# flies on circle hooks



## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

I love circle hooks for live baiting and I've seen a few flies tied on them from time to time, but these are a first for me. So I figured I'd try to tie some up and see how they do. The hooks are Mustad ultra point Demon circle #2 1x fine wire, they are not offset. Will be interesting to see how they hook up, hopefully I'll get a few takers and see. I would be curious to hear how anyone else has done with flies tied on circle hooks.


----------



## Spook (Apr 6, 2007)

I love circles for some things but have shied away from them when tying. I've thought about using them, but know that my uncontrollable tendency to both strip strike and lift the rod tip when I get a hit would lose me fish. On the rare occasion that I can actually convince a fish to hit my fly, my hookup percentage is actually pretty good. And unless it's something that bites through my tippet, I usually can get the fish to the boat (I think that may be a sign that I should be catching bigger fish). I use the sharpest hooks possible and don't really reuse flies, so I know I should connect if I can feel the fish. If you have good success, I have a few packs of the Gamakatsu circles ready for to tie some things up. Let us know how it turns out.

Elie


----------



## Guest (Jul 13, 2007)

Thanks guys. Us newbies want to know.


----------



## White_Fly (Jan 15, 2007)

I tied some Clouser minnows last year with some circle hooks I had. As a matter of fact they were in the Rally Swap that we had in Tampa in 2005. I had good luck with them with good hook ups. I caught a fair number of fish with them. I haven't tied any more cause I tied a bunch for the Rally and had a number left over that I am still using. I will tie some more!


----------



## Biscaynenate (Dec 16, 2006)

I once tied a few bunny gotchas on owner circle hooks but I thought that the wire was a bit heavy. I went back to my trusty Tiemco 811S.


----------



## just_bill (Dec 20, 2006)

Circle hooks are for fishing bait and they say with circle hooks to reel slowly after you get a bite. This is next impossible when stripping a fly line. My buddy tried them when dock fishing for Snook it was a disaster needless to say that was his last time. I am not going to waste time and materials on them. My $.02.  Bill


----------



## Bob (Feb 2, 2007)

Here's my theory on circle hooks for fly fishing... While they make work fine, I don't believe they'll make any real difference.

From what I know (limited at best) circle hooks were invented for the use with live or dead bait to help hook the fish and to also prevent the fish from getting gut hooked when there isn't a nervous human at the other end of the line. Obviously, it's pretty easy for a fish to get gut hooked on live or dead bait since their feeding instincts and/or hunger tell them to swallow. If there's something I've missed here, let me know. 

In my experience, when a fish takes a fly it pretty much knows within a split second that it's not real (and no sense in swallowing it). Thinks to itself "oops, tastes like shat" and spits it out. It's in that very narrow window when the fish either hooks itself, or through a mastery of senses and coordination that you've actually managed to set the hook yourself. I honestly can't remember ever gut hooking a fish caught on a fly. Out of all the mountain trout I've caught on flies (and you need a magnifying glass to tie onto your leader), I've never gut hook a trout. If there was ever an opportunity to gut hook a fish with a fly, it's with a number 22 disco midge. 

Now, it's entirely possible I'm in the minority here and passing on my narrow experiences as universal fact. If so, set me straight.

So while I do have a few tarpon flies tied on some large (& heavy gauge) circle hooks, I don't feel for normal fly fishing that they give the angler or the fish any advantage.

Just my opinion and everybody's got one. - Bob


----------



## Guest (Jul 19, 2007)

> Here's my theory on circle hooks for fly fishing...  While they make work fine, I don't believe they'll make any real difference.
> 
> From what I know (limited at best) circle hooks were invented for the use with live or dead bait to help hook the fish and to also prevent the fish from getting gut hooked when there isn't a nervous human at the other end of the line.  Obviously, it's pretty easy for a fish to get gut hooked on live or dead bait since their feeding instincts and/or hunger tell them to swallow.  If there's something I've missed here, let me know.
> 
> ...


Well all I can say is WOW.  Between you and deerfly I feel like a total DA.  Thanks for posting - I'm reading.   Bear with me, I'll learn, cause I want to. 

How about a demonstration?  I'll pole. 

Thanks agian.


----------



## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

Bob, feel free to share ideas, experiences and opinions, that's what the forum is all about. I've been an avid fisherman since the mid 60's, nurtured and mentored by professional captains in the FL Keys for many of the formative years, still regularly confer with the ones that are still alive. I was also a professional captain myself for a spell. About all I can say is I don't know everything, nor do I profess to. I still learn something new almost every time I'm on the water. 

The circle hook thing with flies is an experiment for me. Knowing what I know about using them for live bait and the number of fish I've caught with a fly I can't quite see why they wouldn't work at least as well as a conventional hook. I'll be in Flamingo this weekend giving them a fair shake though, a place where I've seen most everything else I've tried work or fail in some way. I'll most certainly post the results. 

btw, I have gut hooked, gill hooked and foul hooked all kinds of fish with flies. The biggest (50lbs or so) tarpon I caught on fly this year sucked the fly into the gills from the outside.  In my experience, it has more to do with the tenacity of the strike and less to do with the type of hook. Although in the case of a circle hook, I would think fowl hooking the fish somewhere outside of the mouth would be less likely.

I'll know more in a few days.


----------



## just_bill (Dec 20, 2006)

> Here's my theory on circle hooks for fly fishing...  While they make work fine, I don't believe they'll make any real difference.
> 
> From what I know (limited at best) circle hooks were invented for the use with live or dead bait to help hook the fish and to also prevent the fish from getting gut hooked when there isn't a nervous human at the other end of the line.  Obviously, it's pretty easy for a fish to get gut hooked on live or dead bait since their feeding instincts and/or hunger tell them to swallow.  If there's something I've missed here, let me know.
> 
> ...



I agree! I must add tho if you use circle hooks on flies the fish has the advantage. Their purpose is to prevent gut hooking when using bait. Bill


----------



## White_Fly (Jan 15, 2007)

While I pretty much agree with both Bob and Bill on it not giving much, if any advantage to either party I must say my hookup rate with the circle hooks I used on my Clouser Flys was about the same as with my other larger Clousers in the same size. This was true on both Salt water as well as larger Bass in fresh water. Now I may have lost a lot that I never knew about but it didn't seem so and my catch rate seemed about the same. As I said, I wasn't so impressed that I have tied any more but I must admit that I did catch some fish on them. Bill if you remember all those Jacks I caught that day before the Hurricane were on a Yellow Clouser on a circle hook 
Jim Farmer


----------



## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

well, by no means conclusive, but I hooked up 4 for 4 on these flies. Couple little snook and 2 little ladyfish. One snook was hooked in the corner of the mouth and one on the outside of his gill plate. One ladyfish hooked in the gill rakers in the throat and the other was in the corner of the mouth. Only 4 fish but I'm confident enough to keep trying them. Nothing like pure research.


----------



## Alex4188 (Mar 18, 2014)

Real old post I know, but in case anyone is looking for more info on this here is my .02 I tie most of my saltwater flies with a Gamakatsu inline Octopus circle SE 1/0 or 2/0. Mostly for snook/redfish and baby tarpon up to 60lbs. tarpon over 60 I like Owner hooks. Like everything circle hook flies have their time and place. For fast moving fish that like to hit on the run like jack and lady fish and fish that hit and turn away as soon as they take the fly I think circle hooks increase the hook up ratio. We have all been bumping a fly along and all of a sudden felt that very quick sharp tug but didn't get the hook up, that is where the circle hook helps the most. With a circle hook that most likely would have caught the corner of the mouth. For fishing for snook around mangroves is another area where circle hooks work great. Very rarely does a snook come out of the bushes and hit from directly behind the fly, most of the time I've noticed they come from behind at about a 45 degree angle or come from the side = a 90 degree angle to the fly either way Mangrove (and dock) snook hit and turn around to head right back to the mangroves. Even without a strip strike if you just hold the line tight that turn puts that fly in the corner of its mouth and as it takes off it hooks it's self. I found that those out of sight surprise hits where I didn’t get a chance to strip strike or when the fly line slips in your hands when you try to strip seem to have a much higher hook up ratio than with a standard J hook. One of the biggest mistakes sight fishermen make is to set the hook too soon, by sight not feel and pull the fly away from the fish. You are not supposed to set the hook until you feel weigh and with a circle hook by the time you feel weight the tip of a circle hook is all ready digging in. Tarpon are the perfect fish for circle hooks. Unless you hook it in the gill or the corner of the mouth there isn't too many soft areas in their mouth for a J hook to find to dig in, the best situation is a corner of the mouth hook set so they don’t rub through the leader during the fight. Most of the tarpon I have ever hooked or watched get hooked from the poling platform rise up on the fly, suck it in, and turn away as soon as they take it. That is the perfect situation for a circle hook to grab the corner of the mouth which will lead to more landed fish. Also circle hooks are a little harder to get out than a J hook so there is less chance of a fish throwing the hook once hooked up. They take a little getting used to just like when we all started using them with bait, we all missed a lot of fish from trying to set the hook instead of just pulling. My wife to this day still says (in her European accent) "I don't won’t one of those fantasy hooks" I guess convincing her to switch to circle hooks isn't going to happen any time soon!


----------

