Mustad: barb size was rediculously inconsistant, some just right, some 3-5x larger, some almost not there.
Danielson: 1:10 hook had screwed up eyes, barbs were pretty good but shape was off in 1:20
Eagle Claw: barb shape inconsistant, 3 semi-open eyes in 50, finish on 5:50 was rough.

What is happening to QC in hooks? Not to mention all 3 were octopus hooks in the same size and they were all different sizes with Danielson being the largest gap and EC being the smallest. I realize that these numbers are not that high for errors but still a lot higher than I ever remember seeing. Even with VMC, I only found 4 problem hooks out of 1,000 but that was 8 years ago. I imagine the same error rate is probably in VMC as any other anymore.

I use a Dremel to grind the barbs now but with some of them the hook was so thin at the barb throat the hook broke, 3 Dan, 2 Mustad and 2 EC. Not to mention that huge barbs take forever to grind and with some of the hard as*** fish cops out there would never pass their sweater snag test. (I know, not the law but tell them that).

It is just so damn annoying to see prices go up and up and Quality go down more and more. Still better than seeing entire batches of hooks being bad but won't be long until we see that in all our hooks, not just Matzuo.