Hook Sharpening

[tr186man]

I have been having a little trouble as of late getting good hook sets fishing plastics. I don't seem to be getting good penetration and losing some fish. I have decided to sharpen all my hooks in hopes of getting better penetration. With all the different hook points now-a-days, what is the best way to sharpen hooks? I don't have an electric type of sharpener like on a line stripper.

thanks.

[Danny]

I use a diamond stone that was designed to use in a saw sharping shop. A friend got me several of them. A sharpening stone or a fine file should work as well.

The main thing is to take the same number of strokes on each side to keep the hook balanced.

One thought, could you be using too small a hook for the plastic?

I used to use regular round bend offset worm hooks, 3/0 size and sometimes a 4/0, but as I have moved to bigger baits, I have found I have to go to a bigger hook. I am now using 4/0 EWG owners or Gamakatsu hooks. I still have trouble with my tubes when CRing, so I bought some 5/0. I hope to test those soon.

Good luck,

Danny

[mhall]

>I have been having a little
>trouble as of late getting
>good hook sets fishing plastics.
> I don't seem to
>be getting good penetration and
>losing some fish. I
>have decided to sharpen all
>my hooks in hopes of
>getting better penetration. With
>all the different hook points
>now-a-days, what is the best
>way to sharpen hooks?
>I don't have an electric
>type of sharpener like on
>a line stripper.
>
>thanks.

Here's another tip that will help alot. Force your hook through the other side of the worm making it a hole to penetrate once hook set occurs. Alot of plastics are a little hard and this helps quite a bit. Sometimes I'll texpose also, I do this on my paca craws with good success. On first tip though, I forgot to say to put the hook back inside the worm after making the hole, thus making it weedless again.

[artcarney_agr]

It could be the type of hook you're using. Are you using a mechanically sharpened hook or a chemically sharpened hook? You'd be amazed at how much of a difference it makes! I used to use Mustad and my hook sets were horrible. Now, I strictly use Gamakatsu which are chemically sharpened and haven't had a bit of trouble since. Chemically sharpened hooks have no "flat spots" on the hook where it was sharpened and are usually more expensive.

I think the hook wire diameter plays a large role in the ease of penetration. Gamakatsu hooks usually have a much smaller wire diameter than most hooks. The smaller diameter wire means less surface area to penetrate the fish's mouth. The smaller the surface area, the greater the stress, and a greater stress means a greater force of penetration.

Hope this helps! :)


Regards,

Scott Brown - President
The L-Raisin' Anglers
University of Louisville

[BassBest]

Everyone has good advise, I'll put my two cents in too.
Last year I used 4/0 and 5/0 wide gap hooks (Eagle Claw and Gamakatsu) on everything, and caught a mess of fish. The beginning of this year I started to miss a mess of fish. What I gathered from this experience is the major decision on whether we catch a fish with a certain hook or not is totally dependable on the fish. This year I noticed that the fish bit the bait totally different, barely opening their mouths. If you are using a large wide gap hook, and the fish is nibbling the bait into his mouth, this will turn the hook sideways before fully entering the mouth, once the fish clamps those jaws shut and you set the hook, you think you got him, but the hook is only half in, you then either pull the bait out or he opens his mouth after a few seconds. Your bait will look undisturbed for the most part. And make you wonder. Danny is right though not to use too small of hooks. I was using a 1/0 wide gap hook with a little craw (texas rigged) believing that the "bite" would be short that day, I got a bite, set the hook, then after 4 or 5 seconds of serious rod bending, the bait flew free undamaged. I examined the weight I was using to find many shiny lines on it telling me the fish had the bait, weight and all in his mouth. I lost either way. I have settled for a 2 or 3/0 hook size for everything mostly and have increased my catch rate. What I do is after getting bit, I drop the rod and wait for the line to move about a foot, then set the hook. Of course you may not be able to do this when pitching close to brush, but these bites are generally never felt anyway, your line will either suddenly move off or you will go to gently lift the rod and it will gently "pull back", boy I love that.
In other words, sharpening your hooks is important, but before you buy tons of sharpening tools and spend 39 hours sharpening, try a smaller hook, if you have to go real small, peg your weight about 3 inches above your bait. The worst soft plastic I believe for hook penetration is the tube, I usually texpose these and skin hook it, last year I didn't have to do this with a tube but this year I have, and have seen other people missing fish with nonexposed hooks on a tube as well. Just goes to tell us that the fish behave differently all the time, which is good for us, keeps us from becoming perfect which would be very boring.
Take Care

[plowboy]

Like mhall said texpose the hook. Make sure your rod has some backbone and a good quality wide gap hook.

[jdw174]

There are some hooks you just can't re-sharpen, like Owner cutting edge hooks. (maybe somebody has found a way, but I haven't). Like most others, I like the Gammies for almost everything. For flipping/pitching, I use the straight shank Owner Wide Gap and really like them for that application.

[Fisherofmen]

I use an electric sharpener and love it. It is quick and gets me fishing again quickly. Just try to follow the original pattern of the hook with your wheel.

[MLTSPCS]

Rapala makes a fairly inexpensive tool that does double duty. The tip is like a small drill and is great for drilling the paint out of even the smaller jigheads. Attached to the same shaft is a sharpening stone. It even has grooves and a clip to lock the hook in while sharpening to keep the hook at the same angle and to prevent hooking yourself. I think I purchased mine for somewhere between $10 and $20 @ the BPS in Cincy a while back, but I am almost certain I have seen them @ the one in Clarksville as well. Good Luck. Oh yeah, almost forgot to tell you, I have found the triangular sharpening method to work fairly decent. Just sharpen on three sides and you should have no problem. Also try the lighter wire hooks and punch the hook thru the bait and then re-insert the tip of the hook like the others suggested. Good Luck.