I am using VMC salmon straight point hooks for all of my salmon and steelhead fishing. These hooks have a straight point rather than the beaked design that seems to be more popular. I am of the notion that these straight pointed hooks will penetrate both faster and deeper than a beaked hook because the point is straight and immediately "sticks" anything that it comes in contact with. I would like to get a discussion going on this as I may be mis-informed. Are the beaked Gami's better?

I have often woundered the same. I use the Gami's and love them but I saw a fishing movie and they would bend the beak out strate and claimed it made a major difference. I have had a few strange occurances that I tend to think prove that might not be the case. I was trout fishing last summer and was just staring to use gami's and snagged a 8 0r 10 inch brookie in one of it's side fins. I was surprised that something so soft could be hooked that e-z with a hook. I ended up snaging 2 other fish that day and the strangest thing was I was plunking out of a float tube just acasionaly jiging my bait. This fall I was doing some steelhead fishing, buy then I was totally sold on the gami's, I managed to snag a small bull head about 2 inches long in fast water. I think if they will reach out and and grab something as soft as a small fin or a small bullhead then they should do just fine in the mouth of a large fish but I do see the intresting point of the curv vs. the strt tip. I would be intrested to hear if there is that big of difference.


dcrzfitter

I think the laws of physics would say that the straight hook would pentrate deeper with less pressure.However, you may foul hook fish more often with a more circular style hook because the fish can't shake itself loose as easy.This is why commercial long-liners use big circle hooks for black cod and halibut.

It seems to me a beak point is better. You want the point of the hook travelling parralell to the line (and setting force) to maximize penetration. Gently stick the point of a hook in a peice of wood, and pull the leader- the pointed hook cams away from your line and the direction you are pulling. The point of a beaked hook will align with the direction you are pulling when the hook cams, and will take less force to penetrate the same distance.

don't think any of this is as important as a sharp hook. get a diamond hook sharpener and sharpen all your hooks before you use them!!!
you will find that this makes more difference than the type of hook you use.

Your right Dane! After engaging my brain and thinking about it, if the angle of the beak and the eye of the hook are the same, it would require less pressure.I suppose this is why all the good fly fishermen I know tie their steelhead flies on straight eye hooks.

I see what you mean Dane about the camming action. Never thought of it that way before, guess I sould have tried it. Headed for the store now to pick up some Gami's, unless anyone has a better suggestion? Oh, I too like the diamond stones for hook sharpening, they work great. Thanks for the advice. Rod tips up.

Just a comment about VMC hooks. I tried them last year for Chums and found them very brittle. I broke several of them. I don't know if all of them are this bad or if I just got a bad batch, but I'll stick with Gami's!

I think the important aspects of a good quality hook are the length and width of the tine. A short, wide tine does not penetrate half as good as a long, thin tine. Gami's are the sharpest out of the pack, and the steel resharpens good after setting the hook on a couple of rocks. I do have good luck with the straight point VMC's though. It's a miniature version of the Siwash, my favorite hook.

Bob mentioned one time he uses barbless trebles on his plugs because he thought they do less damage than Siwash hooks. The first time I fished a plug with trebles I caught a 5lb Coho and it had EVERY one of the six points in his mouth or head. After a 10 minute riverside surgery he managed to swim away - did he make it? I wouldn't think of doing that to a Steelhead. I switched to Siwash on the spot, and have no problem pinching the barb down anytime. I have hooked the occasional small Silver through the eyeball, so Siwash are not perfect either. Any comments on trebles vs. siwash?

depends on the size of the siwash, if you use a huge one they can really do some damage because the lenghth of the shank allows the hook to go much deeper than a treble.(my opinion only)