishing are weighted tip up style. 24 inches of 3/4 pvc with a sliding weigt inside. Somewhere around 12 inches of large diameter pool noodle. It is a game of balance. When I first started I used 1 gallon jugs. Large fish would take them under and break lines and hooks. The piece of pool noodle will wear them down over time. I use sharp circle hooks. Those things will leave you bleeding before you know what happened. A lot of the catfish will pick up the bait and swim along with it. Dragging your jug along the surface sometimes they will spit the bait back out after dragging the jug a good ways. Smart fish. All that needs to happen is the hook point start into the mouth. As the fish pulls against the jug the hook will go deeper. By time the fish is landed the hook has when through the jaw and out the other side. The tooth patch on a catfish is hard to get a hook started into. The benefits of the circle hook is the ability to release those fish not wanted unharmed. I usually don't keep anything over 5 pounds. Larger fish will be released . The circle hook does a good job of getting them in the corner of the mouth most of the time. One of the biggest reasons we lose fish is chasing them down early. Make you a few jugs to throw out and soak while you are trolling. It is some fun to chase them down with the trolling motor.

Always enjoy jig fishing. Great way for the kids to have fun fishing.