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CHAPPY
27-07-2008, 06:17 AM
I took my grandson (10) down to Crab Creek at low tide a couple of weekend back. Not enough water to fish so we had lesson in natural bate gathering., you know, oysters, crabs under rocks etc.

Well, was I in for an eye opener. The spot is a well used fishing destination for anglers and the creek bottom is coffee rock boulders and shelves. Good small fish attractors. We recovered a vast amount of broken lines, swivels ,sinkers and hooks. All were in different stages of decompasition except the stainless hooks and sinkers. Where the brass swivel was deteriating, the ss hooks were as bright as a button. The lines were being covered by sediment as were the sinkers.

My question is, do ss hooks stay that way when attached or inside a fish? A family conferenve decided, no more ss hooks in our tackle boxes. We believe that a chemically sharpened hook would break down and give the fish a better chance of survival.

Has onyone encountered similar?

Regards Chappy

tunaticer
27-07-2008, 07:56 AM
I have a few 3/0 Kirby SS hooks i would have bought in about 1980ish give or take one year. They reside in my old rock fishing backpack that is still set up ready to go. This backpack has been washed off the rocks into the sea twice and been drowned a lot of times and the hooks are in a non sealed tacklebox with the gauze one end. Those hooks are slightly rusty after near 26 years of being salty and wet on occasions but still sharp and they don't snap under pressure.

They are the only Stainless Steel hook i have left. I do not have as good a run with stainless hooks as the old standard bronze mustad 540's.

Jack.

Jeremy
27-07-2008, 06:49 PM
there is a school of thought that the hole in the fishes mouth enlarges and the hook drops out with in a few days. There is evidence to back this up ie when fish are kept in holding tanks for a few days the hooks can be found on the bottom of the tank. So probably doesn't matter to the fish what the hook is made of.

Jeremy

Dirtysanchez
28-07-2008, 03:14 PM
I believe there was a government push to ban SS hooks at one stage?

Regardless, I've caught fish with hooks passing almost entirely through their system, presumably they must have swallowed the hook and bait and the angler either cut the line, or the fish busted them off. One bream had a hook protruding from his bum, and he wasn't well :(

I guess Jeremy's theory is reasonable, if they are mouth / lip hooked, but SS or other, I am not convinced that these hooks just magically start to rust away. Once on a Rexy show he said the combination of the salt, and an enzyme a fish has in its body would corrode the hook away in days.. Utter crap in my opinion based on what I have obseverd

Mike Delisser
28-07-2008, 03:49 PM
Yeh good move switching away from stainless steel hooks. I don't know about deep sea or game fishing but for freshwater & your bread and butter fishing in the salt, chem sharpened Owners or Gamakatsu are much better options anyway.
Mike

reelchippy
29-07-2008, 02:03 PM
SS Should Be Outlawed:rifle::rifle: CHEERS