In the past I have always used the Mustad 7691 J style hooks for fishing the kite with flying fish as bait.  On my last trip to Hurricane bank in February 2007 on the Accurate Reels open aboard the Royal Polaris we started to use the Mustad 20/0 Circle hook 39960. I noticed a change in the bite to hook ratio right away. Almost every boil on the kite was fish on.

One of the major advantages to this hook is its size. After inspection of the hook and it’s position in the fish I was very impressed with how the size would help to clear the hinge plate of the Yellow fin’s mouth and was well seated in the corner on fish after fish.

Another plus to its size is how the flying fish would hang on the hook, it has room to hang and swing freely.  We had zero events of the fish boiling on the bait and fouling the hook back into the bait which is a very common problem with the traditional J style hook.  This is the main reason for the instant increase in hooked fish.  After we started passing out the hooks no one was missing kite fish.

Here is the good part, these hooks are very inexpensive. I didn’t say cheap I said inexpensive. You can find them anywhere from .80 to 2.00 each compared to some of the “designer hooks” going for as much as 8.00 each in these sizes.  Even though you are paying less you are not sacrificing strength, quality or size of barb.  It’s full circle style helps to prevent premature snags of the hook deep in the fish which designer super sharp hooks are prone to do and can lead to lost fish.

On another note and it might just be me but when a crew member of one of the premier long range boats hands me a hook and says try this I am going to take notice. And glad I did.  I am preparing to leave on another long range adventure and will be fishing the Mustad 20/0 39960 on all my kite rotations and chunking applications.

-Note- These hooks have been around and were fished quite a lot back in the day.  Maybe we have gone full “Circle”!

Go get some
Brandon Kreutel

Photos by: Brandon Kreutel