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The Search For Sharper Hooks
By Craig Sandell © 2006
When you are fishing for a fish that has a mouth of mostly bone and teeth, it is advisable to have hooks that are sharp. There are many good hooks on the market but very few are sharp enough to use without first honing the hooks to a pin point condition of sharpness.
Of the brands of super sharp hooks that are popping up on the market, I have chosen the Owner Stinger hooks. These hooks are extremely sharp and are ready to put on your lures right out of the package. They are available from most Musky store outlets.

These 3/0 wide bend short shank hooks have another very interesting physical characteristic.

 The barb on the hook is smaller than the traditional hooks that we use and the distance from hook point to the barb is less.

What this means is that the hook needs to travel a shorter distance on the hook set in order for the barb to be effective.

This can help on timid Musky strikes…sharper hooks translates into fewer lost fish.
A draw back to the hook is a result of its penetrating characteristic. When the fish and the lure are in the net bag, there is a lot of thrashing that takes place. If you are using a standard cloth mesh net, the owner hook will pierce the net mesh past the barb. Once this happens, it will be very very difficult to remove the hook from the mesh without causing serious damage to the cloth mesh.

A solution to the problem comes with the use of a net that has rubber coated mesh such as the Beckman or the Frabill nets available from most sport outlets.

VMC also has a version of this super sharp hook…it is called a VMC Rapala. VMC has more hook configurations available than does the Owner Stinger. The difference between the two is associated with the barb. The VMC Rapala hook has a bit longer distance between the point of the hook and the barb than the Owner Stinger.

Regardless of which hook you decide upon, the trend for Musky anglers is clear…sharpened hooks ready to use out of the package will soon be the hook of choice.

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