Baitfish/Streamers on Circle Hooks

[Gerrit Viljoen]

For the Salty's,

There might've been talk about the above subject but I would appreciate any new input.

Have u given this set up a go?
What were the main area's of concern?
How did u find the hook ups?
What brand of hooks did u use and why?


Any tying tips will be great if u have any.


Thanks
G

[krokenosterfant]

Howzit Gerrit

I've experimented with circles a year ago and I was highly impressed, but lack of saltwater thrashing lately has limited further experimentation with them. I also want to try them on Yellowfish in the Great Fish river here. A good mate of mine experimented with circles as well in the salt and from what I can remember he said that they worked awesomely for him as well. He used them and streamers (clouser's, lefty's etc) and on popper and he said hookups were always solid. I have only tried them on bass streamers and saltwater poppers for leeries. Just don't try them on grunter flies or for fish that don't snatch and run with the fly, you want them for fish like leeries/garrick, kingies etc.which hit the fly so hard and fast that they hook themself way before you have come to your senses and thought about striking (DONT STRIKE if you have the reaction time of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne!).

Mustad and Owner circles are the best in my opinion, but haven't tried others (only VMC Sport Circles for baitfishing, but they have offset shanks, useless for flies) so can't say.

Only problems I've had is with bass, as they have a habit of hitting and rejecting a subsurface fly without even touching the leader. If I didn't watch several large bass take my fly along my dam wall, I would have thought that there was something wrong with my pattern as I had "no" takes beforehand!

Hookups are always in the scissors of the jaw or between the "lip" and the head (in the membrane like skin which allows the mouth to extend abit)

Give it a try for the hard hitters and I'm sure you will be happy with the results.

Tight lines

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Howzit Gerrit

I've experimented with circles a year ago and I was highly impressed, but lack of saltwater thrashing lately has limited further experimentation with them. I also want to try them on Yellowfish in the Great Fish river here. A good mate of mine experimented with circles as well in the salt and from what I can remember he said that they worked awesomely for him as well. He used them and streamers (clouser's, lefty's etc) and on popper and he said hookups were always solid. I have only tried them on bass streamers and saltwater poppers for leeries. Just don't try them on grunter flies or for fish that don't snatch and run with the fly, you want them for fish like leeries/garrick, kingies etc.which hit the fly so hard and fast that they hook themself way before you have come to your senses and thought about striking (DONT STRIKE if you have the reaction time of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne!).

Mustad and Owner circles are the best in my opinion, but haven't tried others (only VMC Sport Circles for baitfishing, but they have offset shanks, useless for flies) so can't say.

Only problems I've had is with bass, as they have a habit of hitting and rejecting a subsurface fly without even touching the leader. If I didn't watch several large bass take my fly along my dam wall, I would have thought that there was something wrong with my pattern as I had "no" takes beforehand!

Hookups are always in the scissors of the jaw or between the "lip" and the head (in the membrane like skin which allows the mouth to extend abit)

Give it a try for the hard hitters and I'm sure you will be happy with the results.

Tight lines

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the info,really appreciated.

I'm a big believer in circles be it caddis or streamers though I haven't tried the latter on baitfish patterns,only read good things about it.

I have in my possession a study or experiment rather that was done a while back and the end result was suprising and very informative.

All the J-hook lovers changed their opinions which in my mind says a lot about the current and future use of circles.Not even mentioning the good it'll do for conservation.

I chose this thread instead of the freshwater one for various reasons but dare I say using common sense it'll work great for other patterns,crabs being one of those.

Cheers
G

[Paul Weingartz]

Gerrit, if you are looking at larger streamers I absolutely recommend circle hooks. A friend of mine who is GT fanatic like myself started using them 2 years ago and I first used the Owner SSW in line circle Dec 2006 in Sey, absolutely 100 % hookup rate on Gt's, snapper, rock cod and bluefin. I refuse to use anything else on slammer, profile, semper and silicone mullet type flies . We only use them debarbed and with it being a circle you don't loose the fish if it gets slack line( See Ufudu flies at Solly's fourways for an example ) I have had the same success rate here at home. recently had 61, 55 cm, greenspot, 62 , 54cm bluefin kingfish on 6/0 hook, not to mention several much bigger giant kingfish which all broke me up on the reef.. I refuse to fish with anything else except on a popper ( at present experimenting with that too). You can get these hooks in 5. 6. 8/0. The reason they work well is their shape and weight makes them keel well, so other circles don't swim and work as good for me. An aquaintance just came ack from a Sey trip where he used exclusively Ufudu flies with owner circles, the guides and other sey fishers were derogatory about his flies, yet he was the only one who had a good hook up rate, the others lost many fish !
I have heard of guys complaining about losing fish on circles , this may be true for various reasons, style of circle, method of stripping, trying to strike when the fish takes, which is probably the most common fault. Very often when guys come the salt from fresh they lift the rod when the fish takes which is guaranteed to pull the fly out of it's mouth, even more so with a circle. When stripping, ( two handed is best for me ) you keep stripping until the fish hooks itself only then strip strike or in the case of bigger fish trying to stop the fish will have the same effect.

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Gerrit, if you are looking at larger streamers I absolutely recommend circle hooks. A friend of mine who is GT fanatic like myself started using them 2 years ago and I first used the Owner SSW in line circle Dec 2006 in Sey, absolutely 100 % hookup rate on Gt's, snapper, rock cod and bluefin. I refuse to use anything else on slammer, profile, semper and silicone mullet type flies . We only use them debarbed and with it being a circle you don't loose the fish if it gets slack line( See Ufudu flies at Solly's fourways for an example ) I have had the same success rate here at home. recently had 61, 55 cm, greenspot, 62 , 54cm bluefin kingfish on 6/0 hook, not to mention several much bigger giant kingfish which all broke me up on the reef.. I refuse to fish with anything else except on a popper ( at present experimenting with that too). You can get these hooks in 5. 6. 8/0. The reason they work well is their shape and weight makes them keel well, so other circles don't swim and work as good for me. An aquaintance just came ack from a Sey trip where he used exclusively Ufudu flies with owner circles, the guides and other sey fishers were derogatory about his flies, yet he was the only one who had a good hook up rate, the others lost many fish !
I have heard of guys complaining about losing fish on circles , this may be true for various reasons, style of circle, method of stripping, trying to strike when the fish takes, which is probably the most common fault. Very often when guys come the salt from fresh they lift the rod when the fish takes which is guaranteed to pull the fly out of it's mouth, even more so with a circle. When stripping, ( two handed is best for me ) you keep stripping until the fish hooks itself only then strip strike or in the case of bigger fish trying to stop the fish will have the same effect.

Thanks for the informative reply Paul. All my concerns were addressed with real life experience and not with thumb suck tales.

[krokenosterfant]

Howzit Gerrit

Just to side track slightly from the exact topic. Which and what size circles do you use for Yellow flies?

Another thing. Has anyone tried circles for tigers? Thinking about it, won't circles be the perfect answer, solid hook ups in the scissors and it keeps the leader away from the dentures. But will the teeth hamper the hookup process?

Sexy loops

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Howzit Gerrit

Just to side track slightly from the exact topic. Which and what size circles do you use for Yellow flies?

Another thing. Has anyone tried circles for tigers? Thinking about it, won't circles be the perfect answer, solid hook ups in the scissors and it keeps the leader away from the dentures. But will the teeth hamper the hookup process?

Sexy loops

Hi Paul,

Mustad BLN dot dot dot shize I've forgotton the ref now cause I always chuck it into a toolbox type thingy with all my other hooks.13711 or something???

Size1,4 and 8.I believe smaller is a no no.Maybe a 10 but I don't go that small when using circles.

There is a thread/poll about tiger flies and there is a fly tied on a circle.

[jock0]

I use mustad light wire demon circles for my yellow flies in #6, #8 and #10. How big is a caddis on a #1 circle

I wouldnt use them when flyfishing for tigers but thats just me.


Edit: Just checked the mustadss are 39954BLN's

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Paul we're in luck,found a label.The ref is 39951BLN.

JockO,the #1 is no bigger than the Caddis I found later in the season this year.A bom of about 2cm.

I like the bigger ones,u CAN strike and get a propper hook up with these bigger gapes if u choose to strike.This size was my best producer this year when fishing the rapids.