Hooks are certainly important.. But personally, I can't remember the last time I took a file out to file a hook. If I dull it on a rock I cut it off and tie on another that I have pre-tied. You can sharpen a fresh hook, but sharpening a dull hook serves no purpose. As for hooks I like I prefer #1 Owner Cutting Points in which you can now buy in 50 packs which breaks down to about .30 cents a hook. #2 Visions and mustads are my second favorite and I use these when catching bigger #'s of fish or fishing areas where I may go through 10-20 leaders in a day or just fishing for the clone hatchery fish...

Here's a bit of knowledge for those that don't beleive steelhead and salmon won't "SWALLOW" an offering. First off when immature fish enter the river system (ie. summer steelhead, spring chinook) will and have seen it many of times swallow an offering and reality is they don't take it all the way to the gut but actually into their esophagus where you have no hook showing. Do you really think a fish that enters the river systems in March/April and doesn't spawn until Nov-Jan won't eat, you try and not eat for 8 months and see how well you live off of what your body has now. The more mature fish (winter steelhead, fall chinook) rarely will "SWALLOW" an offering because when they enter the river systems their insides are mature (eggs, cumsacks), which makes for less room in their belly and puts pressure on their esophagus and makes it tougher for them to swallow an offering.
I beleive it is a feeding instinct that these fish have or else they wouldn't bite bait in which they live their whole lives on in the ocean. Think about it. When you watch a summer run move 10-15 feet to grab a bait, that's not instinct, that's hunger!!
Keith

[ 01-13-2002: Message edited by: stlhdr1 ]