Would you like to be a guest author? Click HERE.

Home | Articles | Message Forum

Circle Hook Tube Rig (Guest Article)
by Jeff "Yakfish" Little
Blue Ridge Kayak Fishing LLC

I had heard of people using circle hooks with soft plastics a few years ago, but never saw a need to use them. I figured that the smaller fish would grab the tail of the nose hooked bait, pull it off, and I would have to rebait the hook. I also liked the feeling of my rod meeting resistance upon hookset. After experiencing tendonitis in my elbow, I was looking for an alternative. I remembered Kevin Hoover talking about the no hook set technique used with circle hooks and I figured that I should try them out.

The directions for rigging a tube on a circle hook are below. By inserting a weight, the tube is less likely to be pulled off of the hook by a fish that can not fully inhale the rig. During my first on the water tinkering with the rig, I used a bass casting weight. The rounded bottom seemed to snag between rocks, so I decided that I needed a more cylindrical weight. The walleye weight was a more elongated weight and it did not seem to snag in the rocks as often. Overall, either rig seems to snag slightly less than an internally rigged jighead.

Once you have rigged a few and are ready to give them a try, you will need to remember not to set the hook. It is a hard habit to break for some die hard jig fishermen. It's a reflex instead of a decision to set the hook. Setting a circle hook will just leave a confused fish behind wondering what happened to lunch. When you feel a fish hit, point the rod at the fish and reel steadily at a medium speed. I had less luck when reeling steadily with the rod tip up. The rod absorbed some of the pressure and gave the fish a chance to spit it out.

I have not been using the circle hook tube rig very long, but I already see a few advantages. The hook always ends up at the jaw. This almost erases the chances of gut hooking fish. The technique is easy, so teaching it to new anglers is less frustrating than teaching how and when to set a standard hook. I will use standard jigheads again once my elbow heals, but I will always carry circle hooks for days when the bite is soft or when they are eating the tube right away and getting gut hooked. Hooksets are free, but circle hook checks cost even less.