You might not know what a circle hook is but if you do much angling for catfish you need to know about this great hook. In fact, circle hooks have been around for hundreds of years and hooks used by the Hawaiian people over 1000 years ago look much like our modern day circle hook.

I had planned to address the subject of catching catfish this week but I felt the need to discuss one of the great tools for catching catfish and that is the circle hook. Circle hooks have been used in saltwater fishing circles for many years but have only in the last few years has the circle hook become a common hook for catching freshwater catfish.

Most freshwater applications use the circle hook when pursuing gamefish like catfish or other freshwater gamefish where live bait or cut bait is used. They have also been used by anglers who fish for trophy largemouth bass where anglers use live trout or shad.

The advantage in using the circle hook is that the gamefish will hook itself and normally that hook set occurs in the jaw or edge of the mouth. The reason for that type of hookset is the design of the circle hook. The hook point curls back toward the bend of the hook making what appears to be a near complete circle.

One of the primary advantages of the circle hook is that less damage is done to the gamefish. Most circle hooks penetrate the jaw or lips of the fish and infrequently are the fish hooked in the throat. The design of the hooks allows a fish to swallow the bait into the throat but when the fish moves away with the bait the bait and hook slides out of the throat and due to the design of the circle hook, it rotates and the fish is hooked in the jaw or lip.

This allows the fish to be released unharmed if that is the angler’s desire. Few fish that are hooked in the throat survive even if the angler cuts the line and allows the hook to stay in place. Anglers assume that the hook will work itself out of the fish but most fish die when hooked in the throat. Any attempt by the angler to remove a hook that has penetrated the throat of the fish will almost assuredly result in death to the fish.

The ability to release fish that I have caught unharmed is what led me to research circle hooks and then begin using circle hooks. I first began using circle hooks while catfishing and was amazed at how even with a baited but unattended rod and reel, the fish would hook itself and almost 100% of the time, it was in the jaw or lip.

I especially like the circle hook when my grandchildren visit during the summer to fish for big catfish using live bluegill or bluegill heads. This year they have caught several catfish using the circle hook and they were never required to set the hook. In all cases the catfish hooked 100% of themselves securely in the corner of the jaw. All the grandchildren had to do was fight the catfish to the dock where it could be netted.

In most cases, the catfish was released alive to fight another day. The grandchildren have caught several catfish over 15 pounds this summer. The one exception was a catfish that I estimated to be around twenty pounds that took a small live bream but unfortunately broke the line when it managed to get under the dock.

Normally the gamefish will swallow the bait and begin to swim away and with tension on the line will pull out of the throat and the hook will penetrate the jaw or lip. One thing that anglers have to learn with the circle hook is that you do not need to set the hook.

The gamefish will do the hook setting for you. If you forget and tug on the line when a strike occurs, you will in many cases pull the baited hook out of the fish’s throat resulting in no hook up. When a strike occurs while using cut bait or live bait, just simply begin reeling because the fish has already hooked itself.

Hook manufactures are now developing smaller circle hooks for many freshwater uses especially when using live bait. Initially, most circle hooks were extremely large and heavy since they were used primarily for large saltwater and freshwater gamefish using live bait or cut bait.

In the interest of conservation and because of the ability to safely release gamefish when using the circle hook, developers are creating light wire circle hooks that can be used with soft plastics. The circle hook can be used successfully with drop shoting and whacky rigging of soft plastics. When using the standard “J” hook with soft plastic applications like Texas rigging and Carolina rigging many largemouth bass are fatally injured when hooked in the throat.

In my experience, the circle hook has not worked well when using soft plastics using either a Texas rig or a Carolina rig. When soft plastics are used by Texas rigging or Carolina rigging, largemouth bass often have a tendency to spit out the soft plastic very quickly if you do not set the hook. If you set the hook with a circle hook, you simply pull the soft plastic out of the largemouth’s mouth.

Next week we will look at catching catfish during the summer months and how the circle hook will improve your chances for success. Good fishing and see you next week.