hooks for pike

[martin BATEY]

Having been caught out big time with barbed trebles caught in the landing net (nightmare!) I now crush all my barbs when fishing lures. Result no lost fish. Howether when fishing lives or deads I leave one hook barbed. What is the general view from fellow pike anglers on this matter?

 

[Chris Bishop]

Get a proper lure net - far safer for the fish and less trouble on the bank.

For bait fishing use semi-barbeds like Kamasan, ET Extra Strong, Partridge etc depending on what qualities you're looking for.

It's basically a compromise between strength and sharpness.

Partridge make some extremely strong hooks, but they are short in the points and small for their size (6s is the samre as and 8s in some other patterns...). Short points affect penetration and I seemed to lose a lot of fish on them.

ET are incredibly sharp hooks, with needle points and round bends. They really do go in and stay in but of late they seem to bend more easily, although this can be an advantage in snaggy waters, where you can bend them out on a snag rather than leave a baited rig tethered to it.

Kamasans are great all-round hooks. The one's I'd avoid are the Drennan carbon ones (very brittle, points prone to snap off...) and Fox (have straightened these out on fish...)

 

[BUDGIE BURGESS]

I do exactly the same as you Martin.I feel that semi barbed trebles are the best option for all bait fishing for Pike.The ease of unhooking is the prime point in this.I also believe that setting the hook is also made easier.As most of my bait fishing is done with size 6 trebles I have no worries about the points penetrating too deeply.However with lures the hooks are a lot larger.With these larger trebles and even more so on large singles(ie spinner baits)I worry that a barbless hook could penetrate too deeply.With these big hooks a fully barbed version can also cause a lot of damage on unhooking.The best solution that I have reached so far is to crush the barb(ensuring that it is fully closed) but leaving as large a "bump" as possible.I am at the moment experimenting with filling the gap (solder) instead of closing it.This gives a larger "bump".This is purely for my large lure trebles as I am perfectly happy with the sizes I use for bait.

 

[BUDGIE BURGESS]

Totally agree with Chris's comments on hook brands.