In a word, “sharpness

In fact if I was offered a cheap lot of hooks I would probably refuse them in the belief that there would inevitably be something wrong with them. Good hooks from the likes of Mustad, Verivas, Gamakatsu and Partridge do not exactly break the bank and I would rather buy a small pack once each year than buy a bumper pack and have to throw half of them away a few years down the road.Every angler has a different view on what constitutes the perfect hook for the infinite variety of fishing around our coastline and indeed around the world, so there are an infinite variety of hook patterns made to feed this disparity of opinion. It is not my place to say this hook is better than another, but one thing is vitally important, no matter which hook you choose to use. In a word, “sharpness!!”. A blunt hook will frighten the fish and cause the angler to rant and rave about the fish biting short, stretch in the line or whatever the excuse of the day happens to be.It wasn’t so long ago that just about every new hook had to be dusted with a sharpening stone before use simply because the points were often quite blunt and poorly formed, especially in the larger size hooks from 5/0 and upwards. These hooks more often than not needed re-forming with the delicate application of a fine toothed file to get anything like a decent point on them.The advent of the chemically sharpened Japanese hooks changed all that, the Japanese hooks setting new standards in finish, sharpness, temper and overall quality. At last we had hooks that could be used right out of the plastic bag!Even so, stones, gravel, coral covered rock or red rusting wrecks can blunt a hook in an instant. Hitch the bottom, however momentarily, and the sharpness of the hook point can be dulled or deformed to the extent that it may not penetrate cleanly on the next bite.It is a fact of life that some days you might only get one bite, so checking the hook point every time the hook is re-baited and often in between, makes real sense.Dust over the point with a sharpening stone, a diamond lap, or if it is a big hook, a few swipes with a hook file so that the point is brought back to a needle like sharpness, turning that next tentative bite into a solid hook-up.Hooks such as Kamasans, Gamakatsu, the Veals Varivas, VMC, and Mustad 3261 or 32813 hooks are all hooks with a degree of sharpness right out of the box that would have been sensational just a decade ago. Wire hooks such as these patterns are the most popular hooks around today for both shore and boat fishing. I use a range of sizes from 7/0 for Pollack and Bass down to size 2 for flounder and dabs. Re-sharpening these lightweight hooks is easy, use a fine grit carborundum stone(Veals £2.50) or an Eze-Lap diamond sharpener(Sportfish £6.95) and draw the hook toward yourself in the hook sharpening groove, so that a burr is not formed on the point. Usually two or three stokes are all that is required to restore a needle point sharpness.Hooks like the Cox & Rawle Meathook’s are available in larger sizes for use on conger and ling traces and, for a large hook, these come pretty damn sharp. Even so I like to give them a dust over with a stone or lap just prior to use.Mustad O’Shaughnessy hooks are traditionally favourite hooks in the larger sizes for conger and general bottom fishing, but their ‘out of the box’ sharpness requires some work before use. A stone or lap will do the job but will take some time because often there is quite a bit of metal to be removed to get the point to needle sharpness.I have been using a hook file for some years now. I shipped mine in from America. They are quite rust resistant with a fairly fine tooth spacing which used carefully will shape the point to a high degree of sharpness. Veals mail order £4.75 or Normark Stren Hookfile £7.99.On the really large hooks, size 10/0 and upwards, such as Mustad Sea Demons or Sea Master it is good practice to do the original sharpening at home using a vice to hold the hook, shaping the point to a triangular shape, so that it will cut its way in past the barb. The hook file can then be used afloat just to maintain the shape and sharpness.Hook Care.1. Avoid taking a full box of hooks fishing with you, take just enough. Keep the rest of the box at home in the dry.2. Keep the “Ready Use” hooks in a plastic box and don’t be frightened to give them a spray with WD40. WD40 does not seem to taint the bait, in fact some anglers maintain that it acts as an attractant!

3. On larger sized hooks, a spot of rust is not going to significantly degrade its strength. On smaller thin section hooks, use your common sense. If the rust looks significant, dump the hook. A fish of a lifetime will only bite once!