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Senior Member
A buddy of mine who shall remain nameless, but it rhymes with BONEFISH, is convinced that by bending out the hookpoints is better than tbe way they come in a pack. He takes a perfectly new Gamakatsu hook out of the pack and bends the point out. Then when he fished a texas rig he pushes the point all tbe way thru the worm in a texpose fashion. Then wonders why he gets hung up more often
The questionis. How many of you bend your hookpoints?
Senior Member
NOT ME!
Senior Member
Never had a reason to, my hook up to land ratio with t-rigged plastics is very, very high!
Senior Member
I do. XPS Super Locks should be renamed XPS Super Lucks.Originally Posted by elnutsmalljaws
Senior Member
Here is my reasoning. On wide-gap hooks the eye of the hook is at the leve of the point, and if you place a weight or bead above the eye, the point placement and weight/bead can clear a path out of the fish's mouth without any hook-up. What you are depending upon is that the fish will inhale the bait in and upon closing his mouth his lip presses down on the "gap" between the eye and and point. But how many times do you jerk on the bait and the bait comes out of the mouth because the fish does not clamp down on the bait. If you bend the point slightly above the eye, you can still place the point well inside the plastic to prevent hang-ups, or if you bend the hook slightly sideways, you have again increased your chances of the point entering the fish's mouth. This is why I call them Super Lucks, and that is why I prefer an offset hook or straight shank over the wide-gap hook.
Last edited by Bonefish; 06-19-2012 at 01:55 PM.
Senior Member
You will get hung up twice as much that way, not necessary but to each his own..
Senior Member
Bonefish was in the boat with me and Vaun Cummins for 2 days and hung up EASILY 8 times more than i did and spent more time rigging up than fishing. I love Bonefish to death and we have spent many hours talking fishing at UK Hospital, with me being a patient and he working there, but he is way off in his thinking here. As far as the pros bending them to the side, that still keeps the bend angle in tact. Bone bends his hookpoint out. He was so sure that he issued a challenge for the last day on the water which consisted of some ratio of fish caught to hang ups to fish lost during the fight. Bottom line after about 2 hours and he was down about 15 fish and had broke off 4 times he threw in the towel and the next day called me looking for the exact item number as he was ordering tbe hooks i was using. The more out you bend the hookpoint the worse off it is. I will use this analogy, had you rather try to catch a fish with a safety pin tied on or a needle? Bone failed to mention the 7 plus pounder he lost on his bent out hook. If he had left the hook alone maybe he catches that monster but she jumped and spit it at him. Vaun and myself were laughing that the fish knew which of the 3 lines in the water to hit
Senior Member
I am sure my theory will be tested again with better results since Woody would not allow me to cover my hook tip.
Senior Member
Sorry Brother Bone, your theory is already proven BECAUSE THE HOOK COMPANIES WOULD BE SELLING HOOKS ALREADY WITH THE POINT BENT OUT IF IT WAS BETTER
Senior Member
Here are some facts about hooks to consider. Barbs were initially used not to hold the fish on once hooked but to stop the bait coming off. Barbless hooks are easier to set, and it is easier to remove the hook, easier to remove residual bait, therefore you can get bait back into the water more quickly. If you regularly catch and release fish, barbless hooks are less damaging to the fish. Not all hook sets pull the hook point into a fish in a straight-line. Hook points may enter the fish’s mouth at an angle to the point.
You should not try to sharpen chemically or laser sharpened hooks because it will blunt them. Sharpening produces heat and too much heat will reduce the temper of the hook weakening the point, leading to points bending over, or breaking off. It is important when sharpening hooks to use a slow stroke with the file or stone. Don’t remove too much metal from the point.
The following are some differences in hook points. A knife edge point is designed to cut into flesh and bone. But they do have the disadvantage of cutting out of the fish’s mouth. A needle point hook allows for good penetration, but not as good as knife edge hooks. However, needle points do not cut once in the fish’s mouth and are less likely to cut out. A barbless hook can be in any point variant. Kirbed or Reversed hook points are points that curve away at an angle to the shank. They provide a better hook-up rate as the point does not get deflected by the shank. A kirbed hook point bends out to the right looking straight-on to the shaft, and the reversed hook point bends out to the left.
Hook size should be determined by bait size, not the size of the fish targeting; however, hook strength should match the power of the fish targeting.
Senior Member
If heat reduces temper and temper weakens the hook point during sharpening then what does a pair of needle nose do to the hook when it is bent out as much as you bend them out? Before you answer, just like the example of me trying to do your job at UK, I would not have a clue, my 13 years managing an Aluminum Billet Plant gives me a slight advantage on the properties of Aluminum and to some degree Steel.
Senior Member
Never heard of anyone doing that Elnut.
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