How To Stop Gut Hooking Fish With Circle Hooks (2 Tips)
- By: Tony Acevedo
- on
Circle hooks are a lifesaver (literally).
Gut hooking a fish is almost always a death sentence.
And the way circle hooks are designed helps them hook fish in the lips, rather than in the gut.
But what happens if you’re using circle hooks, yet you’re still gut hooking fish?
There’s likely one of two problems happening, and in this video, you’ll learn what both of them are and how to fix them.
How To Stop Gut Hooking Fish With Circle Hooks [VIDEO]
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There are two types of circle hooks: inline circle hooks and offset circle hooks.
Inline circle hooks are the ones you want to use.
If a fish has the hook in their throat, they easily slide out and catch their lips.
Offset circle hooks, on the other hand, will catch the throat as they slide out, and hook them there.
In some regions, offset circle hooks are illegal because they don’t have the same ability to avoid gut hooking fish like inline circle hooks.
But what if you’re using inline circle hooks and still gut hooking fish?
Chances are, your drag is set too light.
If you’re using live or cut bait and the rod is in the rod holder, when your drag is set too light the fish will have too much time to run off with the bait and swallow it.
When this happens, it’s really hard to not gut hook them.
Your drag needs to be set so that when the fish runs off with the bait there will be enough pressure to pull the hook out to their lips and hook them.
Conclusion
If you’re gut hooking fish with circle hooks, you need to make sure you’re not using offset circle hooks, and not setting your drag too loose.
By fixing these two problems, you’ll be able to decrease the chances of you gut hooking fish and be able to release them to fight again.
Have any questions about using circle hooks?
Or any other tips to avoid gut hooking fish?
Let me know down in the comments!
And if you know someone who does a lot of live bait fishing with circle hooks, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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Excellent video! We gut hooked a red yesterday and I ended up cutting the leader rather than damaging the fish anymore. We use circle hooks but they are offset! Going to have to change them out.
HI Tony
I have suggested several times to SS to recommend and maybe stock inline barbless circle hooks. Have not gotten a reply. They are hard to find and I have to bend the barb down on barbed. Barbless in my opinion are just as effective and do not damage the fish when taking out.
My buddy kept trying to set the circle hook, missing several nice fish, and refused to let me put a j-hook on for him. He did, however, let me tighten his drag way down and put his rod in the rod holder – and seconds later, Boom! Slot! I said to him, “A real head scratcher, no?” Tighten that drag, put it in the rod holder and hold your own beer! LOL
Hi, I primarily use offset hooks because I feel I lose a lot of fish with a “true” circle hook. Out of the 100s of fish I catch a year, primarily Snook, fingers crossed and genuflecting when I say this, I have never gut hooked a Snook. I have gut hooked a Cravelle, though, maybe once or twice. Am I just lucky? I live in Jupiter, FL, so of course I’m lucky! LOL But you know what I mean. ;).
Hey Edward! There is always a chance of gut hooking fish with any type of hook. If the fish are feeding very aggressively they will suck down a bait very quickly (such as jacks that may be schooled up, or any fish schooled up fighting over food) as opposed to a solo fish that comes across an easy meal. Snook also have a fairly “deep” mouth so you could be less likely to gut hook them unless you wait too long after they take a bait.
I’m struggling with catching stripers with circle hooks using live mackerel. The striper takes the bait and when I start to reel it in, the hook does not catch on the lip of the bass. When I get the mack back to the boat, the hook is completely embedded in the now dead mack. I have also gut hooked a few fish as well. I’m using a Shimano Spinning Baitrunner Reel with a 6.0 inline circle hook and rigging the mack through the spine and/or the nose. Any thoughts?
Hey David! You may need to go with a larger circle hook or use j-hooks so you can actually set the hook to pull it through the meat of the bait effectively. When using J-hooks though, it is critical to actively fish. What I mean by this is to keep the rod in your hand that way you can set the hook properly before the fish swallows the bait and hook completely. You could also try using a rubber band in one of two ways – bridling the bait or using a piece of the rubber band on the hook to keep the hook from sliding back into the bait or “re-hooking” the bait.
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/how-to-bridle-rig-live-bait/
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/live-bait-hack/
They absolutely can. But they are less likely to than j-hooks or offset circle hooks.
Are circle hooks supposed to be used most for a Carolina Rig? I was thinking these would be great under a popping cork but was not sure what the best application for circle hooks is?
Hey Gustavo!
Circle hooks can be used with any live bait rig.
I have circle hooks, but once I ordered them online. I ended up receiving them but they were offset. I ended up putting them in a vice grip and slowly removed the offset. So far I have not had any issues. Nor have any of them broke in half. But I haven’t had any doormat flounder or striper’s break then in half.
That works too!
Curious why I can’t find circle hooks WITH jigheads. Maybe I am not smart enough to understand why that is not a combo I would want or if there are some you know of and can recommend.
Hey Lew!
Mission Fishin sells some here:
https://missionfishinlures.com/collections/circle-hook-jig-heads
Thank you for the helpful tips. I usually tie a small loop knot with circle hooks. Is it better to use a snug knot, loop knot or a snell for Striped Bass? Advantages and disadvantages of a loop vs snug vs snell? Also, why would a red hook be used over a black, silver or gold hook? NJ just made inline circle hooks mandatory for targeting Striped Bass with bait. There are a lot of questions floating around from NJ anglers. Thank you in advance.