Brankim 945 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Bought some hooks Afew days ago on special for $1.50 per pack of 8, that I thaught looked exactly like my favoruite... Gamakatsu octopus. I have made this mistake in the past, buying similar looking hooks, and boy were they crap!!! Despite my past experience, I thaught these looked too close for there to be any real difference.... Looking at them, I'm sure most would agree? bjorn2fish 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tinker 1,645 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Cheap hooks bend and snap too easily. And you have to sharpen them. I'm hooked on Owner mutu circle hooks for my baitfishing. 9/10 times the fish hook themselves and they almost guarantee a lip hooked fish. For heavier fishing I swear by Gamakatsu, coz they stay sharp longer, and they seem stronger than other brands. Been burnt too many times by dodgy hooks. Brankim 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I'm not going to mention the name... But the Gamakatsu is the hook on the left. I went down to one of my spots on the torrens this arvo to wet a line, and after a slow start, eventually started getting some action... But every time I hooked up, as soon as I turned the fish after it's first run, as it did it's first head shake, the hook pulled! Over and over again! The same way every time! I lost 6 fish that seemed to be solidly hooked after the first 5 seconds of the fight?! I changed to a new hook, same thing... Out of 7 hookups, only managed to land one catfish. Not to mention the other 5 or so bites that I struck for and didn't get the hook in. VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!! The only cheap hooks that look similar(ish) that actually work well, seem to be the high carbon jigging hooks I bought online from Asia somewhere. The top left is the jigging hook, the one next to it is my first mistake from a few years ago... Only 2 out of those four are worth buying, the rest I might as well throw away to be perfectly honest!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I might give them one last chance on the yellowfin though before I do anything that drastic Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Well I guess it depends on what you're fishing for. As long as it's nothing too important or large then turn the cheaper hooks should be fine most of the time. I get good value from my gamakatsu and owner hooks as after use them I put them away soaking on a light film of inox. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MiSCrEANT 53 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I always spend a decent amount of terminal tackle, so I never have to worry about them. No point in spending heaps in rods and reels if you haven't got good line and hooks. The only hook brand and model I'm using for bait now is Owner Mosquitos. Resembles an octopus hook. Very sticky and to my memory haven't lost a fish after hookset. For lures it's Owner Stingers in 36. bjorn2fish, Tinker and Brankim 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Yeah, those chemically sharpened hooks in my experience don't seem to bend. They snap instead tinker But what happens when you hook something unexpected fishing for bait or whiting Nanman? It's always a possibility. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Haven't tried the owners yet. Have to give the a go! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Them a go lol.. Might be ok for times when the puffer fish are hassling me. Thing I like about the hooks I normally use for yellowfin, I've also landed most of the other bigger fish that have surprised me. And I caught my biggest carp on a size 6 Gamakatsu I took off a tangled whiting rig I found in my boot, as I left my hooks at home by mistake that day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plankton 725 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Gamakatsus all the way for me, never had an issue with them breaking, they stay sharp and they don't rust easily. Although I don't like the ones with the red finish, I find they get dull quickly. No sense mucking around with cheap hooks, or any terminal tackle for that matter, it's not like the good stuff is expensive and I don't want to loose the fish of a lifetime because of some dodgy hook or swivel. Brankim, Cal and Tinker 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Me too, but after buying 1000 jigging hooks for $10 off aliexpress and having quite good results using them bait fishing, thought some of these new brands might be worth checking out.... Obviously not!!! Jimmy. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
storm boy 17 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 The Owners pictured below are my all time favourite for general bait work - salmon and LB snapper. The tried and true Gamakatsu Octopus is also a favourite. Regards, SB Brankim 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ASD14 197 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I really like the gamakatsu octopus hooks, I've actually only just gone and ditched everything in my tackle box and just bought heaps of them.. Also dont mind blackmagic for my small stuff either. Brankim 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kelvin 2,197 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I am very particular about my hooks as they make a big difference. I've got a few hundred of my favourite Mustad bloodworm hooks and longshank baitholders. They are a few good Ebay brands out there but it is trial an error. For my shallow water snapper fishing I use an octopus circle hook by DFS. I can lose an average of over a dozen hooks fishing over shallow reef and this soon adds up if using Gamas. The DFS circles are less than half the price and just as sharp and I have had great hookup rates with them. Tinker, plankton and Brankim 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SurfcaztR 707 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Purchased no name hooks of ebay put them in a vice and struggled trying to straighten them with pliers.So they're not all bad. Hooks ,line and knots are a priority before rods and reels Tinker 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 These are the only exception that I've found... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Very sharp, good hookup rate, only problem is around rocky areas, the tip of the point can bend. Just have to keep checking them when baiting up.... Oh, and occasionally you get 1 with the eye not closed up tight enough. Fine to close the gap with pliers. Haven't snapped any doing that yet. And they don't streighten, but they do snap with a lot of pressure. Good for everything apart from snapper I rekin. Then again, I've had gamakatsus and black magics snapped by snapper crushing them. (Guess that's why they called snapper) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magoo 152 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I stopped using baitholder hooks years ago, after losing a couple of possibly PB bream on Mustad #1s, I tested some out of the box & could break them by hand without a lot of effort & have never used baitholders since Just broke these two #1 ebay equivalent by hand & gotta' admit, it was tough to do Difference being these are bronze, older ones were bright nickel Maybe the nickel plating made those older hooks brittle Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magoo 152 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 - or maybe spliced too deep Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I used to use those hooks. Besides not being able to thread centrepede worms on them, I had that same problem with bream breaking them! They do normaly have a good rate of hooking up though I've found on whiting, I don't miss many on gamakatsus though! I'd rate them as excellent for hookups! Baught some today in size 6, and got 70cm + carp on one. Only missed 1/4 bites, and like miscreant said, once they set, I found its very rare they ever pull out! And I put a lot of pressure on my fish!! For probably up to 8-10lb, you will most likely break your line before u bend a size 6 occy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brankim 945 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 The big salmon I got in sydney was on my cheap alixpress jigging hooks, and that hook was able to lift +_ 3kgs of kicking salmon up almost twice the height of my 12ft rod! And after lifting the first 12ft, had to run backwards to drag it up the rest of the way. So that would have been probably 5+ kgs of strain atleast. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Yeah, those chemically sharpened hooks in my experience don't seem to bend. They snap instead tinker But what happens when you hook something unexpected fishing for bait or whiting Nanman? It's always a possibility. I personally only use Gamakatsu and Owner hooks these days but when I used to live in Adelaide and would fish land based for salmon at waits, bream and mulloway in westlakes and carp in the torrens I used to use a cheap but effective brand of octopus style hook sold under the name of gladiator tackle. These days though with any tackle, other than a couple of exceptions, if it's not made in Japan then i won't buy it as in my opinion there's too much rebadged junk tackle coming out of china. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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