Aberdeen Hooks

[Dgonzo85]

Are aberdeen hooks the same as worm hooks?Over here where i live,i cant find any aberdeen hooks.But they do sell the mustad worm hooks but the packets that they come in doesnt say anything about aberdeen hooks and they are pretty big.Would regular small baitholder hooks be ok for hooking crickets and other baits for panfish?If so,what size?

[BigMike315]

aberdeen hooks work well because theyre thinner wire than baitholders and others so the hook doesnt do as much damage to the live bait, you would prolly be best with a hook in the 6 to 10 range.

[CrappiePappy]

gonzo .... "aberdeen" is the name of the shape/style of the hook. It's basically a "J" shaped bend.

If you're using crickets ... a cricket hook (long shanked aberdeen) or a plain #4 or #6 lite wire aberdeen would be preferred over a"bait holder" style hook.

Don't know about Calif. but most Wal-Mart stores should carry several brands of these types of hooks. Eagle Claw, Mustad, Tru-turn, Matzuo, Gamakatsu, South Bend, and various other mfg's offer their version and size ranges of aberdeen style hooks. (as you can see here : Aberdeen bronze hooks - Shop sales, stores & prices at TheFind.com ) And "cricket hook" aberdeens can be seen here : Eagle Claw 215 Cricket Hook - Discount fishing tackle, fishing lures and supplies at wholesale prices.

Now ... I'm not advocating that you buy any particular brand, nor am I advocating that you use either of these links on my recommendation. These links were found by using Google, and offered the information (pictures) that I wanted, in order to show you the various brands & styles. If you cannot find these hooks, locally ... I recommend you do some online searching & price comparisons of your own. S/H expenses should always be added to the package price, when comparing prices.

... cp

[deathb4disco]

Over here where i live,i cant find any aberdeen hooks.

Cabela's sells them:

Cabela's: Search Results

[Dgonzo85]

I was thinking that the smaller aberdeen hooks would be better to use since blue gills have small mouths.Are #6 aberdeen hooks small enough?The blue gills in the lake i fish are florida strain.

[CrappiePappy]

I was thinking that the smaller aberdeen hooks would be better to use since blue gills have small mouths.Are #6 aberdeen hooks small enough?The blue gills in the lake i fish are florida strain.

If a Bluegill is big enough to take the end of your pinkie finger in its mouth ... (provided you don't have huge hands .... LOL !! ) ... any hook size of #4 or smaller will work. You don't want too small of a hook, because then the fish can take it deep ... making extraction a problem. A good "hook disgorger", or long hemostats, is a good piece of equipment to have !

A very light weight sinker & small float would be my recommendation for using crickets. Bluegill have a tendancy to want to kill/dismember their food, before grabbing it & swimming off .... especially the smaller ones (< 8"). Those bigger ones are less "afraid" of injury from their foodsource ... so they're more likely to inhale the whole meal, rather than nip & tug on the extremities (legs/head).
In either event, you want to know the mood of the fish striking your bait .... and yet not give the fish any indication of tension/resistance against their movement ... and a small float will do that. Some people even go so far as to remove the "hopper" (back) legs from the cricket, before putting it on the hook. This keeps the smaller fish from grabbing a hind leg & jerking the cricket off the hook (or tearing the cricket up so bad that it can easily be sucked off the hook).

There is a downside to using a light weight/small float ... in that it takes longer for the sinker/bait to reach any depth, and smaller fish have a better shot at getting to it before it gets to the depth of any bigger ones. This is not so much a problem if bigger fish are shallow, or if fishing a spawning bed. But, if/when it is a problem ... or when fishing open water suspended fish ... I've found that using a #4 or #5 split-shot sinker, about 10-12" above the hook, and casting it out over the area & letting it swing back on a tight line, will usually get the bait past the shallower small fish & down to the depth of the larger ones, quicker. I've successfully used this very technique, on my home lake ... fishing over 80+ feet of water, when the bigger Bluegill are suspended at depths of > 12ft.

Fish are not "smart" enough to know that a cricket doesn't swim underwater, like a minnow ... they just know that it looks/smells like something they've eaten before, or they've deemed as "food", so they give it a taste test. Your job is to be quick enough to set the hook, before the fish swallows the hook, or spits the bait out, or steals the bait off the hook .... LOL !!

... cp

[Nightprowler]

Here is a picture of the Eagle CLaw 214 Litewire bait hooks.
Eagle Claw 214 Aberdeen Live Bait Fishing Hooks

[olduckhunter]

as crappiepappy said, walmart. surely you have a walmart near you there. i use 8's in the gold aberdeen hooks and most of the time the no. 10 long thin black wire hook. walmart has both. for bream? keep it simple.

[bxn]

last night i picked up 3 packs of #8 bronze aberdeens at walmart.these run bout 96 cents a pack and i tie flys with them sometimes.nice and cheap and gets job done.surely one of the easiest fly tying materials i can obtain because they are local :D i do get tiny bluegills on the flies i tie on these hooks sometimes,but don't hook them real deep.

[Dwaynesworld]

grizzly jig has all sizes of them, you can buy them in lots of 1000