Different types of Carp hooks
With the development of technology and research not to mention anglers tweaking their own rigs there is an abundance of Carp hooks on the market these days, here I will try to explain the difference between the patterns, their best use and also possible flaws in each pattern.
One of the benefits of buying custom ready made carp rigs is you have the ability to mix and match between brands, for example, you might like to use Korda Kamo braid but you might like a Nash claw hook. Ready made carp rigs from the mainstream suppliers don't allow you to do this and also they tend not to be hand-tied and can have some flaws. When you buy a Ready made carp rig from Ricks Rigz you can be assured that not only will it be made to your own specification - truly custom to you but every rig is hand tied, checked by 2 different people to make sure its perfect before being packaged in our eco-friendly packaging and sent using Royal Mail.
Anyway I degress, back to the main hook patterns.
Wide gape.
This is probably the original pattern often called a J hook, a straight shank with a wide gape (the distance between the shank and the hook point). A wide gape has the benefit of having more distance between the shank and the hook and gives you a really good hook hold. The wide gape can come with a couple of very subtle but important differences: A straight point, the point of the hook is straight giving a good penetration however, whilst it gets a good hold the other option is a beaked point, this gives a much better hook hold and nearly as good penetration. The beaked point means the point bends in towards the shank slightly. The other subtle difference is you can get wide gape hooks with a straight eye or the much favoured inturn eye. The inturn eye is preferred because it aids the hook flipping better however to get the best out the mechanics of this hook its important that the braid exits from the front of the hook. When the braid exits from the front of the hook the braid will push the top of the eye backwards therefore pushing the point of the hook forward and in to the lip better.The wide gape can be used on a range of rigs - the most popular ready made carp rigs using this pattern are the classic hair rig, Blowback rigs, the Slip D rigs, Solid PVA bag rigs, The claw - Flipper rig to name a few.
Curve Shank:
A relatively new hook pattern, this has a sweeping curved shank and lends itself perfectly to most styles of Carp fishing rigs, because the shank is curved this makes the hook point heavy and gives a really good action to it. The Curve shank hook is often used with Ronnie rigs, Spinner rigs, IQ D Rigs, PVA Solid bag rigs, blowback rigs. because of how versatile the curved hook is , it is probably the most popular hook pattern on the market today.Crank Hook:
This is an adaption of the curve shank hook and is sometimes spelt Krank. This hook as a far more aggressive curve shank and also offers an off-set point, this means that the hook looks twisted if you view it from the shank looking towards the point. This off-set point enables the hook to grab hold at the earliest opportunity and because of the slight twist it makes it almost impossible for fish to spit the hook out. The crank hook is favoured by some of the top anglers like Tom Dove. Because of the aggressive curve to the shank, its ideally suited to rigs like the Ronnie Rig, Hair rig, D Rigs, PVA solid bag rigs.Claw Hooks:
This is a unique shaped hook in so much that instead of having a curve at the bottom of the hook, its made up with a series of angles. Made popular by Nash, the Claw hook has a very wide gape and is ideally used in ready made rigs like the hair rig, blowback rig, slip d rig, ronnie rig, Solid bag rigs, Flipper- Claw RigChod Hooks:
These hooks are slightly different to most of the hooks where they have a out turned eye. The reason for the out turned eye is because they are designed to be used with very stiff chod material or where you want to allow a little more movement to the hook and bait. The chod pattern are normally used with a Pop up bait and you can find you will get a combination of the chod with other patterns for example - Korda do a Krank chod hook, Nash do a Chod Claw hook. Ready Made Carp rigs using a Chod hook will include the chod rig, stiff hinge rig, Adam Penning style pop up rig.In addition to these hook patterns they also come in a range of sizes, the most popular sizes are 4, 6 and 8. Some brands will also do in between sizes like 5 and 7. With hook sizes a size 4 is bigger than a size 6 for example. Most hooks will also come in a choice of 2 mainsteam options of either barbed (micro barb) or Barbless however Pallatrax also have a range called Gripz which is slightly different where as instead of having a barb they have a series of grooves which they claim will act like a microbarbed hook all the time there is pressure on the line, as soon as the pressure is released they act like a barbless hook.
If the choice of Carp fishing hooks is not confusing enough there is a few more twists to the problem. With any fishing hook you want it to be sharp, there is no point in having a hook that is not sharp but having a razor sharp hook often means its not as durable as another hook. A perfect example is the hand-sharpened Korda Kamakura hook, you would be very lucky to find a sharper hook straight out the packet however, because these have such a fine point they are very easily damaged and will often only last for 1 fish (sometimes not even a fish) before the point bends over. Also because the protective teflon coating is removed from the point during the sharpening you will find these hooks can start to rust very quickly. Some anglers use Vaseline or Korda Kote to coat the hook point and to put a protective film over the point to stop the rusting. Nash hooks are probably the best compromise between sharpness and durability, the hooks are very sharp straight out the packet and also very strong. Its a personal go to hook for me.