An Important Piece of Tackle.
I think it's true to say that matchmen and carp anglers give great thought to their hooks, the average pleasure angler just walks into a shop and asks for a packet of hooks. Little thought seems to be given to what is such an important item of tackle. Yet with a little thought and armed with a little knowledge, correct hook choice could do much to improve catch rates.
Have a read and then next time your in the tackle shops, have a look at what hooks are on offer. Ask other anglers which hooks they use and why. Hook choice is a personal thing and like so much in fishing, it's using what you have confidence in. Having said that I've seem people trying to fish a big cube of luncheon meat on a size 20 hook. I've also seen people fishing a single maggot on a heavy duty wire size 12 hook.
Select the correct hook for the job. On one commercial I used to fish I found that the carp would take soft pellets better if the hook was completely buried in the pellet, they just didn't like the shank showing out of the bait. I started using a short shank hook
Technical Terms.
Hook Size.
Hooks are given a number according to their size. The bigger the number the smaller the hook, so a size 16 hook is small than a size 12 hook. The size numbers go up in twos and are all even numbers, 20,18,16,14,12 etc. The sizes in everyday use by coarse anglers go from the very small 26's to size 2's, used by some specimen anglers.
Parts of a Hook.
I don't want to blind people with to much jargon, but I will just go through the basics.
Hook Wire - the metal the hook is made of. Some hooks specify they are made of fine wire, which gives you a finer, less heavy hook ideal for subtle presentations of bait. Other have a medium wire, others heavy duty wire for big fish.
Eye - where the line is tied to the hook. Some hooks have an eye like a needle that the line is threaded through, others have a "spade end". Here there is no eye, but the metal is flattened. The line is whipped to the hook shank and then rests against the flattened spade to secure stop it falling off the shank.
Learn to tie spade end hooks, they are often finer in the wire than eyed hooks for general fishing. You will catch more fish!
Shank - the part of the hook from the eye to the start of the bend. You can buy short, medium and long shank hooks. As a rule I tend to use a medium sized shank for maggot or muti grains of corn. I like short shank hooks for soft pellets and luncheon meat when I want to bury the whole of the hook inside the bait.
Bend
- there are two main types "round", like in the drawing above and "crystal"
which is shown on the right. Which to use is personal preference, but
I do like to use "crystal" bends for maggot fishing, single or double.
Gape - the distance between the point and the shank of the hook. I find wide gape hooks excellent for carp, especially for hair rigging corn, meat or pellets. I find that as the wide gape means the point is further away from the shank, then it increases the chance of a fish hooking itself because of the hair.
Point - the sharp end of the hook. Some have a straight point, some have an in-turned point, where it bends towards the shank slightly. Straight points are probably better at helping you to hook fish, whereas an in-turned point hook well help keep the fish on the hook.
Hooks I Use.
The Kamasan B911 eyed hook. A great hook for making hair rigs, or if your not so good at tying spade ends.
As with the spade end, it's great for sweetcorn, meat and pellets.
For hair rigs I se it from sizes 16 up towards 10's. It keeps it's sharpness very well.
The Kamasan B911 spade end. If I'm not using a hair rig, then this is probably the hook I use more that any other.
The wide gape makes it ideal for pellets, meat and sweetcorn. Also great when hooking more that one maggot.
The Kamasan Animal. Similar in shape to the Kamasan 911, but made of a slightly heavier metal.
It's a great hook where you would use a 911, but need to bully the fish a little more, or maybe they grow a little bigger. Can go blunt quite easily.
The Kamasan B510 hook is an ideal hook for general purpose fishing. It is an excellent hook for single or double maggot and caster. Please don't think I'm sponsored by Kamasan, I'm not. I have also used Preston Innovations hooks and found them to be excellent.