Red hooks or?

[owl]

I've been sharpening hooks. Some were red, black or chrome.

I need to refinish some with a permanent marker.

Which do you think is best red or black.

Reason I ask. I use Cajun red or optix and the red is suppose to make the line disappear but the red hooks are suppose to make the bait look wounded and bleeding :

So which do you prefer red, black or shiny?   

[roadwarrior]

First of all, replace hooks, don't sharpen them.

Second, I think red hooks are worthless. This

fad was nothing more than a marketing ploy.

8-)

[jb7725]

i agree i dont think red hooks help catch fish at all

[Sherlock 60]

First of all, replace hooks, don't sharpen them.

Second, I think red hooks are worthless. This

fad was nothing more than a marketing ploy.

8-)

I have never understood how red line is supposed to be invisible to fish but red hooks are supposed to attract them.

[brushhoggin]

i agree i dont think red hooks help catch fish at all

doesn't hurt either. dont think it matters. i have more confidence in black hooks

[FD.]

I use red, black and chrome.  The color does not seem to matter to the fish.  The only difference I see is the red are now cheaper in some places.  I guess they are not selling as fast anymore.

[kikstand454]

IN THEORY....

red is the first color of the spectrum to fade the deeper into the water you go.

after 10 feet or so red hooks are useless. and by useless i mean they have even less of an impact than they do now. some people swear by them as the front hook on a crankbait. im gonna chalk that up to "maybe in clear water".

red line doesnt disapear... it just becomes grey the deeper down it is... just like all the other lines.

i used to use cajun line. and its ok... not because of the color really.. but its ok line. as long as you keep replacing it every other trip.

change to yo zuri hybrid. youll be happy you did.

[Raul]

If you think/believe that red hooks are going to help you catch more fish I 'm the first one to say you should use them.

However, there no reason why you should sharpen any hook, hook that needs sharpening is trash.

[NewKidInTown]

First of all, replace hooks, don't sharpen them.

Second, I think red hooks are worthless. This

fad was nothing more than a marketing ploy.

8-)

I have never understood how red line is supposed to be invisible to fish but red hooks are supposed to attract them.

Took the words right out me mouth !

[bcody]

If you think/believe that red hooks are going to help you catch more fish I 'm the first one to say you should use them.

However, there no reason why you should sharpen any hook, hook that needs sharpening is trash.

Well put...

[Hammer 4]

However, there no reason why you should sharpen any hook, hook that needs sharpening is trash.

Dang...I have to disagree Raul..I know you have a ton of experience, But...I have gammies that I have sharpened 3 months ago, and they work fine, yes I have caught fish on the hooks I sharpened.

So..my question is, why would a hook be trash due to a dull point, that has been sharpened...?

[SirSnookalot]

I don't sharpen them and use the same ones for weeks before putting a fresh one on.  Johnson weedless spoons are by far not the sharpest out there and I've use the same ones for years, no problem............If you like spoons with a siwash hook you may look into a clark spoon, the hooks are changeable with a screw.

[cbfishalot]

If you think/believe that red hooks are going to help you catch more fish I 'm the first one to say you should use them.

However, there no reason why you should sharpen any hook, hook that needs sharpening is trash.

X3

[TommyBass]

First of all, replace hooks, don't sharpen them.

Second, I think red hooks are worthless. This

fad was nothing more than a marketing ploy.

8-)

X2 like 80% of other things fishing.   You buy red hooks you'll have gold hooks within 3 months anyways.  Never found a bit of difference.

[TrippyJai]

I personally don't care for the red hooks either. I hate the fact that they start to turn gold. I'm not sure if these new red hooks hold their color betters, but I'm not going to spend money to find out. I do however replace all red hooks with black nickel.

[NBR]

Buddy used red hooks on several 2 week long trips we made together. First the red chips off pretty quick, second I caught more fish than he did but then I always catch more fish than he does.

Outside of the extra cost I see no difference using the red hooks.

[FishnBen]

Here's the deal with red hooks:

They aren't going to attract fish or start a feeding frenzy or something like that. Someone previously stated that they're worthless after 10 feet because red is the first color that disappears in the spectrum as water gets deeper (this is true, and black or fluorescent colors are the last visible colors at deeper depths). Let's think about that statement a little bit though...

Red hooks would disappear first, and black hooks would still be visible. So let's say you pull up on a brushpile in 16 feet of water. This brushpile gets hit with plastic lure after plastic lure, day after day. The bass get used to seeing the same hooks in these lures, making it look unnatural and they won't eat it. Then, I come along and throw a plastic with a red hook in it. Since it's 16 feet of water, and red is much, much less visible than black, they don't see that same arch in the plastic lure anymore (the hook), and there's a better chance they'll eat it. See my point?

That right there is my application for using red hooks.

(please note that I didn't say to switch all your hooks to red because bass will think there's blood in the water and slam every lure with red hooks and even eat bare red hooks  )

[SharkHat]

The red color fading after 10 feet doesn't imply that the hook becomes invisible, it just means it doesn't look red.

[NBR]

Exactly as SharkHat said. The red becomes a darker color kind of a grey/blackl.

[Raul]

However, there no reason why you should sharpen any hook, hook that needs sharpening is trash.

Dang...I have to disagree Raul..I know you have a ton of experience, But...I have gammies that I have sharpened 3 months ago, and they work fine, yes I have caught fish on the hooks I sharpened.

So..my question is, why would a hook be trash due to a dull point, that has been sharpened...?

When you sharpen a hook not only you remove material from it making it weaker, the sharpened end will last less, it gets dull faster, the point thickens and you remove the protective coating, the hook will rust at the point. Corrosion will continue to the weaken the hook just where you want it to be sharp, right at the point.

Things like hooks are quite inexpensive compared with the rest of your gear; the only thing in direct contact with the fish mouth is the hook, save on anything you want except in two things:

1.- Hooks

2.- Line

[owl]

I sharpen new hooks too using a dremel tool. Some of the hooks are special purpose double hook for tying live craws on with a small zip tie and a drop shot . That way it wont injure and kill the craw.  Last year we were checking what was said to be a HOT oxbow lake that produced huge bass. It was in mid summer and the temp were pretty high. There was lots of timber and it looked easy but we couldn't catch with softbaits. My friend started catching small bass next to the bank in 1' of water on a buzzbait. Not what we were after. Since I didn't have my fish finder I had to figure it out my self.  The high temps had driven the fish deep into cooler water "on the bottom". The fish could see what we were throwing at em. So we slowed it down.  I put on a bright 10"worm with a texas rig. The fish were so deep and slow. I think the worm was bumping them then they would bite.  That would be a perfect situation to throw a live craw strapped to a special double hook with a dropshot weight  . Should make those lazy bass happy.

Can't weight to try it out.   

[Goose52]

I use red, black and chrome. The color does not seem to matter to the fish. The only difference I see is the red are now cheaper in some places. I guess they are not selling as fast anymore.

I never felt the need to buy red hooks, especially at a premium price; but I have to admit that I've bought some red weighted swim-bait hooks recently since they were on clearance price at about 1/3 of the original price... :