[bluefishmaster]

Hi, fellow fisherman. I recently bought Gamakatsu Circle hooks and Eagle Claw Circle hooks.
Which hook is better? Back to the question.

I have never caught weakfish on circle hooks before. My Weaks were taken on lures mostly. Since Weaks are known for their "soft mouth", will the circle hooks just tear out of their mouth? Should I use a different kind of hooks?

 

[triniron]

hey bluemaster,circle hooks are nice for weakfish and striped bass. just remember not swing the rod when you feel a pick up.it takes some getting used to, beleive me! i use the gammys octopus circle for both weaks and stripers and they work well,just remember to leave the drag a little looser foe the weakies since they do have a softer mouth.i used the same hook on more than one trip and they are still pretty sharp after many fish.try to use a thin wire circle hooks for the weakies....sping is almost here and the weakies are around the corner!!! take care and i hope this helps------>ronnie

 

[Billy40]

BFM - If you plan to fish for Weakies with worms, it should be a law to use circles. This past year in Raritan Bay you caould catch all the Weakies you wanted up to 15 inches on worms. I threw plastic but it was a waste of time. Most guys were using Octopus (not circle) and regular baitholders, and killing a alot of shorts due to gut hooking them.

A Circle hook crossed with a Baitolder feature would be ideal for this type of fishing as it will allow teh worm to lay straight and natural.

Trini is lying - he didn't catch any Weakies when I saw him !!!! What's up Ronnie. I am only kidding, he gave you sound advice

 

[triniron]

well actually, i was holding the rod for billy and then i would pass it to him when i had one on......heh heh heh...wuts up billy? i think i may make a out of desperation trip for some sleepy blacks, call me and let me know if your down... billy is right on those jersey weakies last summer. alot of the guys who gutthooked them were using smaller hooks(#1/0-30). i used 5/0 and gutthooked 2 or 3, which wasn't bad compared to the # of other guthooked fish i saw flaoting.circle hooks are definately i great move here. take care guys and its almost ssssspppprrrriiiinnnng!!!!

 

[Crazy-Al]

Bluefishmaster wrote:
? I have never caught weakfish on circle hooks before. My Weaks were taken on lures mostly. Since Weaks are known for their "soft mouth", will the circle hooks just tear out of their mouth? Should I use a different kind of hooks?
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Hello Bluefishmaster,
It is a good idea to use circle hooks if you want to avoid gut-hooking fish! The circle hook design is to prevent gut hooking ? hence, the hook will be impaled on the side of the mouth?.

You are right, the weakfish are known for their ?soft mouths? but make no mistake and don?t let the name fool you. Weakfish are a tough-fighting customers! Circle hooks are a good idea but you still need to apply ?easy? pressure (soft drag) otherwise you WILL tear their mouths off!

triniron is also 100% correct! Don?t swing on the take? and his thin wire hook advice is good since weakfish have sharp teeth!

Billy40 wrote:
? This past year in Raritan Bay you could catch all the Weakies you wanted up to 15 inches on worms. I threw plastic but it was a waste of time. Most guys were using Octopus (not circle) and regular baitholders, and killing a alot of shorts due to gut hooking them. ?
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Hey Billy? That is right! There are many juvenile weakfish during the summer around Raritan Bay. Unfortunately gut-hooking weakfish is a common thing especially when using sandworms. The only way to reduce gut hooking is by using larger hooks, striking the fish faster (don?t leave rod unintended) and by using circle hooks!

FYI: You also stated that you used plastics and it was a waste of time?. Well guess what pal. Plastics are one of my favorite ways to catch true tiderunners! You need to fish it earlier in the season (where the big weakfish prowls) and fish the mid-columns where there is current and bait!

"Crazy" Alberto
[email protected]

 

[Hunt n' Fish]

Bluefishmaster,

I caught some large weaks on live snappers using circle hooks at night, during late summer last year. I think they were 6/0 hooks. In my experiences they work great for practically all fish while using bait. The only time I had a problem was while live lining large shad for stripers with the hook through the back of the bait. I beleive there wasn't enough hook exposed to hook into the fish's mouth. I switched to trebles for that type of fishing.

Billy,

Except for using the snappers during late summer nights I have never been outfished for weaks with bait over plastic jigs. Fishing Ocean Beach, Hecksher Park and off of Sayville and Bayport during the day in the summer produces huge numbers of small weaks with occasional 5 and 6 pounders. Practically all are caught on pink twister tail Gotcha grubs. In fact I don't even tip them with squid. Nothing but plastic. We crush the barbs on the hooks and usually don't even have to take the fish out of the water for the release. I'd rather not mess with bait if I can help it.

 

[bluefishmaster]

I caught large weaks on live shrimps. I am more of a lure kind of guy for Weaks. I saw many
gut-hooked, eyes teared out, or just dead Weaks when I was fishing for them. I threw all my Weaks back because I dont need to eat them and want more big fish or more Weaks in the future. I got Fluke and other fish to eat.

I know Weaks were almost an endangered fish like the Stripers were.

Thanks.

 

[Billy40]

Crazy - I should have specified. The specific spot and time I was fish, the plastics were a waste of time. There were a ton of small fish around being caught on Worms. At teh same time i was throwing all sorts of plastic (and yes it was on the bottom where I know the fish were) - jig with jelly worm, 4" Fin-S, and a 4 1/2" swimbait.

Using braid and graphite, there was no way to strike any sooner than we did - use CIRCLES!!

About there being smaller fish in Raritan - the prior year there were much more bigger Weakies there in the exact same spots. What made sense to me, which I heard somewhere else, is that teh gill netters caught all the larger Weakies, the smaller one all slipped through. Al - there would be 20 guys on board, each one caught a minimum 10 Weakies, every single one was 15" or less, with mabe 3-4 keepers. It was quite sad.