What kind of hooks are you guys using in the FL rivers? My local bait shop insisted on me using thick gauged circle hooks. Never landed one on those. They are all about bass fishing anyway. Kind of looked at me funny when I said I cat fished. Tried treble hooks and landed one. Meanwhile I was using big hooks too. Then I downsized to a 2/0 regular hook (eagle claw) Thin wire. And my hook up ratio went from near nil to about close to 90%. Now thats an important piece of tackle right there, LOL! Because the best poles and lines don't mean squat if you can't hook em The only down fall to the wire hook is when you grab it with your pliers and wrench on it, it will snap the hook in 1/2. So use your hands when you can. Thats what I use, what do you guys use?
I use eagle claw for 99 percent of my hooking needs. For catching bait(bream, bullheads, etc) I use small hooks-style 84. For smaller catfish like channels, I use 84's or small kahle style. For flatheads I use 4/0 - 7/0 kahle style. You mentioned bass fishing guys recommending circle hooks. I have used big circle hooks for limblines in the past. If you are fishing for bass you can still use a kahle style hook. My biggest bass was caught with a bream on a kahle hook fishing for catfish. good luck...
I normally use 2/0 to 4/0 circles with 3 to 5 inch live bream for bait. i have found that if the circle hook is too big it will be flattened against the bait during the initial bite and the point is often pushed into the bait and prevents a hook up. If you miss a strike take a look at the bait and if the hook is driven under the skin of the bait you should try downsizing the hook..
