Shoot’n, Fish’n ‘n’ Hunt’n

Using cheap, blunt hooks is a waste of your valuable fishing time and bait.

Introduction

How often have you had one of those days where you get lots of hits on your lure or fly, but you just can’t seem to hook up? Or the fish seem to be able to steal your bait without finding the hook? How many times have we excused our failure as being one of those days when the fish are just too picky, skittish or not hitting the bait or lure properly? The truth is that, on many of these occasions, it is because we were using the wrong hook. In this case I am not talking about hook design or even size, but I am talking about hook quality, or, more accurately, hook sharpness. So let us take a look at the importance of hook sharpness.

The fact is that many hooks, straight out of the package, are not sharp enough for successful fishing. Chemically sharpened hooks are, most often, very sharp but we should all be aware that some chemically sharpened hooks are still not sharp enough. Just because it says chemically sharpened, on the packaging, doesn’t mean that the hooks, inside, are actually sharp. This is especially true for most of the cheaper brands of chemically sharpened hooks. One problem with chemically sharpened hooks is that, even for the premium hooks that are sharp enough, they will become blunt with use and once they are blunt they cannot be resharpened easily because they are the wrong shape for sharpening. Chemically sharpened hooks should be discarded regularly to ensure that the hook, that is on the end of our line, is as sharp as possible.

In the case of non-chemically sharpened hooks, these are rarely sharp enough to fish with straight from the packet. Fortunately, non-chemically sharpened hooks can, and should, be sharpened before use; that is, as long as they are made from quality steel that will maintain an edge. An essential tool, that every fisherman should ALWAYS carry, is a quality hook sharpener and you should touch up your non-chemically sharpened hooks even while fishing with them. Every couple of casts just check your hooks sharpness and, if it fails the sharpness test, either discard or sharpen that hook.

How to test hook sharpness

So how do we determine whether a hook is sharp? There is a very simply test that you can do and it doesn’t require any special tools or any tricky techniques. The best way to determine if your hook is sharp enough it to test it on your finger nail by pulling the point of your hook across the finger nail. Hold the hook so that the point is at right angles to the surface of your nail and then pull the hook across your nail. If the hook skates across the surface of your nail, then it is NOT sharp enough and either must be sharpened or, in the case of a chemically sharpened hook, discarded.

A sharp hook will want to bite into the surface of your nail and will not pull across it easily. If the hook wants to bite into your nail then it is not likely to skate across the bony jaw of a fish and, therefore, is more likely to bite in and get a strong hook hold that will last throughout the fight. If you just test your hooks regularly, and either sharpen or discard them, then you will find that your hook up rate will increase markedly.

Hooks, either non-chemically sharpened or chemically sharpened hooks, should always be tested straight out of the packet. Indeed, I do not buy hooks that I have not tested in the store.  Before buying hooks I always remove at least one, from the packet, and test it on my nail. If it is a chemically sharpened hook, and it skates across my finger nail, then I put it back into the packet and put the packet back on the shelf for someone else, who isn’t serious about catching fish, to buy!

Test your hooks before you buy

Similarly, I test the hooks on every lure and fly that I buy. In the case of cheap lures, you will often find that the body of these lures is adequate but that the hooks are not. With lures, though, you also have to test the quality of the split rings, that join the hooks to the lure, and these are often substandard, too. To keep your costs down you can purchase the cheaper brands of lures. However, you should take the time to replace the supplied hooks and split rings with quality products. Finally, you should throw the hooks and split rings, that the lure comes with, in the rubbish bin. In the case of flies, you are at the mercy of the fly tier, so check the hook sharpness BEFORE buying your flies. Alternatively, buy flies with hooks that can be sharpened.

Buying quality fishing tackle can cost a lot of money, over time, but the one area that we should NOT go cheap on is fishing hooks. The simple fact is that, generally speaking, most Japanese hooks are excellent and are almost always very sharp straight out of the packet. Hooks from other Asian locations can be good or bad and I have used some Korean and Chinese hooks that were very sharp while others, from these same countries are absolute junk. In my experience, European and USA made hooks are in the middle of the quality scale but you should still test them before buying them.

Cheap Hooks are False Economy

Buying cheap hooks, from any of the budget fishing tackle companies, such as Jarvis Walker (Just Worthless) and Surecatch (Surecrap), is just false economy and I have yet to find any hooks, from these and other similar budget companies, that are worth buying. The difference in cost, between premium hooks, such as Gamakatsu and Owner, and the budget hooks is only a couple of dollars per packet. However, the difference in quality is enormous. It is also the difference between wasting your time, money and fishing opportunities, by using cheap hooks, or capitalising on the chance for a great days fishing by using quality hooks.

You can scrimp on your rods, reels and other tackle, and get away with it, but if you go cheap on your hooks then you are dooming yourself to lots of fishless days! The simple message, of this article, is NEVER buy cheap hooks, and always test the sharpness of your hooks and do it regularly!

Hooks should be so sharp that they are almost dangerous for us to handle; only then will they be dangerous for the fish, too!

Copyright © 2018 - Robert Pretty - Shoot'n Fish'n 'n' Hunt'n.