Revisiting The Circle Hook

Recreational fishermen began to discover the benefits of circle hooks over twenty years ago. Over here in malaysia they began to get popular in the sail fishing industry off kuala rompin, pahang.

- Tan S.G. Hook

By the middle of the last decade, the use of circle hooks for the bill fish in Malaysia began to be widely practiced. This was because of the effectiveness of the circle hook in catching sailfish. The normal J-type hook was less effective in hooking up sailfish as it is harder to get the hook to penetrate fully into the hard bony mouth of the sailfish.

In contrast the circle hook's design will cause the hook point to catch primarily at the corner of the mouth or the edge of the jaw to take hold. Once the hook point has fully penetrated through, the severe in-turning design of the circle hook makes it almost impossible for the hook to be thrown.

Circle hook vs J-hook

Studies comparing standard J-hooks and circle hooks in the past have been very thorough, some even using satellite tags to compare the effectiveness and the associated mortality rates of circle hooks vs standard J-hooks.

A study performed by Michael Domeier in the year 2000 found that the circle hook was slightly more effective in getting a hook-up than a J-hook. Landing rates were of course found to be better, due to the in-curve of the circle hook point, as it is almost impossible to shake off.

The circle hooks were also much more likely to be hooked in the mouth. This of course also led to circle hooks causing fewer bleeding incidences than the J-hooks, as the J-hooks were more frequently hooked up in areas further in than the mouth (e.g. gills or guts), therefore there would be more bleeding cases when using J-hooks.