typo............... we used #4/0 circle hooks not #4

 

i'm not completely sure, i havn't used them before but i'm pretty sure what your doing wrong is, your not supposed to set the hook with circle hooks, just pick up the slack and keep the line tight until the tip of the pole goes down, from what i hear, YOU'LL KNOW IT when you have the fish on. I also hear its a pain to get used to.

 

I do lots of salt water fishing where circle hooks are used extensively. A common error is to "set" the hook. Simply loosen up your drag, let the fish pick up the bait and swim off, then begin reeling it in. The hook then begins to come out of the fish's mouth and as it does, it digs into the corner of the mouth. If you set the hook, you simply pull the bait and hook out of the mouth too quickly for the barb to catch. They are the most humane hook I know of, rarely does a fish swallow the hook. Hope this helps.

 

Yeah, it's hard but don't set the hook, just reel. I use a BIG bobber and they hook themselves. If you are getting bites from gills, you probably won't hook them. I got many channels last year on one of those big slip bobbers. I even caught a 4.12 lb. bass on a #6 circle... who knew...

spiff

 

ketchabiggin,

Catching them under a bobber can be tough I had to learn the technique from my son Larry, we like to use the 4" Billy Bobbers from BPS, 1/2 oz of weight and a 12 inch leader, when they move away from you is the best hook-up, when they bring the bobber towards you is when it gets tough to hook them up, lately I have been drifting letting the wind push the boat and bobbers, I haven't had to ease back on the fish because they have been slamming the rods down in the holders.

I have noticed this year there are a lot of young fish in the lake, some of them have the dime size mouth and they are real hard to hook up, lots of times they are just grabbing the bait with there lips and not there mouth.

Keep at it you'll start hooking them up, they have to have the hook in there mouth for the circle to do it's job, if not you will miss them, at times I have used very small pieces of bait at CJ, right now we are castnetting the three inch long Shad, cutting the tail off and cutting the body in half putting the head and midsection on the hook, I'm also using 6/0 hooks, 4/0 are smaller but they should be better than the 6/0.

One other thing I failed to mention, I'm using PowerPro line on the reels, it floats on top of the water which also allows for a better hookset, the mono has a tendency to sink which will allow your line to bow.

 

Just a note about circle hooks under bobbers at CJ. I was there yesterday. I was using two rigs, one with 3-0 red circle and one with 4-0 bronze circle. Same brand of bobber as Doctor's but a little smaller (all the bigger BPS ones were gone). I caught 14 catfish using these two rigs. But like ketchabiggin, I noticed that I had several take downs but no fish. I have fished with circles for a couple of years, so do not set the hook, merely let the fish hook itself. Reading this thread, I think several things might have happened. #1 - the bobber was too small to set the hook on the take, #2 - the fish were coming at me, not taking line, so that when I took up the slack line I may have pulled the bait out of their mouths, #3 - the fish were smallish and Doctor's theory of small mouths may have been the situation. Given all this, I will try to find the bigger bobber as my first fix. This will create the drag needed to set the circle hook.

Just my thinking, hope it helps!

David

 

So you all will know, I use was using the 6" unweighted version of the bobber with 1/2 oz. slip sinkers. Was also using whole dead shad. Looks like I will cut'm in half next time. I will also get some of the Power Pro line as I noticed a lot of underwater belly in the mono I was using which also gets worse as the wind picks up. Only place I can see to get it is Gander Mtn. in Columbus.
Doc, can you get it locally?

 

Sorry I'm a few days behind on this post, haven't seen any of it local, I like it mainly because it floats and you can get a soild hook-up after they bury the Bobber. Kind of a pain when the wind is blowing strong as it will carry the bobber along at a pretty good clip, but again that allows you to cover more water.

Scarlet,

Yea they are real hard to hook-up when they are coming right at you but still a lot of fun, it's a blast watching that bobber run just under the surface like in "JAWS"

Not sure why the fish are staying in the deeper water at CJ early on they were up in the shallows, but here lately they have been hanging in the 5 foot, but thats where the bait has been staging and they always follow the bait, one thing that I have not seen is any signs of the White Bass, I always like to follow up behind them as the bigger cats will follow the schools of Bass as they are into there killing spree and the cats clean up on the injured, and dead.

The latest shift in the weather should really mess them up bad as I'm sure the lake temps will drop back down from no sunshine. Right now they have the gates throttled down as they fill up the lake but with no rain that will take some time.

 

I found Power Pro ar Walmart today. $11.95 for 150 yd. spool. Meijer has it too but only 100 yd spools for $9.99. I'll be outa town for a while but my son will catch my share. He will be using my Lund.
It'll be a while before I can get back on this board. I want to take this opportunity to thank Doc and all who have givin me tips on catfishin'. It isn't everybody who will bare their soul and give away all their secrets like you folks. Thanks again, see you all soon.