5/16/2008

Straight Tine Hooks

Every time I've used a straight tined hook it was firmly planted into the jaw of a fish.

Timothy Kusherets

The straight-tine hook is the best hook to use when saltwater fishing. I've looked at snelled and octopus cross-referencing them with qualities of what a superior hook should have and straight-tines turned out to be the best. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any great hooks out there that aren’t straight, but for all of the fish that I have hooked into, each and every time I used a straight tined hook it was firmly planted into the jaw of a fish.It doesn't matter if the fish is hooked from shore or a boat, setting the hook with a straight tip sinks into most jaws with a single yank of the rod. That is all it should ever take. The jawbone of a salmon is very dense. A snelled hook or an octopus style hook is good for other species of fish but not salmon fishing, especially with artificial lures. The tine of both those styles of hooks is curved at the point. It is the curve that takes away from the driving force behind the hook set; they simply don’t have the power that is needed to reliably penetrate bone. Sharpening a curved hook takes away from the strength of the point. It doesn’t take much to dull that kind of hook in saltwater conditions.