Circle Hooks for Steelhead?

[Fishidiot]

I'm hoping to make the steel jam again this year. Last year was my first steelhead fishing and it was (of course) a blast. Most of the hookups I had last year were on stonefly nymphs and egg flies. Unfortunately, I managed a fair number of foul hooked fish too. With so many fishermen around and so many fish, I just broke off the foul hooked fish rather than make a commotion trying to land 'em. Since I'm starting to tie for steelhead, I'm thinking about tying up some flies on circle hooks hoping that this might reduce foul hookings. Does anybody else do this? I've got some Owner #6 offset circles that would seem to match up nicely with the size flies I'm planning to tie. It seems to me this might reduce foul hooking. Might be worth a try.
Thoughts?

 

[flipnfly]

if it does reduce the foul hooks ups let me know..... i foul hooked a ton highsticking last year

 

[troutslammer]

don't know if they would set inside the mouth , they are designed to set on the outside but i don't know i never used em , with the number of fish stacked so tight ,foul hooking is a problem for everyone and most of the time u foul hook one it breaks off anyway , they are jacked when u tail slap em ,,,lol

 

[jayL]

troutslammer wrote:
don't know if they would set inside the mouth , they are designed to set on the outside but i don't know i never used em , with the number of fish stacked so tight ,foul hooking is a problem for everyone and most of the time u foul hook one it breaks off anyway , they are jacked when u tail slap em ,,,lol

They actually hook inside the mouth, in the corner of the jaw. The fish swallows the hook, but it doesn't catch until it hits the jaws.

Dave,

I think it would be worth a try, but it might be tough to get a proper set in a lot of situations.

 

[bam]

you could try it, but they're generally used with live bait, cut bait, or soft plastics. The idea is for the fish to eat or hold onto the bait long enough for the hooks to find the corner of the mouth and set themselves. I'm guessing this will make for a lot of missed fish on your attempt to set the hook.

Circle hooks and skein... now that might just work🙂

 

[Fishidiot]

I'll give 'em a try if I get to Erie this year. It seems to me they should work as we're talking about a relatively large fish that inhales a dead drifted fly smaller than an inch in length into it's mouth. What one might call the "mouth to fly ratio" of a steelhead to an egg fly is similar to the size of a saltwater gamefish to the circle hooks used to catch them.
Anyway, here's a few I tied this evening...

 

[David]

I would love to reduce foul hooks...never thought of circle hooks, but seems that they would lend themselves to egg patterns pretty well.

I am very interested to hear how they work for you...please keep us in the loop!

 

[sandfly]

I've used circles for some years now. they work on some flys not on others. streamers are good for circles.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

You don't strike with a circle hook.If you try you miss.The idea is that the fish takes the bait and swims off and all you do is reel.Take a circle hook, put it on a leader and put it in a styrofoam cup Hold the leader and push the cup away from you. the hook should slide inside the cup and when it reaches the lip it wraps around and sets itself. Likewise a fish would have to grab a fly and move off to set the hook.
Fishidiot: those flies look good.