Circle hooks

[grampy06]

What size circle hooks should I order for the upper Hudson River

[yakman]

Generally you want to use the smallest hook required. The gap between the point and shank must be wide enough to fit
Jaw bone of the fish. 6/0 - 8/0 should be fine for striped bass. These are the ones that work best for me. I tried a few different brands and types. These inline circles had the best hook up ratio with most fish being hooked in the corner of the mouth. I use them for blood worms, chunk and live herring. I even used them with clams. I snell the leader to the hook. Just make sure the leader goes through the top of the hook eye. There are videos on YouTube about snelling circle hooks.

[grampy06]

Just an FYI,circle hooks will be mandatory in New York as of 2021.

[RedRiich]

Making circle hooks mandatory is a good thing for bait fishing. But what about all those treble hooks on plugs? Many come with 3 treble hooks and a hooked fish usually winds up foul hooked in the gills or elsewhere besides the one in it's mouth. All my plugs have always been set up with 1 treble belly hook and a single barbed hook with bucktail for the tail. I have no problem catching bass and they are a lot easier to lip and release with a lot less damage to the fish or myself. Personally, I feel this should have been mandatory in the new regs.

[BUB]

I'm all for circle hooks for live lining. Ive been using them for years. Unfortunately it's going to ruin my chunk game.

[Jono916]

I have used circle hooks for chunking on Sandy Hook and with clam bellies in Long Island Sound and Sandy Hook. I've never used clams in the Hudson River, but I suspect that they would work on the flats.


I am curious about using them with the worms. I imagine that I would naturally thread the worms on the circle hook, but is there a different way that I'm missing?



I am all for using circle hooks with bait. It's still new to me, and I have to admit, I do like setting the hook. I guess I will have to learn some new habits. I have had success with my stickbaits and jerkbaits, but I have to admit, those extra hooks sometimes find there way into parts of the fish that I didn't intend to hook. I have taken the middle set off if there are three, and I've also replaced the back hook with a regular trailer hook. That has made a huge difference.



When it comes to bucktailing, I don't think I've ever hooked a fish anywhere but the lip. I can't see how a circle hook would make a big change there.


Thanks for setting up this thread. I hope to learn a lot from the following posts. I hope you all have been having fun keeping a safe distance and spending some extra time with your gear for this spring.

Have a great season everyone!