Thread: Sickle hooks are so sharp, BUT....

I do bend them out a little.

Mine are usually embedded deep in the roof of the mouth and have no problem. Maybe try setting the hook harder without hesitation and/or get a stiffer rod??? In the past I had some noodly rods that made setting the hook harder.

Ill take all your sickle hooks off you hands. Grenada fish are just mean as bulls. Ive lost some monsters that broke my heart and thats the lure of MS fish.

I thought I would revive this thread to throw in my 2 cents. I have found sickle hooks to land way more of my bites, and use them in either #4 or #2 sizes. Love em.

I won some bobby garland baits in the VA section and it included some of their mo glo jigheads. Good looking design, nice long round bend hook. Seems plenty sharp. Fished it on the fall, got a bunch of bites but lost many fish. That never happens for me, I keep my drag pretty tight and don't stop cranking. If I feel weight, the fish comes in the boat. Thought it might have been an off bite (which it was that day) and tried them again next trip. Got bit on the first cast, felt heavy. Then nothing.

Gonna be all sickles from here on out. Although for some reason I have a harder time finding them in 1/8.

When I first started using sickle hooks i missed alot of fish as well. But problem ended up being solved by slightly bending the bend of the hook AWAY from the lead head. PROBLEM SOLVED! My catch rates went way up after that. I love sickle hooks because of the real "deep" gap they have. Once a fish is ON he almost never comes off. Big or small barb.

Been happy with them for quite a few years now. Bending them open has always worked for me. Even in the 1/32 size heads, I'll bend them out. Caught some huge catfish last week while crappie and gill fishing on Ky lake while using those small heads. I tie my own patterns on them too.

mb4850's observations on the hook point is correct. I've done a lot of smallmouth fishing over the past several decades and have eliminated all hooks that have the "beak" type curvature. This type of point goes in ok, but the curvature forces it back out, only skin hooking the fish inside the mouth. Now that is not to say that it will affect crappie like I know it does with smallmouth bass, but it might be something to consider.

Also, from my years of practice, I don't use any hook with a barb on it - period. That includes trebles on expensive jerkbaits, as well as all my crappie hooks. Have not experienced any difference in landing ratio in doing so. JMO.

Not a fan of sickles my self .I heard others complain about barbs being too small on them . Sometimes light bites cause poor hook ups resulting lost fish not matter what hook you use . I find many times some folks don't keep line tight and poor hook ups or torn lips can cause more losses . I use Eagle Claw 570 jig hooks mostly and still loose a few some days when bite is light. Some days when they are hammering it and you get solid hook ups in the roof of the mouth few if any are lost no matter which hook you loose . I find I loose less fish swinging them in instead of using a landing net . Seen some loose fish fiddling with a net . I swing them in and have had some fall off in the boat . Unless it is over 2 lbs I just swing em in .