The Circle Hook Field Test

Most people who see a circle hook for the first time swear there is no way to catch a fish on that hook. I have to admit I was one of those people.

About 5 years ago, there were many articles about circle hooks and a lot of our customers started asking questions about them that I had no answer for. So I decided to do some serious field-testing. (Dirty job but someone has to do it) I got with a good friend who had done a lot of trot line fishing and after much discussion, arm twisting, and laughter on his part, I talked him into helping with my field test project.

We started with 30 hooks; 10 each of 7/0 kahle hooks, straight shank stainless steel 7/0 hooks (most people’s preferred hook and an excellent live bait hook), and finally the 13/0 circle hooks. After 3 weeks of very accurate record keeping, we found that 39% of the time the bait was gone on the straight shank hook we had a fish. (Blamed the other 61% on turtles) The kahle hook had a marked improvement. The turtles only got 53% of the baits. The circle hooks had an amazing average of 87% of the time our bait was gone we had a fish. (Turtles only got 13%) During the 3-week period we had caught right at 1000 pounds of catfish. We were really proud of our accomplishment.

To make this story a little longer, almost 1 year to the date of our field test, our church wanted to have a big fish fry and of course the pastor called on my field test partner and me. The pressure was on. We set our lines with 30 circle hooks. At the end of 3 weeks, we had caught 2878 pounds of catfish. I guarantee we had more than 1 fish fry. Yes, My partner and I are true believers in the catch-ability of the circle hook.

Capt. Hook

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