Circle hooks

About three years ago I met a guy on a fish-in on the river Severn who had been using circle hooks for quite a while, mainly targeting chub and barbel with some success. After a few tips on the types of bait that can be put on the hook (bread,paste,maggots,worms)and what should be fixed on a hair(meat,boilies etc) I was interested enough to do some research.
originally developed for commercial long lining for Tuna but they have found favour in the USA where their use is encouraged and in some states it has become mandatory for most catch and release type of fishing, the reason for this hooks popularity is the fact that it’s use prevents deep hooking as it’s designed to turn instantly if any force is applied and gain a hold in the mouth area.After reading up on loads of research and tests carried out in the USA I ordered some of e-bay and gave them a go.
After a bit of trial and error I found the best way of using them was to use free spool reels and bite indicators rather than reacting to the rod top this way you can allow the fish to pick up the bait and turn away or move off before(and this is the important bit) picking up the rod and tightening up the line. The one thing you must not do is strike as all that will do is pull the hook out of it’s mouth, now that’s easier said than done but once you have it in your head that you should not strike then hopefully what bites you do get should result in a few fish on the bank.
During the winter months of November/December I tend to do at least one over night session a week and at that time of year bites are at a premium, so I hair rig a small chunk of lamprey on a circle hook and so far I’ve managed a few fish including a couple of PB chub’s. Now I’m not saying that these hooks catch more or bigger fish but they do work if used correctly, all that is needed is to think about how to present them and how to attach the bait without preventing the hook point from doing it’s job. I dare say a few anglers will confuse themselves by trying different hook lengths and bolt rigs but it’s not necessary just remember to allow the fish to turn before taking the strain and winding in, if you strike it’s more than likely the hook will just pull out of the fishes mouth.One piece of advice I would offer is to avoid some of the negative comments from the armchair anglers on the net who oppose anything they don’t like the sound of weather it be circle hooks, lead core or the latest fluoro carbon, just take in the positives and adapt them to your style of fishing.
This winter I am going to try them with bread flake and maybe cheese paste when fishing for chub and also worms and hair rigged live baits when targeting perch.