The advantage of using circle hooks when live baiting for barramundi, threadys or fingemark over your traditional J hook or suicide hook, is more often than not the fish is hooked in the corner of the mouth.
If your intention is to release the fish, circle hooks or half circle hooks like the Eagle Claw Kahle are the best way to go when live baiting.
The trick to hooking fish in the corner of the mouth, especially barra, is to fish the rod in gear and let the fish inhale the bait. Don’t strike at the fish like you see on TV.
Another tip is go up 1-2 hook sizes to what you usually use in a J hook or suicide hook, when live baiting with circle hooks.
For all my live baiting I use the Eagle Claw Kahle, sizes between 5.0 and 8.0 depending on the size of fish I am targeting.
They can be a bit tricky to get hold of, however our friends at anglers warehouse do stock the bronze version at a very good price.
Alternatively you can get the black version (better rust protection) from Fishing Warehouse in Townsville by giving Dale a call ph: (07) 4779 8399 or via their contact page.
Fishing Warehouse Townsville Contact Page.
Now for a quick rigging live bait tip: If you hook it through the back it will spin in the current.
For tips on how to best rig your live bait, check out the following video : Rigging Live Mullet
For a comprehensive course on all things live bait, check out our course Locating Livies.
And don’t forget our free how to catch a barra training including Ryan’s fishing strategy, lure retrieval methods, favourite lures and information from our Barra Basics graduates.
Click the underlined link to register for the free three video training series.
For more great tips, check out some of our previous posts below.