Circle hooks and lost fish

[MudRiverDan]

Went to the beach today, tried the new rod I bought, is a 13ft Daiwa SS sensor.

Have to say I am very impressed with these rods, the 13 ft casts a mile which is pleasing as I have at last found a good medium for my style of fishing.

Anyway I cast out a pike tail on a 5/0 circle and bam got hit by something good, the fish pulled some drag enough for me to feel it was a good one then spat the bait...

I have had this happen to me a lot of times with circles and larger fish baits.

Fair enough I could have used a 7/0 for the hook barb to get better clearance of the bait however I am considering going to another type of hook with preferably a wider gape, as often the circle turn back inside the bait and with a large bait the fish can spit it.

Any opinions?

BTW are there Salmon on Cabirita this month.
Just wondering if that's was a possibility, of course I would like to think it were a Jewie or big bream, but just wondering if the Salmon were out and about, they do put on a good fight.

Dan

[tunaticer]

Try a wide gap worm hook like the Owner 5339-161 hooks instead of the circles, much better hook set behind the jaw joint.

[warti]

At the moment I can't go past the Mustad penetrator. They are a bit thinner and seem to pin most fish easily.

[nigelr]

The gape on a Circle will need to be totally unobstructed by the bait to work effectively. I swear by these things for inshore bait fishing, and for bream form the surf/estuary, but I prefer a more conventional pattern for general surf fishing. If I'm not using gangs, generally a single or snooded pair of Gamakatsu Octopus; the Penetrator is a great hook too I reckon, love how thin it is.
I tried circles off the beach with slab bait for a while but went back to snooded pairs.
Pretty sure you would have salmon there by now MRD, they are certainly down here (Coffs), I saw my first large dark patch of them in the surf yesterday, and last time I fished the beach I caught a couple. Could have pulled them in for hours but I was after a tailor.
Cheers.

[MudRiverDan]

Thanks

Yep well never got any more hits after that one in a whole afternoon.
Definitely going to try a different hook setup.
I forget to use gangs these days as I never use pillys anymore.

Dan

[fishfeeder]

I have also lost good fish because of the Circle hooks, feels like a good hookup but letting the fish take the bait and then applying pressure (so fish hooks its self) and then after getting the fish up say 20m the fish gets off... then the swearing starts
The only time I will use them now is if I Snood rig with the top hook a Circle...

Brett

[stue2]

Been having more luck with circles on the longer softer rods left in the rod holder. There are days when ill change away from circles to a two hook rig with the top being larger and holding the bulk of the bait and a smaller hook underneth supporting the tail of a strip of squid or similar when the going gets tough.

[cobiaman]

As long as the gape of the hook is exposed, they are great! If the point of the hook is facing back at the bait you dont seem to hook up anywhere near as well...

[Midnight]

For circles to work, they must inhale the bait and swim away in freespool basically, and then the drag slowly applied to set the hook. No strike at all, and "slowly" being the operative word in slowing or stopping the run to set the hook.

Otherwise, go to offset circles that will allow for a very short drop back prior to the drag being applied. You may get a few gut/gill hooked, but if you re food fishing that doesn't matter.

Cheers,
Myles