I have been expanding my fishing tackle and techniques, and lately have been getting into pulling plugs. I mainly fish Tadpollys, and sometimes Wiggle Warts and Hot Shots. I take all the trebles off and usually run a bead swivel conected to a 3/0 Gamakatsu Octapus hook. I have yet to loose a fish on this setup, except last Monday, I hooked a large fish and it snapped the plug in 2. I got the bill back but that was all. Is there any pros or cons about using Gamakatsu Octapus hooks versus their Siwash hooks? Just curious.

Andy Matthews

good question andy, i have another, what is the difference between the 2 hooks?
i buy octapus hooks all the time and did the same with my plugs. i do not know and as far as i can tell have not seen a siwash or how ever it is spelled hook?

mybe you just used the plug too many times on too many big fish and it get stress relieth.

elmtree (woody)

andy, my money should in your mail.

[This message has been edited by elmtree (edited 06-21-2000).]

That is why I don't use Tads anymore I have had a few bite in half

Andy the design of the hooks is different. The siwashes are designed to place the force from the fishing line in line with the hook shank. When you use octapus hooks the pressure is applied to the eyelet which is not designed to hold as much pressure. The eyelet is there so you can tie the egg loop knot on the shank with out the line slipping off the shank. This is the main reason we tie the egg loop on the drift gear setup (the shank is getting the force.) My uncle use to tie his octapus hooks on with a clinch knot and he would lose fish breaking the eyelet off the shank on fish. It might be cheaper to set up your gear that way but it could cost you when you least expect it.
Tight Lines

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Marty
Steelheader.net marty@steelheader.net

Siwash hooks are longer and straight, similar to a bait hook for worm fishing. the octopus is a more curved hook and shorter.

I am not a plug fisherman, but I know that with spoons one thing that has increased my "hookups" is "offsetting" the siwash hook slightly. From my knowledge an advantage in addition to what was stated above with a siwash is the distance the point is back from the lure, giving a larger bite radius, and therefore a better chance to hook up. By using a bead to run you hooks back I would think you are reducing the need for such a hook, but I am not sure on that one.

One thing to note, if you are using a chain and running that from the belly of the plug you are creating more stress on the belly of the plug, atleast from a pure mathmatical standpoint one would have to factor in distance to come up with pressure. This would hold true on the tail also, I would think you would want to use as a link as short as possible.This may be a factor in the plug breaking.

atleast you hooked into a nice one...



[This message has been edited by Stadle (edited 06-21-2000).]

Marty that is a very good point you mentioned and one many anglers do not consider when tying terminal drift and mooching rigs. On the river I have noticed many anglers tying beaked hooks w/snell eye using a cinch knot (a tuft of yarn in knot). I also noticed a new brand of pretied mooching leader w/ the trailer hook attached using a uni knot at Outdoor Emporium.

While tinkering with my own gear, I have noticed how weak and brittle the hook eye is on a beaked hook. It breaks off with just the slightest bend with pliers. I noticed this while I tried "flattening" the eye so it sits better, while under a buzz bomb. Most major brands including: Gammy, Mustad and Eagle Claw, all broke off at the rate of 2 out of 3.

ok, i see, on the siwash the shank and eyelet are straight up and the octapus has the slight bent back away from the point.
with a 4 mor 5 bead swivel on a plug and with water current plugging the plug down, wouldn't you want the hook to open up behind the plug. with the ones i set up all the hooks run point up when in the water, and with the octapus hooks slight open away from the plug. does not this leave a better bite area?
yeah, i hooked the swivel on the front eyelet of my plugs, big and small, all seem to run much truer this then with 2 hoks.

elmtree (woody)

With a lot of our streams going to single hook restrictions I will use siwash hooks on all of my plugs. I have been experimenting between double octopus (4/0 to 6/0) and single siwash (3/0 to 5/0) on the hooch's I use in the saltchuck, I am finding a stronger hookup with the single siwash as it tends to drive up into the fish skull vs a lip hook with the octopus hooks. The experimenting will continue this summer. One thing you might try is to use a wire type octopus hook (like Eagle Claw Goldeneye) and bend the point backwards then resharpen it, this will give you more hookups as the backwards bent point will catch easier. I do this to the siwash hooks also, Mustads will work for this.
Tight lines, Jeff

[This message has been edited by salmonhead (edited 06-22-2000).]