Circle Hook Survey

[Jason Barnucz]

I thought some may be interested in taking part in this survey.

Circle Hook Survey for Anglers

In an effort to better understand what the angling community thinks about circle hooks, you are invited to complete a short online survey where you will have the opportunity to provide input on this topic. The target community is anglers in North America that have used circle hooks at least once. The information you provide us is important! By completing the survey, you help ensure that the results are as complete and useful as possible. Your participation in this survey is voluntary and you may decide to stop at any time. You cannot be personally identified. For further information on survey data collection procedures and safeguards regarding confidentiality, contact Dr. Steven Cooke (Associate Professor, Carleton University, Ottawa) at steven_cooke@carleton.ca. Findings from the survey will be available at www.carleton.ca/fecpl by mid June. In addition, results from the survey will be incorporated into an overview presentation on biological and social aspects of circle hook use in recreational fisheries at the upcoming first world conference on circle hooks.

You can access the survey here: http://app.fluidsurveys.com/s/circlesurvey/

The survey portal will be open until April 10th 2011. Please share this posting with others that you know have experience with circle hooks.

________________________________________

Dr. Steven J. Cooke

Canada Research Chair in Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology

Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Biology

Carleton University

1125 Colonel By Dr.

Ottawa, ON Canada K1S 5B6

Steven_Cooke@carleton.ca

www.carleton.ca/fecpl

[marth11]

did the survey, was great, wasn't even personal.

[marth11]

agree I used em a handful of times, they are great for life bait or soft plastics, they aren't too good for carp, are great for bullheads and other cats, since they swallow the hook a lot.

[Phranchise]

I've had good success with them when I have used them. You can't really set the hook hard with them. Its more of a pull or sweep set as you start reeling. Learnt that the hard way as I was missing fish a lot. They worked for me just as advertised tho, right in the corner of the mouth.

[Jason Barnucz]

I've had good success with them when I have used them. You can't really set the hook hard with them. Its more of a pull or sweep set as you start reeling. Learnt that the hard way as I was missing fish a lot. They worked for me just as advertised tho, right in the corner of the mouth.

I could not agree more with the statement. I typically have used circle hooks for bait (live or dead) applications. Over recent years this has mostly been for Channel Cats. For my job I spend a lot of my time in SW Ontario (Essex, Chatham-Kent). Channel Cat fishing is a great way to kill an evening while on the road. I found circle hooks great for cats. Nearly every hook placement is perfect by simply reeling up the slack and allowing the rod to load up on its own.

As for other species, I spend lots of time bass fishing and I feel circle hooks have not been put through their paces in my books yet. There would be two applications where circle hooks would be used, drop-shotting and wacky rigging baits (stick baits). I know of some peers who use circle hooks with great success. I have been using octopus style hooks. I have had very few issues with deep hooked fish on either of these presentations. This is why I may be discouraged to try circle hooks since I have not had too many issues with deeply hooked fish.

[smerchly]

An old bud I fished with a few years ago told me to try circle hooks for pan fish . I bought some and as he said , you don't need to "set the hook" ....just start reeling them in which is good for kids . And these hooks which are really bent into a near circle , can be barbless . They will hold the fish better than a barbless regular hook . Now ,I will have to give them a test , comparing them to reg.hooks on my next perch outing .