Fish Hook
A fish hook or fishhook is a device for finding and catching fish either by impaling them in the mouth or, even more rarely, by snagging bodily the fish. Fish hooks have been employed for centuries by anglers to catch fresh and saltwater fish. In 2005, the fish filling device was chosen by Forbes as one of the top twenty equipment in the history of man.|1| Fish hooks are typically attached to some form of line or lure which connects the caught fish to the angler. There is an enormous variety of seafood hooks in the world of fishing. Sizes, designs, shapes, and elements are all variable depending on the expected purpose of the fish catch. Fish hooks are manufactured for your range of purposes from standard fishing to extremely limited and specialized applications. Fish hooks are designed to hold different kinds of artificial, processed, lifeless or live baits (bait fishing); to act as the building blocks for artificial representations of fish prey (fly fishing); or to be attached to or integrated into other devices that represent fish prey (lure fishing).
The fish hook or similar device has been made by man for many thousands of years. The world's oldest seafood hooks (they were made out of sea snails shells) were discovered in Sakitari Cave in Okinawa Island dated between 22, 380 and 22, 770 years old.|2||3| They are older than the fish hooks from the Jerimalai cave in East Timor dated between 23, 1000 and 16, 000 years old,|4| and New Ireland in Papua Fresh Guinea dated 20, 500 to 18, 000 years old.|2|
An early written reference to a fish hook is found with reference to the Leviathan in the Book of Job 41: 1; Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook? Fish hooks have been completely crafted from all sorts of materials which include wood, animal|5| and human bone, car horn, shells, stone, bronze, iron, and up to present day materials. In many cases, hooks were made from multiple materials to control the strength and positive characteristics of each material. Norwegians as late as the 1955s still used juniper real wood to craft Burbot hooks.|6| Quality steel hooks began to make their appearance in Europe in the seventeenth century and hook making became a task for specialists.
Typically referred to parts of a seafood hook are: its level, the sharp end that penetrates the fish's oral cavity or flesh; the barb, the projection extending in reverse from the point, that secures the fish from unhooking; the eye, the loop in the end in the hook that is connected to the sport fishing line or lure; the bend and shank, that portion of the hook that connects the point and the attention; and the gap, the distance between your shank and the point. In so many cases, hooks are described by making use of these various parts of the catch, for example: wide gape, lengthy shank, hollow point or out turned eye.
Fashionable hooks are manufactured from either high-carbon steel, steel alloyed with vanadium, or stainless steel, according to application. Most quality fish hooks are covered with a few form of corrosion-resistant surface finish. Corrosion resistance is required not merely when hooks are used, especially in saltwater, but while they are placed. Additionally , coatings are applied to color and/or provide functional value to the hook. At least, hooks designed for freshwater work with are coated with a clear lacquer, but hooks also are coated with gold, nickel, Teflon, tin and different colours.
There are a large number of different types of seafood hooks. At the macro level, there are bait hooks, travel hooks and lure hooks. Within these broad categories there are wide varieties of filling device types designed for different applications. Hook types differ fit, materials, points and barbs, and eye type, and ultimately in their intended application. When individual hook types are designed the specific characteristics of each and every of these hook components happen to be optimized relative to the hook's intended purpose. For example , a delicate dry fly hook is manufactured out of thin wire with a tapered eye because weight is a overriding factor. Whereas Carlisle or Aberdeen light cable bait hooks make use of skinny wire to reduce injury to live bait but the eyes are not really tapered because weight is certainly not an issue. Many factors lead to hook design, including corrosion resistance, weight, strength, hooking efficiency, and whether the catch is being used for specific types of bait, on different types of lures or for different types of flies. For each hook type, there are ranges of appropriate sizes. For all types of hooks, sizes range from thirty-two (the smallest) to 20/0 (the largest).
Hook styles and names are mainly because varied as fish themselves. In some cases hooks are discovered by a traditional or historic name, e. g. Aberdeen, Limerick or O'Shaughnessy. Consist of cases, hooks are merely identified by their general purpose or have incorporated into their name, one or more with their physical characteristics. Some makers just give their hooks version numbers and describe the general purpose and characteristics. One example is:
Eagle Claw: 139 is a Snelled Baitholder, Offset, Down Eye, Two Slices, Moderate Wire
Lazer Sharp: L2004EL is a Circle Sea, Huge Gap, Non-Offset, Ringed Eyes, Light Wire
Mustad Unit: 92155 is a Beak Baitholder hook
Mustad Model: 91715D is an O'Shaughnessy Jig Hook, 90 degree angle
TMC Model 300: Streamer D/E, 6XL, Heavy wire, Falsified, Bronze
TMC Model 200R: Nymph & Dry Soar Straight eye, 3XL, Regular wire, Semidropped point, Signed, Bronze
The shape of the catch shank can vary widely from merely straight to all sorts of figure, kinks, bends and offsets. These different shapes bring about in some cases to better hook transmission, fly imitations or bait holding ability. Many hooks intended to hold dead or perhaps artificial baits have sliced up shanks which create barbs for better baiting possessing ability. Jig hooks are made to have lead weight molded onto the hook shank. Hook descriptions may also involve shank length as common, extra long, 2XL, short, etc . and wire size such as fine wire, extra heavy, 2X heavy, and so forth
Hooks are designed as either solo hooks-a single eye, shank and point; double hooks-a single eye merged with two shanks and things; or triple-a single attention merged with three shanks and three evenly spaced points. Double hooks happen to be formed from a single bit of wire and may or may not have their shanks brazed together to get strength. Treble hooks happen to be formed by adding a single eyeless hook to a double hook and brazing all three shanks together. Double hooks are being used on some artificial tackle and are a traditional fly connect for Atlantic Salmon flies, but are otherwise fairly uncommon. Treble hooks are used in all sorts of artificial lures as well as for a wide variety of bait applications.
The hook point is probably the most important part of the hook. It is the level that must penetrate fish flesh and secure the seafood. The profile of the hook point and its length impact how well the point goes trhough. The barb influences what lengths the point penetrates, how much pressure is required to penetrate and in the end the holding power of the hook. Hook points will be mechanically (ground) or chemically sharpened. Some hooks are barbless. Historically, many early fish hooks were barbless, but today a barbless filling device is used to make hook removal and fish release significantly less stressful on the fish. Filling device points are also described relative to their offset from the catch shank. A kirbed catch point is offset left, a straight point has no cancel out and a reversed stage is offset to the best suited.
Care needs to be taken when ever handling hooks as they can easily 'hook' the user. If a catch goes in deep enough under the barb, pulling the filling device out will tear the flesh. There are three ways to remove a hook. The first is by cutting the weed to remove it. The second is to slice the eye of the hook away and then push the remainder with the hook through the flesh as well as the third is to place pressure on the shank towards the skin which pulls the barb into the now oval hole then push the lift out the way it came in.
