Fishing: Are circle hooks a walleye's best friend?

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By Dave Orrick, St Paul Pioneer Press
Posted: 05/07/2014 12:01:00 AM CDT | Updated: about 2 hours ago

Photos and illustrations: http://www.twincities.com/outdoors/ci_2 ... est-friend
If circle hooks were mandatory on Lake Mille Lacs this summer, an estimated 20 percent fewer walleye would be killed, enough to lift an extended ban on night fishing, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. (Pioneer Press file photo) Related Stories

If everyone used circle hooks on Lake Mille Lacs, tens of thousands fewer walleyes would be killed this year. But not for the reasons you might think.

Contrary to common belief, spread via marketing statements and celebrity angler endorsements, the unconventional shape of circle hooks doesn't prevent them from hooking a fish in the guts -- at least not with walleyes.

Yet, circle hooks are one of the strongest conservation options left for Mille Lacs, where a troubled walleye population has led to strict rules that force anglers to release fish at high rates.

In fact, if the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources had decided to require circle hooks this year, the nearly all-season ban on night fishing on Mille Lacs -- a hardcore restriction that has created angst among anglers and businesses -- wouldn't have been imposed, according to a leading researcher.

But not because circle hooks don't gut-hook walleyes -- as many of their promoters claim.

In fact, circle hooks gut-hook walleyes at almost the same rate as traditional hooks, according to Tom Jones, a coordinator and researcher from the DNR's Aitkin office, which oversees Mille Lacs. Jones has published the only scientific study testing the claims of circle hooks on walleyes.

Jones found two reasons that make circle hooks a walleye's friend.

When swallowed by walleyes, circle hooks don't cause as much damage -- and likely kill fewer fish -- as traditional J-style hooks, in part because anglers don't set the hook with a circle hook.

The second reason circle hooks kill fewer walleyes: They catch fewer walleyes.

"There's a little bit of savings because they might not hook as many, and there's a little bit of savings from fish not being injured as badly," Jones said.

HOOK DESIGN

A traditional fish hook is shaped like a J, with the point aimed parallel to the shank.

A circle hook has a more rounded form, with a key difference being that the point is actually aimed back toward the shank. The point of the circle hook gains purchase only after rotating, in theory, around a fish's jaw.

Indeed, numerous studies have found that circle hooks have an uncanny ability to lodge themselves in the corner of a fish's jaw -- exactly where the angler prefers it.
Circle hooks have been used for years in commercial saltwater fishing and have become the standard for some sport fishing pursuits, such as billfish.

A little over a decade ago, they began to grow in popularity with freshwater anglers, and pockets of bass and catfish anglers swear by them.

In addition to consistent hooking, promoters say circle hooks prevent unwanted killing of fish when they swallow live bait. The hook can be gulped down the esophagus, but when the fishing rod provides resistance, the circle hook -- by virtue of its turned-in point -- won't impale those tissues, but will slide forward harmlessly.

Or so the theory goes.

It's an alluring possibility, especially in a lake like Mille Lacs, where in some years as many fish can die from hooking mortality as from the fillet knife.

HOOKING MORTALITY

Because Mille Lacs is governed by treaties that mean members of Chippewa Indian bands and non-tribal members must share the fishery, non-tribal members have been subject to special restricting how many fish they can kill, however those fish are killed.

Never have those rules been stricter than this season and last season, when the daily limit is two walleyes between 18 and 20 inches, or one in that slot and one longer than 28 inches. The reason is that walleye numbers are at their lowest levels in 40 years, with few walleyes surviving into adulthood for reasons scientists don't fully understand.

As a result, anglers are often forced to throw back most fish -- 85 percent in one year, according to DNR data.

Some of those fish die. The DNR estimates those casualties -- "hooking mortality" -- based on a formula developed during a two-year study from 2003 to 2004 in which researchers observed fish caught and released by anglers to see how many survived.

When waters are cool and fish are shallow -- conditions typical during a May fishing opener -- almost no fish die. However, as temperatures climb in the summer and fish are deeper, mortality increases. The highest mortality rate is for deep-hooked fish; some 16 percent of those died in the study.

Generally speaking, about 1 walleye for every 20 caught and released during a season will die, given widely used live bait tactics that often involve allowing more time for a fish to take a bait. The rate may seem small, but when so many more fish are released than kept, the numbers add up. It's estimated that 228,000 pounds of walleyes died from hooking mortality in 2002, compared to 153,000 pounds of fish kept for the frying pan. Last year, hooking mortality was estimated at 67,000 pounds, close to the 75,000 pounds of fish kept.

This year, the non-tribal maxiumum harvest is 42,900 pounds, the lowest it's ever been under the modern treaty regimen.

"We'd sure rather reduce the kill by reducing hooking mortality than reducing harvest," Jones said.

Enter circle hooks and their purported ability to nearly eliminate gut-hooking.

CIRCLE STUDY

In Jones' study, he and several experienced anglers put the circle hook claims to the test on walleye.

"I had read several articles in newspapers and magazines that circle hooks were magical," Jones said. "The claims being made were that people were allowing the fish to swallow the bait and 98 percent of the time they were hooked in the mouth."

Some studies have suggested that might work with some fish. But not walleye.

After letting the fish take the bait for 20 seconds -- a length of time intended to maximize the likelihood fish began to swallow the hook, Jones instructed anglers to start reeling in -- the proper technique for circle hooks. Anglers did the same for J hooks, except after 20 seconds they set the hook with a yank of the rod as they normally would.

Here were the results, which Jones published in 2005 in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management:

â ¢ Anglers were about 15 percent less successful in hooking a fish with circle hooks than J hooks.

â ¢ Once hooked, both hooks were equally successful at keeping fish on the line so they could be landed.

â ¢ Circle hooks deep-hooked 44 percent of the fish, slightly fewer than the traditional hooks, which gut-hooked 53 percent -- but that difference wasn't statistically significant.

â ¢ The internal injury rate for circle hooks was lower than J hooks, and the damage was often less severe -- less likely to be fatal to the fish.

That last finding is key, Jones said, especially if you factor in the lower hooking efficiency.

Bottom line: Circle hooks would have likely killed 12 percent of the fish that took the bait, compared to 27 percent for traditional hooks.

Jones cautions that his study was relatively small, and the fish hooked were not actually observed to confirm how many would have died. Still, the data was strong enough that the DNR estimated that a circle hook requirement for live-bait fishing could have reduced to total non-tribal kill by 20 percent this summer. "It probably could have substituted for the night ban," he said.

It's possible the number could be 30 percent to 40 percent, he said, but more research would be needed.

DNR officials acknowledge that legally prohibiting traditional fishing hooks on Mille Lacs would be complicated and messy, essentially requiring live-bait anglers to stock a second tackle box. Nonetheless, the agency floated the idea with a Mille Lacs advisory group that includes guides and resort owners, and the agency was prepared to try it if it was supported. The group panned it. The night ban was adopted.

Starting May 12, the Monday following opening weekend, no fishing -- of any kind -- will be allowed on the lake from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. through Dec. 1.