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Bluegill Food & Heavy Hook

This is what I call a bluegill beast hook. Note this line is also a little heavy for my liking. This is the heaviest hook I fish when the gills are slam'n. This is 2 sizes larger than my Spring hook selection. Next to that hook would be common bluegill food - a bloodworm (midgefly larvae).
If you can image in it, I fished bloodworm in a World Championships on a size 22 hook. Single bloodworm, tiny hook. Fish something that fits in their mouth and they will eat it.

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Albums: Ultralight Fishing

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Comment by Johnny wilkins on March 27, 2014 at 9:16am: Ok- I use a loop-to-loop system and with arthritis - this is going to be easier than doing a trilene barrel knot for everyone reading. Video will be best on this one. I think I have homework.

1. Make a loop at the end of your line - past your final split shot (smallest split shot on your rig)

2. Put Hook of leader goes through that loop - use cheater glasses if you need to. Tie the loops bigger if you need to make it easier (-tip!)

3. Once the hook is through the loop, then you will pass the hook through it's OWN loop at the end of that leader.

4. Tighten that down, moisten and make it neat - tighten all the way.

Preferred method of storage - use coated cardboard cut with slits in the end.

Cardboard should be the length of the leaders.

Use a rubber band that loosely keeps your lines from jumping off if you need to.

I will get a photo to you. If you want to get fancy, you can add a piece of foam to end of cardboard to punch hook ends into.

I am legally blind and can do this - I do have a arthritis in my thumbs.

No bird's nests - Look for a picture tonight.

P.S. - using this method hooks a lot of fish. Keep a towel handy to dry your hand off. For us arthritis people this is key to comfort. Also - I NEVER leave home without these: Hook Remover

A sign of the fishing apocalypse - they are no longer sold by other companies here - Thill used to sell them when they were making great live bait gear. With the Fish Saver hook remover - you can get your hooks back when you can't even see them from the fish's upper intestines!!! I posted that with this only the micro gills cause me problems where the tool won't fit in their mouth. With bigger gills the hooks come out, fish is back in water and safe. .3% fish mortality so swallowed hooks are not a problem - when using a proper tool.

I think this is essential so I will post a free video when the weather breaks on using this and the method.

Comment by JBplusThuy on March 27, 2014 at 9:08am: P.S. After snelling, what is your preferred storage method to avoid a bird's nest in your tackle box?

Comment by JBplusThuy on March 27, 2014 at 9:07am: So, what is the best way to snell spade-end hooks? For those of us whose near vision isn't what it once was and with a touch of arthritis to boot, which is easier (guess I should say less difficult lol) snelling spade-end hooks or threading tiny hook eyes? Any good link with clear step-by-step lashing instructions would be great!

Thanks,

Jonathan

Comment by Johnny wilkins on March 27, 2014 at 8:39am: Tabbed hooks are spade-end hooks. Anglers had been lashing a knotless knot to the hook shank. Two types existed, one a hook with 3 channels in it at the end of the shank. These channels would keep the gut from sliding free - but the hook would break at these weaker points.

A stronger solution to prevent hook breakage removed these grooves - was to hammer the end of the hook. This was the spade-end hook entering in the 1700's - 1750's guessing [it's old]. Spade end hooks are the hooks that everyone is referring to - they are fantastic, they are very modern. Spade end hooks would be the only hooks you would see used in a World Championships and someone must either have a superstition or these are the cat's pajamas, the full cheetah. If they weren't the guys on the pegs next to me would be secretly sneaking in their American cousin ringed hooks.

High performance spade end hooks are steel, light, forged steel. Wire hooks are just that. Softer, prone to softening .ie getting dull, bending. I love Izaak Walton, although, back in the day, he would have some servants lashing his gut to some prepared hooks at a guest house next to a stream.

David keep the ideas flowing because you are spawning the creativity. Thought is great.

Remember that back in the day, the nobility didn't do much of the prep work. They might meet a couple servants to hand them bait and their bamboo pole or even just go to the stream edge to sit on a box seat, all prepped up by the servants. Note- my jealousy of having fishing servants, at the World Championships other teams do have support staff to carry their giant piles of tackle, cook meals, prepare bait. USA usually ends up prepping all of our stuff by hand, the weeks before, nights before and morning of.

I think we still have a fishing nobility. You see their logos on fast-driving boats on ESPN2 and on weekend fishing shows. You see their products on the shelves. I think we owe it to that class in the fishing industry to start a little blip in the continuum. Start a little fishing revolution - Sir Izaak Walton would be proud.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on March 27, 2014 at 7:17am: I've not seen modern hooks with no attachment point, John. I tend to disagree with Mr. Wilkins that eyes on hooks add undesirable factors to the hook - I personally see them as one of the greatest innovations to happen in angling through the centuries. It was the technical ability to manufacture wire forms with eyes that changed things. I'm pretty sure had Izaak Walton had them, he would have given up gluing gut to hand hammered hooks.

But alternatives do exist, should you feel compelled. Straight wire hooks are out there, as you note, If not easy to get. Tabbed hooks are still available from Asia, too... I've got some. They only need the extra step of adding snells.

I don't see the need, but to each his own.

Comment by John Sheehan on March 27, 2014 at 5:56am: Didn't realize JB, that those eyeless hooks were still around .I've never seen them except at the YE OLDE ANGLERS booth at a Fly fishing expo a few years ago in New Jersey!

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on March 27, 2014 at 2:45am: good reason enough...

Comment by Allen Morgan on March 26, 2014 at 7:34pm: I've only done it once, and caught several fish on them. I guess I need to start doing that more often.....