Fishing hooks are the first point of contact with fish and there are a few ‘givens’ when it comes to hooks for success. They must be sharp, they need to be picked for purpose and they must be rigged properly – that is, the knot must be tied well and in some cases, some knots are more appropriate than others.

The other important consideration is what impact your hook choice has on the fishery and environment. There aren’t many hooks for inshore species that are stainless steel but many brands have special coatings to resist rust and devaluing of their investment. High carbon hooks have high strength but can be more susceptible to oxidisation. These are better for the fish if the fish escapes with the hook still attached because it will rust out quicker. There are ways to reduce or eliminate oxidisation e.g. Once you have used the hook, do not put it back in the packet with the unused ones. Put it in a separate container with some vegetable oil or silicone to arrest any degradation.

Bait fishing hooks

Suicide / J style hooks are very common for bait fishing and are offset in shape. These hooks can be good for hooking fish and require the angler to strike to set the hook. These are popular and what most bait fishers have grown up with, learning how to hook fish with quick reflexes.

The downside is that these hooks are deadly when swallowed by fish, which is ok if you will keep the fish and it doesn’t escape by breaking the line. The best approach to using these hooks is to use large sized hooks, 7/0 or larger and don’t leave the rod unattended. Even 28cm (illegal) sized snapper can manage to scoff it down and get gut hooked if given enough time.

It is common for fishers to let the fish run with the bait and then strike. We would discourage this practise if it results in gut hooking. Sometimes the fish are cautious, but sometimes it’s because the fish are just too small and can’t fit the bait in their mouth. Best to strike by letting the fish turn (drop the rod tip before striking) instead of disengaging the reel and giving it time to get gut hooked.

Circle Style Hooks

There are a few variations of circle style hooks and studies show non-offset hooks are best at lip hooking fish. These styles of hook are good for bait because fish will be hooked most often in the lip or jaw. Circle hooks also come in offset styles as well. We would recommend carefully bending into a straight line with a vice or a pair of pliers if you can to reduce the chance of gut hooking a fish. ,

Circle hooks require a different approach to striking. The basic theory is that the hook will slide into the corner of the jaw as the fish moves away with the bait so it’s best to lower the rod a little and when the fish has the bait in its mouth, to slowly lift the rod. Another way is to simply start winding the reel without a vicious jerk of the rod and this can slide the hook into the jaw or lip.

Hooks are a vital connection between fisher and fish. Effectiveness is usually the first consideration when fishers think about what hook is best for their style of fishing, however, there are other important considerations. Do your hooks cause unnecessary damage to fish that you release? A good example of this would be when using treble hooks on stick baits or minnow style lures. Fish can easily take treble hooks down past the mouth and into the gill area. The gills are extremely delicate and any damage is likely to cause death upon release 99% of the time. Other unnecessary damage can be caused to the fish’s eyes or face if the lures has two sets of treble lures i.e. one hook in the belly and one in the tail. Treble hooks are effective at hooking fish but there are other styles that are just as efficient without causing as much harm to fish that are to be released. Single in-line hooks are a good alternative to treble hooks.

Assist hooks, which you usually find on slow jig or inchiku style jigs, are often smaller and rigged in a set of doubles. They are predominantly hidden or wrapped with some style of skirt. These are specifically designed to catch the fish in the lips, jaw or face as it lunges for the lure. These hooks are seldom if ever swallowed or taken into the gill area and smaller sizes are good.

They can be dangerous for the fisher though when a fish is flapping around and one hook is free, swinging around wildly. If this is happening the safest approach is to net the fish (using a rubber mesh net) and use a pair of pliers to unhook the fish. Pliers are good to unhook fish whenever you are using assist hooks as it reduces the risk to the fisher.

Fishing with live baits requires stronger styles of hooks, simply because the species of fish tend to be large and powerful (i.e. kingfish). These hooks tend to be short shanked and straight or circle style hooks are commonly used. Circle hooks are also a great choice for bait fishing for smaller species like snapper and kahawai or trevally and blue cod.

We would recommend using circle style hooks so that any fish caught are more likely to be lip hooked and can be safely released if the fisher wishes to or if the fish is undersized. If you are using non-circle style hooks, we would recommend using a large live bait so that undersized fish (eg kingfish under 75cm) will be less likely to get hooked.

Some countries in central South America have made it illegal to use anything except circle hooks when targeting game fish with bait, to help protect the lucrative sport fishery. These are high value fisheries because the tourism dollars generated are far greater than killing the fish for meat, and nearly all fish are released to maintain the fishery.

Whatever hooks you use, crush the barbs so it is relatively easy to remove the hook. Untold damage is caused by people squeezing the fish and its internal organs during the process to unhook it. Barbless hooks are also a friendly hook to remove from your body parts as your skin won’t have to painfully stretch very far as it is removed.

Sometimes we leave behind traces of our fishing trips in the marine environment. Plastic bags can blow into the water without our noticing them, or we cut a tangle out of our line and throw the offending mess into the sea. We may get snagged on the bottom and leave behind a lure and section of line that could end up wrapped around some sea creature’s head.

Accidents do happen, but we can certainly minimise the impact we have in the marine space. Making sure that plastic is not left lying around on the rocks or our boat is an easy one, simply because as we fly home with our eyes glued ahead, the wind may catch a bag sitting on the floor behind us and whip out onto the ocean without being noticed. Minimising plastic on board in the first place is a good idea too.

Recently, a fisher was doing a beach clean-up along the Thames coastline and couldn’t get over the amount of red onion sacks and plastic holding bags washed up on the shore. Fishers use these as berley bags and had simply discarded them after a day’s fishing. It was obvious fishers would rather pollute the environment instead of getting their hands dirty and emptying the berley bag of its contents before stowing the plastic onboard for proper disposal.

It’s a good idea to have a rubbish container on board that is easily accessible so line, packaging, and items such as used softbait tails, can be safely stowed away. Any measures that prevent rubbish from entering the sea contributes to reducing our impacts.

Softbaits have become very popular over the last few years and this raises the question around pollution. Some brands are biodegradable and will likely say so on the packaging. While not as bad for the environment, it is still best to not throw them overboard once they have served their purpose because the time it takes to biodegrade can still be a while.

What about non-biodegradable softbaits? These are still plastics that are not good for the ocean should they end up there. There are lots of positives to using softbaits, like hooking fish in the lip rather than the gut and the fact that legal-sized fish are caught more often than not on these lures.

The best strategy then is to minimise any loss of lures and check your lure frequently and replacing if it becomes easy to pull off the jig head or tattered. If the softbait is easy to pull off the jig head, it is also easy for a fish to grab it and remove it altogether. Another measure is to use strong enough line and tackle so that bust offs are minimised. Fishing softbaits on light line around rocky terrain (eg casting into the wash around the rocks) is an obvious recipe for disaster as the chances of hooking a fish that can take you into the reef and cut the line becomes highly likely.

Choosing to either use lighter tackle in areas where there is little chance of breaking the line or choosing heavier tackle for the rougher terrain are strategies to help minimise the loss of softbaits and fishing line in the marine environment.

It’s also worth considering changing to heavier line when there are several people on board and two or more fishers could get their lines crossed if a school of kahawai turn up. Kahawai have a lovely habit of swimming up and down, left and right, all within 10-20 seconds. Fishing with lighter line means the chances of bust offs becomes a lot more likely, even if the fish are hooked in water that is otherwise free of obstacles to break the line on.

Think about how you fish – are there ways to minimise your impact on the marine environment? Our fishery and coastline are too wonderful to let our litter end up there.

Sometimes we leave behind traces of our fishing trips in the marine environment. Plastic bags can blow into the water without our noticing them, or we cut a tangle out of our line and throw the offending mess into the sea. We may get snagged on the bottom and leave behind a lure and section of line that could end up wrapped around some sea creature’s head.

Accidents do happen, but we can certainly minimise the impact we have in the marine space. Making sure that plastic is not left lying around on the rocks or our boat is an easy one, simply because as we fly home with our eyes glued ahead, the wind may catch a bag sitting on the floor behind us and whip out onto the ocean without being noticed. Minimising plastic on board in the first place is a good idea too.

Recently, a fisher was doing a beach clean-up along the Thames coastline and couldn’t get over the number of red onion sacks washed up on the shore. Fishers use these as berley bags and had simply discarded them after a day’s fishing. It was obvious fishers would rather pollute the environment instead of getting their hands dirty and emptying the berley bag of its contents before stowing the plastic onboard for proper
disposal.

It’s a good idea to have a rubbish container on board that is easily accessible so line,  packaging, and items such as used softbait tails, can be safely stowed away. Any measures that prevent rubbish from
entering the sea contributes to reducing our impacts. Softbaits have become very popular over the last few years and this raises the question around pollution. Some brands are biodegradable and will likely say so on the packaging. While not as bad for the environment, it is still best to not throw them overboard once they have served their purpose because the time it takes to biodegrade can still be a while.

Part 1 – Minimising your impact on the ocean – the problem with plastic in the marine environment

Part 2 – Minimising your impact on seabirds 

Part 1 – Minimising your impact on the ocean – the problem with plastic in the marine environment

Part 3 – Minimising your impact on cetaceans and pinnipeds

Part 2 – Minimising your impact on seabirds

Part 3 – Minimising your impact on cetaceans & pinnipeds