Has any one had the opportunity to try out circle hooks?
I was wondering on their hook up ratio.
Any feed back would be of help.

Castro,
I've never used circle hooks for bass, but they're used a lot for tuna and albacore and stuff. The hookup ratio is pretty shitty, plus you don't get to swing on the fish, you just let the line pull tight. If you set the hook, it'll just pull the hook out of it's mouth. Not the best bassin hooks, but for other fish, the theory is that the fish gets hooked in the corner of the mouth almost everytime. This is good for toothy critters.
-Brian

Circle hooks suck. They are required for salmon fishing and as previously mentioned it is easier for fish to get off. Also as previously noted you can't really set the hook on them. If you try it you will miss more bites than you get.

I never considered using them for bass fishing and sure wish I didn't have to use them for salmon fishing.

I've used them in small sizes for trout fishing in the Sierras. I tried them because I wanted to bait fish some streams without killing the fish.

They had good hookup ratio. Not quite as good as regular hooks, but very close. I think they would have worked better if they had been bigger (I used #14's). About 9/10 were hooked on the corner of the mouth. A few were still gut-hooked. Most fish were swallowing the bait and still were hooked on the lip. My biggest complaint with them was that once the fish WERE hooked it was a pain to get the hook out, even when lip hooked. I think trying to extract a barbed circle hook from the corner of a bass' mouth might do some damage. But this wouldn't be as bad with larger sizes and also if you debarbed them.

I've also tried those Gamakatsu split shotting hooks that some people claim work like circle hooks. I use them for split shotting and drop shotting at Calero. I think I did gut hook less fish with them, but not much less.

I've wanted to try real circle hooks for bass but I never see them in stores in the right size and wire thickness and I'm not interested enough to order them yet.

Nicolo

Thanks guys. I've also been told it's hard to adapt to not setting the hook when the fish thumps your offering. I’m thinking on giving these hooks a try. Bait, dropshot, dragging plasics. Ect. I’ll keep you posted on my finding.

well this isn't really about circle hooks but they are close to them, gammie split hooks are like them, u dont need to set the hook. I nose hooked soft jrek baits with a #2 gammie split shot hooks, i missed no fish when i just raised the rod tip or reeled through the bite, but when i saw fish hit my soft jerkbait and i set the hook i missed most of them. they work very well, and they are b*tch to get out, i never lost a hooked fish, even when they took me into weed and i had to pull them out by the line(i had 6lb test on). give em a try, charlie showed em to me, i tried em with soft jerkbaits nose hooked for some reason and i had great results with those hooks
David C