Mustad Demon Circles for Giant BFT?

[Dazed&Confused]

I fish commercially for BFT in New England, and wanted some opinions on the 4X Mustad Demon Offset Perfect Circle Hooks, mostly in the larger (9/0, 10/0, 12/0) sizes ... we fish a lot of small live baits, small Mustad, Gama or Owner circle or j- or live bait hooks, with #200 all the way, JB to topshot and fluoro and generally 45 lbs of drag on Strike ... I got some of these hook in the ringed and unrigged versions from Melton but haven't fished with them yet; I like the rings but am suspect of the welds (China-made) and we use crimps so ring less necessary, but these hooks look badass ... do you Long Range / Cow YFT guys have any experience with these hooks? How heavy have you fished them? Good hookup ratio?
The 10/0 seems like the hook I've always wanted, but need to know how they've performed with big fish ... Thanks in Advance and Regards from the Atlantic.

[etwizard]

These are my hook of choice. I have a #265, #210, #200, and a#197 YF Tunas Lost quite a few from various maladies, broken lines mostly, a hook pull or two. No broken hooks. Fishing about #32 drag at strike. 100-130# flouro with 130# JB line one spectra. I fished 6/0-7/0 models, and never got above that. We were fishing live sardines and seems like we were using the right size for the bait. Haven't fished squid or chunks with them. I won't get into negative on other hooks. There is good and bad everywhere. Ive had great results with the Mustads.
Tight lines
Solomon

[CMY SIX]

get your ringed hooks from ringedhooks.com if they don't have what you want they will make it, good ol' american people!

[Sactotuna]

Good hooks, as are many others. I've used the 3X, no issues to 200# fish at all. Don't know about the rings as I crimp my heavy tackle rigs.

[Bill W]

My favorite hook for heavy line on the kite. 39943 BLN in 9/0 and 10/0. On a side note, at the show saw a seminar with Randy Toussaint and Frank LoPreste. Randy said the Royal Star recommends 2004 and 2005 Eagle Claw. I was looking at Frank and I could see his eyes roll...
He then got up and said he recommends Owner super mutu. I asked Frank after the seninar what he thought about the Eagle Claw 2004 and 2005 and he said He has seen too many of them straighten, but each skipper has different expierences.

As for the boat I ride, the Mustad 39943 BLN in 9/0 and 10/0 are the go to hook for the kite and heavy string. Andy and the crew use them. No rings though...

[waterman482]

I fish commercially for BFT in New England, and wanted some opinions on the 4X Mustad Demon Offset Perfect Circle Hooks, mostly in the larger (9/0, 10/0, 12/0) sizes ... we fish a lot of small live baits, small Mustad, Gama or Owner circle or j- or live bait hooks, with #200 all the way, JB to topshot and fluoro and generally 45 lbs of drag on Strike ... I got some of these hook in the ringed and unrigged versions from Melton but haven't fished with them yet; I like the rings but am suspect of the welds (China-made) and we use crimps so ring less necessary, but these hooks look badass ... do you Long Range / Cow YFT guys have any experience with these hooks? How heavy have you fished them? Good hookup ratio?
The 10/0 seems like the hook I've always wanted, but need to know how they've performed with big fish ... Thanks in Advance and Regards from the Atlantic.

They are decent i know alot of Capts up in Pei used them this year with success. I did however see one hook come back with a bend in the shank but we still got the release on that fish.

[Dazed&Confused]

Thanks, guys - it's good to hear these hooks (so far) have been reliable ... looking forward to fishing the 10/0 nonringed come June, and ordered a few of the 12/0s ... again, we use crimps (the Jinkai short crimps, like the SG for #200 have become the fleet favorite) so the "circle pivot" should be good ... here's a crimp not: I have gone back to Teflon tubing for chafe protection after having springs "collapse" on me, cutting the leader instantly. This was with a #330 Spro swivel, so my thinking is the spring protectors are fine when they have a radius to go around (like a hook) but are dangerous with a small diameter inside them ...
Thanks for the replies; here's an East Coast BFT tip we swear by - NO bait goes in the water unless the leader has been cleaned with an alcohol wipe ... it never fails to amaze me how dirty the pad is after a wipe or two, from algae, diesel smoke, general crud etc ... always wipe leaders clean ..

[Fishybuzz]

My favorite hook for heavy line on the kite. 39943 BLN in 9/0 and 10/0. On a side note, at the show saw a seminar with Randy Toussaint and Frank LoPreste. Randy said the Royal Star recommends 2004 and 2005 Eagle Claw. I was looking at Frank and I could see his eyes roll...
He then got up and said he recommends Owner super mutu. I asked Frank after the seninar what he thought about the Eagle Claw 2004 and 2005 and he said He has seen too many of them straighten, but each skipper has different expierences.

As for the boat I ride, the Mustad 39943 BLN in 9/0 and 10/0 are the go to hook for the kite and heavy string. Andy and the crew use them. No rings though...

ROTFLMAO......you mean someone actually didn't agree lock step with the Grand Poo Ba Frank.......lots of skippers are closet Eagle Claw fans, they are just not Long Range PC but they do get bit really well.....

[Steve K]

"here's an East Coast BFT tip we swear by - NO bait goes in the water unless the leader has been cleaned with an alcohol wipe ... it never fails to amaze me how dirty the pad is after a wipe or two, from algae, diesel smoke, general crud etc ... always wipe leaders clean .."

Will have to keep that in mind next time.

I was testing a solid to hollow spectra connection and on one end of it I looped in a 4X Mustad ringed circle. Admittedly, I probably leaned into it a lot harder than I would ever pull on a fish, but the hook did start to to open up. I believe one of the anglers on these boards had multiple failures with these hooks with them opening up. Not sure if this might have been a bad batch, but he's sworn off of them.

The danger of bending or breaking a hook is there and it happens with any hook, especially if the hookset is not cleanly imbedded in the corner of the mouth. If you're unfortunate enough to hook a fish in a hard bony spot like the tip of the jaw, the danger is there.

[Fishybuzz]

Thanks, guys - it's good to hear these hooks (so far) have been reliable ... looking forward to fishing the 10/0 nonringed come June, and ordered a few of the 12/0s ... again, we use crimps (the Jinkai short crimps, like the SG for #200 have become the fleet favorite) so the "circle pivot" should be good ... here's a crimp not: I have gone back to Teflon tubing for chafe protection after having springs "collapse" on me, cutting the leader instantly. This was with a #330 Spro swivel, so my thinking is the spring protectors are fine when they have a radius to go around (like a hook) but are dangerous with a small diameter inside them ...
Thanks for the replies; here's an East Coast BFT tip we swear by - NO bait goes in the water unless the leader has been cleaned with an alcohol wipe ... it never fails to amaze me how dirty the pad is after a wipe or two, from algae, diesel smoke, general crud etc ... always wipe leaders clean ..

Crap one more thing to deal with, alcohol wipes......but it can't hurt....thanks.