Circle Hooks for Stripers It's the Law

Page 18 Circle Hooks

for Stripers

It's the Law!

by Gary Caputi

There is a lot more to fishing a circle hook than just tying one on, but they are effective fish catchers that significantly reduce release mortality.

If you are not already on the circle hook bandwagon, the new striped bass regulations taking effect in January 2021 are going to force the issue. Circle hooks will be mandatory when fishing any type of natural bait. That means worms, eels, menhaden, herring, sand fleas, crabs and clams, any cut bait used for chunking or cast from shore. For our members in New England who troll the time-honored tube and worm, you must either replace the J-hook with a circle hook or forego the worm altogether. Same goes for rigged eels and possibly a bucktail with a pork rind trailer. The actual regulations are being implemented on a state-by-state basis, but there is no wiggle room for change. There is some pushback from some states so pay careful attention to how the regulations evolve in your state. A small cadre of anglers started experimenting with circle hooks many years ago because they had the potential to do less damage to fish being released. Along the way we discovered that they also have the potential to increase hookups and landing ratios, too. I worked with Eagle Claw in the early 2000’s during the development and testing of their line of recreational circle hooks and found they had varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the species of fish being targeted and the techniques being used. Early prototypes had offset points that proved less effective at reducing deep hooking of fish. To fix that problem I would use pliers to bend the hook

point in line with the hook shaft, like the circle pletely different manner and an understanding of hooks I had seen used by commercial longliners. the dynamics is important to increasing your sucThe incidence of deep hooking dropped dramati- cess when using them. A circle hook has an eye cally and was reported back to Eagle Claw. To- for line attachment, a shank, bend, point and day, non-offset circle hooks are the norm and are barb like a J hook, but that is where the similarity the only circles to meet the requirements under ends. The point of circle is bent inward directly the new ASMFC regulations that take effect in toward the shank of the hook. When a fish grabs January. a bait with a properly sized circle hook and beDuring early testing I found that circle hooks worked well for some fish and poorly for others. They proved most effective on “round fish” and far less effective on “flat fish.” The compressed mouth structure of flounder does not allow the hook to rotate easily and offers too many internal points for the circle hook to latch onto. So just how do circles work? gins to move away, as the line comes tight the bait and hook start pulling it back out toward the opening of the mouth. The inward design of the point prevents it from snagging on internal structures like the sphincter muscle of the gullet or gill rakers, but once it reaches the hard bones of the jaw an interesting thing happens. The point catches on the edge as it is exiting the mouth causing the hook to wrap securely around it. This Circle hooks and J hooks have little in common in occurs most frequently in the corner of the the way they function. J hooks hook a fish by mouth, but it can also “set” around any part of penetrating any fleshy part of the fish, inside or the outer mouth structure—top, bottom, or sides. outside the mouth, and the penetration is accom- And once it sets it rarely comes out like J hooks plished either by the fish pulling against the pres- are prone to do in a prolonged fight. There is a sure of the drag and impaling itself, or by the an- barb on a circle hook, but it is usually much smallgler detecting the fish’s presence and “setting” er than those on J hooks and much less imthe hook with a sharp tug on the line. In either portant to the overall function of the hook. case the potential for the hook penetrating the fish’s delicate gill structure or soft tissues of the stomach or gullet if it swallows the bait exists. And J hooks have additional drawbacks. Even if the hook sets in the mouth area it might not penetrate past the barb or become embedded in an area of soft tissue that might tear if too much pressure is applied. It can wear a large hole at the point of penetration during a prolonged fight and fall out if the fish manages to get slack in the line. Circle hooks can alleviate these problems because of how they hook a fish and Soft baits do not impede the ability of a circle hook to wrap a hold once in place. striper's jaw. This whole clam is hung on a 6/0 Charlie Brown A circle hook works in a com- Octopus circle hook for early spring schoolie bass.

Circle hooks with big live baits work just fine for stripers . Jim Hutchinson shows off a nice one that was caught and released aboard the author's boat.

of a few mistakes. The most common is using a circle hook that is too small. Striped bass have large jaw structures that require a large circle hook to catch and wrap around it. The type of bait being used plays into hook size selection, too. So does the size of the stripers being targeted. You wouldn’t use the same size circle hook when fishing for schoolies with worms or clams as you would when fishing for large bass with live menhaden or chunk baits. You must assess whether your hook is large enough to easily wrap the jaw structure of the fish you’re likely to encounter, but you also have to be mindful of the type and size of the bait you are using, which if it is too big, can block too much of the gap between the hook point and the shank preventing it from catching on the fish’s jaw. Since the inside of a striper’s mouth is cavernous it is extremely rare for a circle hook to implanted in critical structures like the gills. And since they slip past the inner mouth and wrap the jaw by design, every angler’s favorite thing to do—yank on the rod to set the hook—becomes not only unnecessary but will often pull the hook out of the fish’s mouth altogether. When a fish takes a baited circle hook the proper procedure is to either While there are many brands of circle hooks the ones I've found to work best for me are light wire, wide gap models, and my favorite for years has been the Charlie Brown Octopus Circle Hook by Quickrig (www.quickrig.com). I keep a selection on the boat in sizes 6/0 to 10/0 to cover all the bases from targeting schoolies with soft baits to trophysize fish using large live baits. let it pull the line tight as it moves away, or to reel For live-lining menhaden I use 9/0 or 10/0 impalin any slack if it is moving toward you, and then ing the bait through the nostrils for drift or slow raise the rod smoothly into fighting position. trolling them, or in the soft area just aft and Anglers who have tried circle hooks and found them ineffective have usually made at least one above the anal vent when I want to swim a bait down and really make them struggle and send out that frantic pulsing to attract big bass. The

cleaner hook operation and Quickrig has a tool and clips that make it fast and easy. Check that out on their website, too. With live eels you can go slightly smaller in hook size because an eel hooked from the bottom jaw up through the top does little to impede the wrapping process and when the hook is too large the eel can turn on it and get the point imbedded in its body making hooking a bass impossible. Other mistakes that will make your circle hook experience less than ideal include not bringing the line tight after a fish takes a bait or trying to jerk set the hook. Once you get the hang of using circles those problems will go away with experience. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the one thing you can’t do anymore is leave ‘em. Circle hooks are now the law of the land when using bait for stripers and I would not be surprised if they find their way into the regulatory process for other species, too. Recreational hook and release mortality is responsible Two examples of bridle-rigging a menhaden using a for the largest source of overQuickRig bridling tool and clips. If you want even more all mortality in the striped bass fishery and easily surswing in the hook you can add a short rubber band be- passes mortality from fish letween the clip and the hook, although I have found gally harvested and commerthis setup works just fine out of the box. cial harvest combined. That’s because the more regulators impose size limits and reduce hooks have ample gap to wrap the jaw after a allowable landings the more fish will have to be bass grabs the bait and starts running off with it. released. Welcome aboard the circle hook bandYou can also bridle-rig large baitfish for an even wagon, we hope you enjoy the ride.