Regular circle hooks vs. Octopus circle hooks?

[JakeF]

Do you see much difference in the type of hookset you get with a regular circle hook vs. an octopus circle hook? I was going through my tackle boxes last night, organizing, replacing hooks on plugs, tying some leaders, bottom rigs, and snelling some hooks and noticed that almost all the circle hooks that I have are actually octopus circle hooks.

I seemed to have a fairly high percentage of gut hooked fish last year, not so much with stripers, but the bluefish were just sucking em down deep making hook removal difficult if not impossible. Perhaps this is a factor?

Also, has anyone ever used one of these hook extractors? Do they work better than regular pliers for deep hooksets?

[Outback25]

bait,
I seem to have a big difference. The octopus tends not to have a hookset. In my experiences, I either miss the fish or it swallows it to its butt. However, most of the time its a missed fish. I always thought the octopus style clashed with the way a circle is supposed to work. Others say they seem to have good luck with them, so maybe its just me.

[Sudsy]

The offset on the octo hooks definately leads to more gut hooked fish.
The NJ Dept. of F&G has actually banned them, along with standard J hooks in the Delaware River. In line circle hooks only.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/circhkdel03.htm

The hook remover is the cats arse I'd carry one on the surf if I could figure a way to attach it to my belt without it catching on the bag and everything else.

[JakeF]

Originally Posted by Sudsy

The offset on the octo hooks definately leads to more gut hooked fish.

The hook remover is the cats arse I'd carry one on the surf if I could figure a way to attach it to my belt without it catching on the bag and everything else.

Thanks for the input guys. Looks like I'll be retying alot of the rigs I've tied this winter.

Sudsy,, last season I just used a pair of long handled needlenose pliers for hook removal. I'm considering buying one of these tools for next season. If it gets the from you, it must work pretty well, huh.

[Chinookhead]

2 options that work for me to avoid deep hooked fish. 1) Use real circle hooks. 2) use regular bait hooks like the Owners "All Purpose Bait Hooks" if u are using only one rod and watching it closely or holding onto it and set the hook right away. Sometimes i can't use the circles when the bunker that I get is not so fresh (the fresh ones are nice and firm)......by the time i get the circle through I've got mush etc.