Hooking bait on circle hooks

[FishAndTattoos]

I just started using circle hooks on all the rigs i made for drum but im having a hard time hooking bunker chunks on them. I usually end up breaking the bait up in my hand when putting it on the hook. Or it comes off when i cast. Does anyone have a method they could share with me?

[mantriumph]

Are you hooking on the back trew the backbone,and if your useing previously frozen bunker it tends to get mushy once thawed

[Coop]

Offsetting the hooks makes it easier getting chunks on and IMO, catches more fish,,,the fresher the bait, the firmer it is.

[chomper]

Coop said it.... I like to keep the hook above the backbone in a two sided chunk with circle hooks, getting as much meat as possible. Might sling it off more, but hookups are more frequent and lost fish are less, with more hook exposure.

[FishAndTattoos]

OK i'll try offsetting the hooks, i think that will do the trick. Thanks Guys

[Sam]

Okay, I know this is a crude drawing, but it's also 2am and I've been going hard all day/night. If your bait is falling off when casting, something is definitely wrong. You want to get as fresh as possible. Get some 10/0 or larger circles and open them up so you can fit your thumb in there sideways. Granted, some thumbs are larger or smaller than others, but you definitely want to open the Mustad Circle Demons up and offset them. When hooking heads, go up through the jaw and out the nostril. Trust me, it'll stay on the hook and it keeps the mouth from opening up.

[DaveH]

What do you mean by" offset the hook"?

[Coop]

the shank and point are aligned,,,I just put the point in between the boards on my deck and bend the half of the hook with the point so there is about a 1/8" to 1/4" offset from the shank.

[DaveH]

Thanks,I'll try that next trip down.

[Rob W]

I trick that I use for hooking cut bait onto large circle hooks is to make a very small cut right under the spine of the bait prior to rigging. It will give you a starting point that will help in securing the bait to the hook with less force. But as others have already stated, the fresher the bait the better.

[Excalibur]

One thing I noticed when using bunker steaks and circle hooks was that occasionally the circle hook would get impaled on a scale and become difficult to push through the first side of the steak.

This raises a question for those of you who use cut bunker -- when doing your bait prep, do you just cut them up or...do you scale them first ?

I've always just cut 'em up but wondered if scaling would actually help w/ the problem desribed above or... would hurt me from the standpoint of bait durability.

Opinions ?

Thanks,
Ex

[trowpa]

If you're having issues with scales going through the first side, just poke a "starter" hole with the tip of your knife first

[fish-aholic]

Sheesh, thats alot of extra work, pulling out another tool to hook a piece of bait on. I usually just use the poing of the hook to move the scale out of the way that I'm about to go through....once thats done, it slides right in.....

[chomper]

Bunker are pretty easy to scale , and "shine" better when they are done like so. They fillet more smoothly and the hook never has any trouble poking through then either.

[ocsnapper]