Red hooks. Do they make a difference??

[finga]

Well...do they??
Thanks all
Scott

[plaztix]

Not in my opinion, but i think that for smaller species like bream etc they may increase hook up rates as they are mostly chemically sharpened, therefore slightly sharper. maybe

Didn't get a chance to try the fingmajigs on the weekend, forgot we were going to a christening yesterday, was on the beers by 9.30 and that was it for the day

Hoping to get a dawn session in later in the week

[Noelm]

I guess they MAY make a difference, but who knows for sure, a lot of lures work on the principal of "flash" and so on, in that case why then would not a chrome hook with some flash be better than a red or Black or any other colour?, my belief is that if you feel more confident with a Red hook, then red is the hook for you!! I remember once seeing an old Movie with Steve Starling, and he is using a Red hook, but then goes on to say that he likes the bait to have a bit of Flash!! kind of contradicts itself?? but I do not say that they are not better, just another view on it all, I would use a Red hook with no worries, but would not look especially for them!

[rockfisho]

I think that a red hook for whiting would be better than a standard hook. I always use red plastic above the hook and find that this encourages more bites than using no red plastic. therefore i assume it would be better in this circumstance.

However it must be noted that red becomes invisible at only shallow depths ( a couple of metres) but i often fish water less than 2 m deep for whiting.

Owen

[Blackened]

G'day

Always the #4 Mustad "Bloodworm" hooks for me when fishing for whiting, always did ok.... nice hooks too

Dave

[Scott nthQld]

I only use the red hooks when targeting the bread and butter species like whiting, bream, grunter etc, always used the mustad bloodworm, don't know why, just have, I don't go looking for them, and I won't go to another store if one is out of stock (not bloody likely, especially in NQ where everyone concentrates of the well publicised fish like barra nad jacks etc) I just get another type, no worries. when targeting bigger fish, like the previous mentioned as well as the reefies, I now exclusively use the Gamakatsu (spelling?) circle hooks (in just the standard colour), these are the hooks I am fussy on as other brands I have had a lot of failures and have never straightened one of these out in the slightest.

[Noelm]

I fully agree that the Red hooks for Whiting may be better, but how can you be sure that the fish would not have eaten your worm offering anyway, or perhaps even more would have taken it if you had a green hook, but as I said, if you feel confident that the Red hook makes a difference, then by all means, buy and use Red hooks, I always like Blue Line (especially for Tuna Cubing) but heaps of people do not use Blue and still catch Fish, but I feel better with it, so thats what I use!

[Blackened]

G'day

Scott, I also use Gamagatsu exclusively for the bigger stuff, circles in 5/0, 7/0 and 8/0 and gangsters in 4/0... natural color for these is black

Dave

[reidy]

Good day,
Which brings us back to red line again and again and again
I guess as Noelm and others said 'IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER" run with it.
I had one rod with penn 10x 20lb next to another with sheakspear cagen red (cant spell) 20lb bottom bashing for flatties 3 weeks ago and there was no real advantage re hook ups on each line.But pink jig-ums on each worked a treat.
Who really knows, not me thats for sure
Cheers
Reidy

[ffejsmada]

Who knows??????

I think you'd have to have gills, scales, fins and have the ability to breath underwater, unassisted to answer that question!!!

Good marketing tool I reckon!

Jeff.

[ffejsmada]

However it must be noted that red becomes invisible at only shallow depths ( a couple of metres) but i often fish water less than 2 m deep for whiting.

Owen

Red does not become invisible!!!!
Red is the first colour to lose its colour underwater and becomes a "neutral colour" that blends in with the surrounds.

Jeff.

[plaztix]

Red does not become invisible!!!!
Red is the first colour to lose its colour underwater and becomes a "neutral colour" that blends in with the surrounds.

Jeff.

Which is why i would think the only difference it would make in most applications is because they are generally chemically sharpened. The visual side of things is hardly gonna make any difference as they would appear the same as a grey/black hook at 3m or deeper. Are all red hooks chemically sharpened ?

[rockfisho]

You are right Jeff. I should have said blends in rather than invisible. Red does blend in at a shallow depth. but it is still red in the surf scenario.


Owen

[freddofrog]

Ok guys…lets put some science behind this.

1. Water acts like a (blue) filter and filters out the red spectrum, the deeper you go, the more red is removed. Eg many underwater shots taken without a flash look distinctly blue.
2. Objects appear coloured because they reflect that part of the spectrum, yellow bananas reflect yellow light, red tomatoes reflect red light etc
3. White objects reflect all light, black objects absorb all light and don’t reflect any
4. If a colour object (eg blue cloth) is illuminated with a different coloured light (eg yellow light) it will appear black because there is no blue light to reflect back

So in our case, our red hook will appear not invisible, nor “neutral”, but will in fact look BLACK!!!

In reality, because we are not dealing with a pure red object or pure red light, it should look black/dark-ish but it also depends on water depth.

So that begs the question, if you are using a white colour bait, eg cleaned squid, fillet of fish etc, will a red hook on the white-ish background of the bait look just as obvious cause the hook now looks black???

I scuba dive so next time I’ll take a red hook with me and give you some feedback, that’s if I remember that is

Hope that helps
ff

[freddofrog]

try these links
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasc...9/gen99646.htm
and
http://www.punaridge.org/doc/factoids/Light/Default.htm
and
http://www.educatedangler.com/content/view/921/1/ -- fishing related one to boot!

cya
ff