Trends in Hooks

Up until the turn of the Millennium most South African saltwater anglers fished with a very limited range of hooks. By far the most common style was the ubiquitous Mustad 92247 (and numerous copies thereof) nickel plated 'bait holder' beak hook. Hand-line fishermen used tinned 7255 O'Shaughnessy style hooks which were also the only readily available (and affordable) large hooks as most others stopped around 9/0 size. Then there were the bronzed Aberdeen style hooks as well as the famous 4826 Kendal Round, the latter as popular on GT spoons as for targeting large Musselcracker known to mangle lesser hooks. All were blunt by modern standards and all had barbs.

'J' Hooks: 92247, 4826 Kendal Round, Mustad Big Gun, Daiichi 3111

Modern trends include sharper (eg. 'chemically sharpened') hooks, often with shorter shanks and refinements to the point and bend - Mustad 'Big Gun' and Daiichi 3111 being good examples. Two additional 'recent' trends (in fact both have been seen on bone hooks pre-dating the iron age) are 'going barbless' and the use of 'circle' hooks. Although primarily conservation oriented, hook performance appears to be at least on par.

VMC Sea Circle, original barb, flattened barb

Going barbless is really a no-brainer. While 'off the shelf' barbless hooks are still quite rare barbs are easily flattened (rather than removed) with fishing pliers or, in the case of heavy duty game fish hooks, a crimping tool. Most modern hooks flatten well, unlike the old Kendals whose large barb left a sizable lump. My first exposure to the idea was years ago in a writeup by US angling legends Mark Sosin and Lefty Kreh who wanted to obtain footage of the aerobatics of hooked Tarpon. They theorized that by removing the barbs they would be able to give some slack and 'drop' the fish after the initial aerial displays without having to go through the tug-of-war stages of the fight, thereby maximizing filming time. To their surprise Tarpon were not able to throw barbless hooks with any greater ease while their hook-up ratio had improved. Going barbless is an established practice on our West Coast, in a large part thanks to the efforts of well known researcher Dr. Vincent Taylor. Among WP's rock & surf club fishermen everyone knows about "West Coast (barbless) rules" although I am told that a number of West Coast anglers have switched to circles 'instead'.

False Bay's Jacques Oosthuizen measuring his 'Bronzie' prior to release

According to "The Science of Catch and Release angling" by Dr. Warren Potts of Rhodes University, studies on released fish showed survival rates from 25% to 98% with the valid point made that releasing a fish is only worth it if the fish survives. The handling before release causes stress, hypoxia from air exposure and risk of infection due to scale and mucus removal in addition to tissue damage caused by the removal of the hook. A barb increases the size of the wound and lengthens handling time thereby reducing the chance of survival. Please note that in the case of fish hooked 'deep' anglers are advised to cut the line rather than remove the hook. Studies on released Dusky Kob have shown that very few mouth-hooked fish died but of those that had swallowed the (presumably barbed) hook 73% died when the angler removed the hook while only 16% died when the angler cut the line off near the hook - many being able to expel the hook within 5 days. A study on Bonefish further showed that "barbless hooks were expelled 3,9 times faster when located deep in the oral cavity compared to barbed hooks".

Screenshot, Attwood 2007, CPUE, J-Hook vs Circle

Unlike barbless hooks that are fished much the same way as any similar barbed hook, circles do require some adaptation in technique. Being designed to let a fish hook itself in the side of the mouth after swimming off with the bait, 'striking' will likely result in a 'miss' and the angler should instead 'wind the fish on'. Less seasoned anglers tend to get better hook-up ratios using circle hooks which are therefore regularly used on charter boats. Among experienced anglers tallies are much the same as was shown by Prof. Colin Attwood's research at De Hoop nature reserve. For species such as Galjoen, Musselcracker and Belman catch rates were higher with circle hooks while J-hooks performed better for Elf and White Steenbras. See graph above. The research also confirmed that circle hooks resulted in a far lesser likelihood of hooking a fish in the vulnerable stomach or gill areas and increased the likelihood of hooking a fish in the lip or jaw. See graph below. Noteworthy too is that "The average number of sinkers lost per day by anglers ... dropped from 12 to 4 when they switched to circle hooks".

Screenshot, Attwood 2007, Hooking Tendencies, J-Hook vs Circle

Among the current trend-setters is Hawaii where the NOAA has been actively promoting the use of barbless circle hooks, as much due to accidental hook-ups of endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals and Green Sea Turtles as for the benefit of fish. Whether this is the obvious future or one step too far remains to be seen but their initially reluctant local fishermen are warming up to the idea and barbless circles have already logged a number of wins – with fish around 100 pounds - in Hawaii's famous "Ulua" (GT) tournaments. Way to go!