BassRube Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 Hi- I am looking for suggestions for hooks for this particular mold. I bought a pack of the 3/0 Gamakatsu 90deg Aberdeen hooks. They do not fit well in the 3/0 designated cavity, and they actually hit the side of the cavity (see pic). They are also kind of light wire, I'm concerned they could bend out if I fished them out on rock-piles. Jann's Netcraft says you can use these... Mustad 32755 or 32756 Eagle Claw 570 or 575 How do they compare to the Gams? What else are people using out there? I'd rather get some expert input rather than guess and buy half a dozen different hooks. Thanks. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogajiga Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 Hi- I am looking for suggestions for hooks for this particular mold. I bought a pack of the 3/0 Gamakatsu 90deg Aberdeen hooks. They do not fit well in the 3/0 designated cavity, and they actually hit the side of the cavity (see pic). They are also kind of light wire, I'm concerned they could bend out if I fished them out on rock-piles. Jann's Netcraft says you can use these... Mustad 32755 or 32756 Eagle Claw 570 or 575 How do they compare to the Gams? What else are people using out there? I'd rather get some expert input rather than guess and buy half a dozen different hooks. Thanks. Tom. Tom, I don't pour the football mold you have, but having tried almost every 90* jig hook made can offer some comparative observations on the following light wire hooks: 1. EC 570 - soft wire 2. Mustad 3275x - dull points & inferior wire temper 3. Matzuo Aberdeen - sharp points but not the best temper 4. Matzuo Sickle - sharp & the technical bend adds strength to the unpredictable wire temper quality 5. VMC 9147 - sharp pointed but wire seems lighter than most 6. Mustad Ultra Point 32746 - quality temper & point sharpness 7. Gamakatsu 111 - (your pictured hook?) overlong eye legs 8. Gamakatsu 114 - standard round bend Aberdeen equivelant (almost) The above with the exception of the Gamakatsus should interchange. Since Gamakatsu has their own unique sizing system the 3/0 "standard" size equivelant might be a G114 4/0. Heavier wire hooks like round bend Gamakatsu 604 and Owner 5313 or various O'Shaughnessy bends will require mold modification to fit. Okay, IMO you best choice for a stock hook fit would be M32746 for consistent quality & value. I'm personally fond of Sickles, but the quality control is so erratic you takes your chances. Most Sickle batches I spend an evening or two inspecting, sorting, and repairing off bends. My G114 2/0s best fit molds designated for standard 1/0s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 (edited) Tom, Hawnjigs gave you some very good advice. This is the info I can add to that. I have almost every common mold Do-It has. The football mold you have is not meant for a heavy wire hook. That mold is meant for majority of the aberdeen hooks on the market, this includes EC 570, Mustad 32756, Matzuo Sickles, Mustad 32746 and Gamis 114. There may be more. I know that all of the hooks I mentioned will fit that mold. If you want to PM me with your e-mail I can check all the hooks by hook size and which cavity it will fit. It will take too long to post here. Also if you use an aberdeen hook then yes it will pull open. The original aberdeen hooks were meant for that reason, so if it got hung up, the hook would open and you would get your jig back, then rebend it and continue fishing. With that said any other heavier hook you want to put in that mold will not fit and the mold will have to be modified. On another note, if you want to use a heavier hook, then you should be using any of these (3) football jig molds: FBB-3H-AF, FBB-4H-AFM and FBB-3M-AFM. They are meant for that purpose, and you can usually put in 1 size up or 1 size down in each cavity to adjust to your fishing needs. Hook sharpness is another factor. Although I think there was better quality control in years past, in my opinion Mustad Ultra-Points, are a very affordable and a sharp hook out of the box. Some will swear by Gamis and some will never use eagle Claw. There are pros and cons to everything, and then there is cost of the hooks. Gamis usually are at least twice the price of Mustad hooks. With all said and done at least now you have some good info on how to go about buying hooks and what fits what. Edited December 14, 2009 by cadman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassRube Posted December 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 Thanks Hawn, Cadman. This is exactly the info that I needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
