Jighead with circle hook

[J.A. Veil]

Circle hooks have made their way into recreational fishing over the past two decades. They have a reputation as providing a more conservation oriented way of catching fish that are likely to be released. Circle hooks work by catching in the corner of the fish's mouth and rotating into a good hookset position. They tend to minimize deep hooking or gut hooking. I have been using thin-wire circle hooks on my bottom rigs for nearly 20 years. Since I release most of the fish I catch, I wanted to try a jighead made with a circle hook. These are not common or easy to find. I bought some Mission Fishin circle hook jigheads in 3/8-oz size. The second photo shows the circle hook jighead at the bottom and two standard jigheads at the top.

005.jpg 004.jpg

I have tried using them over the past few weeks in trolling and in casting and retrieving for stripers. I had hoped to encounter plenty of stripers to give the hook a good trial. I am disappointed to report that I have not found many stripers at all in the areas where I have been fishing, and cannot give a good set of data on performance. I can tell you that I have seen no evidence of getting strikes that do not hook up due to shape of the hooks. Nearly every strike I got on the circle hook jig resulted in a caught fish, at the same frequency as bites on my standard jigheads.

Here are two examples of how I used them:

1) A few weeks ago, I was at Thomas Pt lighthouse. I and other boats were casting to the rocks with no success. My sonar showed a layer of fish on the bottom in 8 ft depth. I decided to toss out the circle hook jig and let it drift along the bottom. As the boat moved, I twitched the line gently to give the paddletail some action. I ended up catching about 7 fish in the next 20 minutes. The fish effectively hooked themselves.

2) Yesterday Mark and I fished a shallow stump field with lots of fallen trunks in Eastern Bay. At the start of our session, I was catching fish on standard jigheads. I threw the circle hook jighead but got no bites. After a while I decided that the orange paddletail I used on that jighead was a color not popular with the fish. I switched over to a light chartreuse color and quickly had a strong hit. I was not sure if I had a fish or if I had snagged on a trunk so I pulled back hard on the line. Normally, this is a no-no for using circle hooks. A quick hookset often pulls the hook from the mouth before it has a chance to fully embed. But I was lucky yesterday -- the hook held. I reeled in an energetic 20" striper on a med-light rod. The bite had dropped way off by that time, so we departed.

002.jpg

Here are some negative aspects of circle hooks:

a) If you like to jig with a quick snap or are used to making a strong hookset (like the TV bass pros), circle hooks are not the best choice.
b) Because of the shape of the hook that curves back into the bend, it is more challenging to thread a soft plastic lure onto them. I suspect my skill level will improve with more practice.

I will continue using the circle hook jigheads throughout the summer and fall to develop more data. I have some extras that I can sell for $1 each if anyone is interested.

[Salty Dog]

I really like the idea of circle hooks for jig heads. I use owner circle hooks fishing the surf and have experience the same result when hard setting the hook. The hook sets itself and all you need to do is apply the tension. Of course with any fish and circle hooks don't try to pull the fish out of the water, let the drag do its job. I look forward to your additional data at the end of the year. So my next thought is Circle Hook Bucktails.

[Slobber Bob]

I know the advantage of using circle hooks while dead sticking bait, but is there a reason you're trying them on jigheads? I'm assuming it's to cut down on the possibility of deep hooking fish, but does that happen all that often to you on a standard jighead?

[J.A. Veil]

I know the advantage of using circle hooks while dead sticking bait, but is there a reason you're trying them on jigheads? I'm assuming it's to cut down on the possibility of deep hooking fish, but does that happen all that often to you on a standard jighead?

I do 99% catch and release fishing. I enjoy catching fish, but want to minimize the impact on the fish and get them back in the water as quickly as possible. Most of the fish I catch on standard jigheads are caught in the mouth area and are not deep hooked. But I go through streaks where 3 of 5 fish may get hooked deeper. I don't know why that is -- but I do observe it occasionally, and it bothers me to kill a fish needlessly.

Circle hook jigheads should help reduce the frequency of deep hooking. I cannot prove that yet because I don't have enough data. I also don't know if the hook up rate will be lower when using circle hook jigs. I plan to use at least one rod with the circle hook jigs on my striper outings this summer and fall to accumulate more information.

[dasher]

I've looked for a while for circle hooks on jig heads, who makes what you found & & where did you get them john?
thanks!

[RustedAngler]

I've looked for a while for circle hooks on jig heads, who makes what you found & & where did you get them john?
thanks!

google image shopping reveals companies(websites) that sell them. Google image "circle hook jig heads" and click the links in the photos.

[J.A. Veil]

I've looked for a while for circle hooks on jig heads, who makes what you found & & where did you get them john?
thanks!

I have used high quality Mission Fishin standard jigheads when fishing with a guide in Florida. I visited their website in April and found some circle jigheads. I bought a bunch of them in 3/8-oz size to avoid paying shipping (pennywise, but pound foolish). I will probably sell some of the extra ones during the winter flea markets, but will sell them now for $1 each if anyone wants to try them without buying in large quantity. And as Rusted Angler points out, you can search on Google and find some other vendors. I have never seen them in any of the local shops, but honestly I have not been looking closely for them.

[Slobber Bob]

Keep us updated on how you like them.