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Eagle Claw

Gamakatsu

Mustad

Owner

DNE

Other

[blaydRnr]

i use both gammies (barbless) and owner hooks needle point size 4 to 1 depending on water condition and salmonid species...

i find the cutting edge owners to be a major rip off.

[glx]

I use Gamakatsu pretty much all the time and have never had a problem.  For something new, I tried a pack of 2/0 Owner Cutting Points and have no complaints.  As well I tried some of the Mustand Ultra Point Siwash on my Hot Shots 35 and was very impressed. 

[fly fisher]

My thoughts exactly....I haven't straightened hooks in a long time and the last time was accidental foul hooking a fish. I know that you sometimes get a soft batch of hooks but you shouldn't be straightening hooks regularly. Dare I say....too many foul hooked fish or horsing in fish with heavy test line!

i was using my pin and had a 12 pound test leader and i straightend 4 that day.

[bigblue]

Gamis are the only hook that I tie line to, and ALWAYS a few quick strokes of the file before they get wet. Any hook will take a file well if you know how to sharpen a hook correctly.

Fish Slayer, can you maybe give me some tips on how to sharpen a Gammie siwash hook?

After experimenting with many hooks, I have kind of gravitated to using Gammies for both FF and hardware.
Due to nature of spoon/spinner fishing, hooks get dull quite quickly and I have also tried to sharpen Gammie siwash as they are quite expensive.
However, as in case of Matt and some other in this thread, I have not been successful in sharpening Gammie siwash to make it anywhere near sticky.
Most times filing did not improve the situation much, so I end up replacing the hook with a new one.

If I could successfully sharpen a Gammie siwash hook with a file, it would save me a bundle of money over the long run.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
 

[searun17]

I use the gammis for float fishing and never had any problems,for spinners i use the mustad hooks,i find the the gammy spinner hooks to be week,i have had big coho bend a couple like they were a paper clip.

[younggun]

i've used gammies for years but have now began testing owners, i find the gammies to be stickier out of the pack, but the owners just dont seem to go dull after however many fish or rock bumps. I think i used the same 12lb ultragreen leader and #1 owner for atleast a dozen coho one day, and it held up. I've lost 3 steelhead so far on gammies so maybe its time to switch. Fishing the owners 2mrrw.

[penn]

 I use Mustads myself ,#4 . Nice sharp points on them . Very consistent , much cheaper than Gammies for a hook almost as good .
Yes you can get a hook sharper than they come out of the pack , but when you do , you remove the harder outer layer and have a softer tip . This is why some of you report them going down hill after a couple of sharpenings . You are better off not touching your hook point unless you really have to because it really is dull . For a better hook set just go to a smaller barbless hook . This is why I rarely use anything bigger than a #4 , even for springs .

[bigblue]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I guess I will give Owner siwash a shot.
I have never used Owner hooks before but heard that they were top notch stuff.

Regarding Gammie siwash, I have caught and released dozens of coho on hardware (spoons & french spinners) this season and have rarely lost any fish once hooked. I tend to do float fishing with yarn/roe early and mid season and tend to move more to spinning with spoons and french spinners as water temperature falls, so can't really say how gammie siwash performs under a float with colorado spinners.

Only problem I have had is how to sharpen them to improve longevity.
I guess sharpening them does not work well for the reason penn mentioned.

[penn]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I guess I will give Owner siwash a shot.
I have never used Owner hooks before but heard that they were top notch stuff.

Regarding Gammie siwash, I have caught and released dozens of coho on hardware (spoons & french spinners) this season and have rarely lost any fish once hooked. I tend to do float fishing with yarn/roe early and mid season and tend to move more to spinning with spoons and french spinners as water temperature falls, so can't really say how gammie siwash performs under a float with colorado spinners.

Only problem I have had is how to sharpen them to improve longevity.
I guess sharpening them does not work well for the reason penn mentioned.

If you got a half decent point on your hook out of the pack you are best off to be happy with that until it gets the point damaged , that is , if you want your hook to last longer . If you are fishing in a spot where you have no worries about hooking on rocks , then a softer ( but sharper) point doesn't hurt your hook's longevity . But lot's of good steelie water is pretty shallow stuff with plenty of big rocks in it , so hooking on rocks is almost inevitable in those conditions . You can improve that by shortening your float height , but there are always rocks sticking up higher in lots of places that will get ya even when you are short floating .
IMO hook size has more to do with how well you hook up than does that last bit of sharpness on your point . Even a nice sharpened gammy , say in a size #1 , requires more force to set in than a moderately sharp #4 due to the thickness of the hook itself . You need to remember that that sharper point is followed by a thicker shaft of steel that resists driving in more than a thinner hook . My #4's are always nicely buried and don't come out nearly has often than when I used to use bigger hooks .

[Matt]

i was using my pin and had a 12 pound test leader and i straightend 4 that day.

Getting a good hookset can reduce the chance of bending the hook.  If the hook only goes in part way, theres a lot of leverage on the the bend in the hook.  This is why hooks often bend when you snag rocks and you're pretty much guaranteed to break off if you snag a log.

I said Gammis for my hook choice, which is still what I use for drift fishing.  For flies, I usually use Mustads (cost).  Mustad quality is up from what it used to be, especially on the saltwater hooks.  For spinners, I tried out Matzuo hooks at CND Tire of all places and their sickle hook hold fish well and seems to be a pretty decent hook surprisingly.  These sickle hooks hold fish about twice as well as Gammi siwash hooks going by # land/# hooked ratios.

[bigblue]

IMO hook size has more to do with how well you hook up than does that last bit of sharpness on your point . Even a nice sharpened gammy , say in a size #1 , requires more force to set in than a moderately sharp #4 due to the thickness of the hook itself . You need to remember that that sharper point is followed by a thicker shaft of steel that resists driving in more than a thinner hook . My #4's are always nicely buried and don't come out nearly has often than when I used to use bigger hooks .

penn, you've got a good point there.
Are you using #4 siwash for colorado spinners or is the #4 hook for bait fishing?

In my case, I use the siwash for spoons and french spinners, and most of my catch this season was using either a #5 silver french spinner or 3" chrome croc-like spoon.
In these cases, I will normally use #1/0 gammie siwash for the french spinner and #2/0 for the 3" croc.
I like to use big and flashy lures when water temp is lower as my target is the most aggressive and fresh fish in a pool and also big lure is needed to temp a salmon to strike when their metabolism is low. I even have a 4" croc, but seldom use it as it would scare my fellow anglers more than the salmon. LOL.

I have not tried it, but I think using a #4 siwash on a #5 french spinner or 3" croc might be on the small side.
I know I could go smaller then now, but by how much?
Cohos are gone now, so I guess I will have to wait until next fall to find out.
 

[bcguy]

My thoughts exactly....I haven't straightened hooks in a long time and the last time was accidental foul hooking a fish. I know that you sometimes get a soft batch of hooks but you shouldn't be straightening hooks regularly. Dare I say....too many foul hooked fish or horsing in fish with heavy test line!

No kidding, I can remember breaking one hook this year, after fighting many large Chinook, Coho, and dare i say Sockeye this year (Wasn't it a great salmon year?!?!?!? )
Had a couple straightened by Chum on cheap jigs before (always buy Bentrod jigs, its worth it), but that's it.
I find most hooks to be similar enough that it simply comes down to personal taste and I use Gammi's....stiiiiiiiicky. 

[Thrasher]

Generally speaking, Gamakatsu

[glx]

I think Im sold on Owner cutting points.  In my last 3 days of fishing in Nov, I landed 21 of 23 Steelhead hooked.  The two I lost were at the beach.  I was using a 2/0 black owner cutting point with two of my unscented plastic eggs and a bit of wool .The one day was 11 fish on the same hook.  Not bad.

glx

[penn]

I think Im sold on Owner cutting points.  In my last 3 days of fishing in Nov, I landed 21 of 23 Steelhead hooked.  The two I lost were at the beach.  I was using a 2/0 black owner cutting point with two of my unscented plastic eggs and a bit of wool .The one day was 11 fish on the same hook.  Not bad.

glx

And these were all steelhead ?