Making Gang Hooks
Aug 31, 2015 9:41:35 GMT 10
Post by Fishin Dan on Aug 31, 2015 9:41:35 GMT 10
Ganged hooks have been around for many years, and are a great way to present long baits such as pilchards, strip baits, whole baitfish, etc. They also provide some protection from fish with raspy mouths such as Flathead, and toothy fish such as Tailor & Mackerel.
I’ve been using the Tru-Turn pre made gang hooks for many years, and I’ve never been let down by them. The bend in the hook shank is designed to twist the hook so the point catches the fish better. There are also swivels in between the hooks which I believe help keep the fish hooked better with less hooks pulled out. They allow an amount of twisting between hooks which would see normal ganged hooks pulled out.
Ganged hooks are normally used to present a whole pilchard, or long strip bait, and are usually a full set of 3 or 4 ganged hooks. These are great for throwing around in the suds off the beach, dropping down to the bottom of the ocean for reef dwellers, or floating out for some big speedsters in the blue water. However, what about when you have smaller strip baits, or are wanting to use half pillies while fishing in more sheltered waters? I’ve previously looked around for Tru-Turn 2 hook gangs, and admittedly I did find some, but they were a rather large hook size and not small enough for the purpose I had in mind. I wanted smaller hooks to match the smaller baits, but still provide the same benefits as a larger set. So I decided to make them up myself.
The process for making your own ganged hook rigs is the same whether you want 2 hooks per rig, 3 hooks, or more. This is certainly not something new, and neither are 2 ganged Tru-Turn hooks, so I am not professing to have created anything here. This article is more a beginners guide and show how you can match up the exact hook size to suit the baits that you want, giving you the perfect hook placement, and therefor the best chance of hooking the fish. You can even mix hook sizes within the gang as well to suit specific baits.
For the purpose of what I wanted, I went with the 2/0 sized Tru-Turn 711 style hooks. They were about $8 for a box of 25. I then matched up some Fumoa rolling swivels in size 6 (rated to 23kg) in a pack of 50 for about $9. You want to make sure that the ‘loop’ of the swivel is large enough that it fits over the shank of the hook with a little movement, but not big enough that it slides off the barb or twists too much. The tools you’ll need will vary dependant upon what you have at home, but I used a strong pair of angle cutters to open the hook eyelet, and a strong pair of short nosed pliers to close the eyelet back up. There are definitely better tools out there, but this is what I had at home at the time.
The process of making the hooks is very easy:
1.The eyelet of the first hook is opened just enough for the ‘loop’ of a swivel to slide onto it
2.You then slide it right around and down the shank of the hook to the bend of the hook
3.A second swivel is then placed onto the opened eyelet, and kept in the eyelet itself
4.You then want to close the eyelet all the way up, keeping the top swivel within the eyelet (This is where the line will be tied onto)
5.The eyelet of the second hook is then opened slightly, and the ‘loop’ of the bottom swivel is slid onto the hook
6.You then close that eyelet all the way up, keeping that swivel within the eyelet
7.Double check that all the eyelets are closed properly, and you are done!
You should end up with double ganged hooks like in the photo accompanying this article. These should suit a half pilchard perfectly, and still have a little bit of hook shank leading from the bait. This will provide a little protection from sharp teeth and raspy mouths.
I ended up with 12 ganged hooks and only had one hook damaged (Opened the eyelet without paying attention, and cut a piece off accidentally). This works out around $1.40 per ganged hook.
