Reel Repair by Alan Tani

It's a little hard to describe. They just exude quality in a way that not a lot of hooks do, especially in smaller sizes and outside of exotic Japanese ones. I need to bite the bullet and purchase a pack so that I can feel how stiff they are but I'm expecting good things.

Man, Mustad is using a lot of "extra" words in their advertising text. That makes me a little suspicious . That 4th paragraph down from the picture; "when the hook punctures the body of the fish..." got kinda out-of-hand with what sounded like a fantasy physical description of how they work. What do
I know though.

Quote from: Gfish on July 26, 2026, 06:49:32 AMMan, Mustad is using a lot of "extra" words in their advertising text. That makes me a little suspicious . That 4th paragraph down from the picture; "when the hook punctures the body of the fish..." got kinda out-of-hand with what sounded like a fantasy physical description of how they work. What do
I know though.

Marketing departments can be as bad as legal departments, at times possibly worse.  Engineering departments usually deal in facts not hype.

I will try to sacrifice some Owner and a similar Mustad Kaiju and UltraNor  hooks today.

Quote from: Gfish on July 26, 2026, 06:49:32 AMMan, Mustad is using a lot of "extra" words in their advertising text. That makes me a little suspicious . That 4th paragraph down from the picture; "when the hook punctures the body of the fish..." got kinda out-of-hand with what sounded like a fantasy physical description of how they work. What do
I know though.

Agree. That part about surface tension being reduced, yikes. This sure looks like classic BS marketing where they slather on the techno babblespeak to describe a benefit  that might technically be true, but is actually so insignificant that it is not a practical improvement. If there was a tangible benefit, you would think that they would be describing this feature with terms that a layman would understand.

This seems to me to also be the case for the "H beam" (actually more of an I beam) construction.

For this type of load, the purpose of an H/I beam is to move more of the mass farther from the bending axis, as that is where the metal has to yield the most for the bend to occur. Taking some meat out of the center doesn't  weaken the resistance to bending much, but decreases the amount of metal that is used. 

This means that you can get the same strength with less material.  With a very shallow I beam, you will get a slightly lighter (not thinner) hook at the same strength.  Or a slightly stronger hook at the same weight. 

Due to its past reputation for being a good quality, fair priced, no-nonsense hook manufacturer, I really want to give Mustad the benefit of the doubt, but they are testing my BS meter limits this time.  I kinda hope I am wrong here.

Quote from: Keta on July 26, 2026, 01:21:30 PMMarketing departments can be as bad as legal departments, at times possibly worse.  Engineering departments usually deal in facts not hype.

I will try to sacrifice some Owner and a similar Mustad Kaiju and UltraNor  hooks today.

   

It may not answer the benefit of I beam construction question, but it will help us understand how strong the hooks are, which in the end is actually the most important question for us.

-J

Quote from: pjstevko on July 24, 2026, 10:04:10 PMDaytime is a whole different ballgame. Gotta scale everything way down to be effective

Definite, succinct, and grounded in knowledge of the fishery.  Thanks. 

Quote from: boon on July 25, 2026, 02:09:11 AMThe new UltraNor lines look like really good hooks. I have been meaning to pick some up. 10829UN looks interesting too.

Interested to know: do you think you are currently being let down by, or feel you should expect more from your hooks - either in terms of holding the fish, or hooking it?

Mustad is probably taking a leaf from some of the advertising material from other hook makers (whom in one case claim there are only two craftsmen in the whole factory skilled enough to shape hook points by hand).  One has to wonder, through, whether what's effective on marlin fishermen (who have a unique combination of bottomless pockets and chronic insecurity about their ability to hook up, and react to anything that says "custom" or "handmade" like catnip) works with the more everyday angler...

 

My leg was causing me major pain issues over the weekend and I did not get to my shop to get the hooks to test.  The knee is much better now and I will try to do it today.

My test indicates the thinner Mustad Kaiju hook at $1.30 each is slightly stronger than the slightly higher priced and thicker wire Owner Gorilla at $1.34 each.  Results and prices may vary, I priced the hooks at Meltons.   Both are high-quality hooks and I will continue using Owner hooks, as well as Gamakatsu and Mustad.  One of my cow YFT was caught on a 2/0 Owner Mutu hook.


3/0 Mustad KAIJU  .091" (2.32MM)  $1.30 each


3/0 Owner Gurrila .094" (2.40MM)  $1.34 each


95#+ (43KG+)


In my test the Mustad bent slightly less than the .003" (0.08MM) thicker Owner hook and the plating started to separate on the Owner.

Quote from: Patudo on July 27, 2026, 02:17:32 PM

Quote from: boon on July 25, 2026, 02:09:11 AMThe new UltraNor lines look like really good hooks. I have been meaning to pick some up. 10829UN looks interesting too.

Interested to know: do you think you are currently being let down by, or feel you should expect more from your hooks - either in terms of holding the fish, or hooking it?

Mustad is probably taking a leaf from some of the advertising material from other hook makers (whom in one case claim there are only two craftsmen in the whole factory skilled enough to shape hook points by hand).  One has to wonder, through, whether what's effective on marlin fishermen (who have a unique combination of bottomless pockets and chronic insecurity about their ability to hook up, and react to anything that says "custom" or "handmade" like catnip) works with the more everyday angler...

 

I wouldn't say I'm being let down by current hooks, moreso that if the marketing is even somewhat true then I can get more strength from a finer hook.

Currently, a lot of the hooks I use when I want to be able to pull really hard on a fish are quite heavy gauge wire. The thicker the wire, the more force is required for it to penetrate, especially if it lands on a harder part of the fish's mouth, and therefore the more likely that it will not sink in to the bend and I will be point-loading the hook.
If I can use a thinner wire hook and get the same absolute strength from it, then I will likely benefit from better and more consistent hook-ups. The only concern I have with thinner hooks is that the cross-section pulling against the fish is smaller, and therefore (slightly?) more likely to tear a hole.

I listened to a podcast recently featuring one of the better Marlin fishermen in the world, "Bonze" Fleet. He's a big proponent of "light gauge" hooks when fishing for Striped Marlin. A lot of people worry about the strength of these fine-wire hooks, but he asks the question of whether you would rather be hooked up via the bend of a light gauge hook or a partially penetrated heavy gauge hook.



This thread has shifted enormously from the original discussion, but I think there's some really good info here. Maybe a mod could split it off?

EDIT: Big thanks to Keta for sacrificing some tackle to our collective knowledge. 95# is a lot of pull on a 3/0 hook!

Quote from: boon on July 28, 2026, 01:33:49 AMEDIT: Big thanks to Keta for sacrificing some tackle to our collective knowledge. 95# is a lot of pull on a 3/0 hook!

More than I felt comfortable pulling even with a towel over the hooks and cable and rubber blocks on the hook points.

I had a hook on a Rapala xrap magnum 30 bend on a YT at Cedros last week. They use VMC 4/0 4X treble hooks. I bent it back with my pliers and caught more YT. My best 2 40#+ YT came slow trolling Mac's on 6/0 Mustad 4x circle hooks. Go big or go home!

Quote from: Gfish on July 26, 2026, 06:49:32 AMMan, Mustad is using a lot of "extra" words in their advertising text. That makes me a little suspicious . That 4th paragraph down from the picture; "when the hook punctures the body of the fish..." got kinda out-of-hand with what sounded like a fantasy physical description of how they work. What do
I know though.

Probably following the lead of the Japanese manufacturers!

Quote from: boon on July 28, 2026, 01:33:49 AMBig thanks to Keta for sacrificing some tackle to our collective knowledge. 95# is a lot of pull on a 3/0 hook!

+1!

Thanks Lee.

So, a little bit thinner, a little bit stronger on a bend pull. The useful data never seems to make compelling marketing literature.

-J

A little bit thinner, a little bit stronger.

That's some F'n marketing right there. You don't need to evoke imagery from quantum mechanics with your description! just say it's thinner and stronger.

"A bit more strength in a smaller package" is ADEQUATE MARKETING. People who want more will buy that. High end hooks aren't for the cost conscious. You don't need to try to science-jargon it up to make it seem necessary. It's not. It's just thinner and stronger, which is cool.

I'm yelling at the manufacturers, not you guys.

Quote from: boon on July 28, 2026, 01:33:49 AMEDIT: Big thanks to Keta for sacrificing some tackle to our collective knowledge. 95# is a lot of pull on a 3/0 hook!

Fully seconded.

Some thoughts:

- I would have thought that when bent out to the extent shown in @Keta's photos the fish would have been lost - however;

- under virtually all fishing situations you wouldn't be using remotely close to even 60 lbs of pressure on a hook that size, as you'd expect the hook hold to give way (as it would have been sunk into meat or in the best case scenario, around a piece of jaw rather than around a solid metal ring).  So those hooks really ought to be strong enough for virtually every application one could conceivably use them for. 

- when attempting to apply heavy drag to a small hook, thicker wire may actually be an advantage, as thinner wire might tend to cut its way out of the fish under intense pressure;

- how does one catch a cow tuna (I take it this means over 200 lbs) on a 2/0 hook?  How much pressure would an experienced angler in that fishery be attempting to apply on that size hook - what sort of outfit (rod/reel/line) would typically be used, and what would their expectations be of landing fish that size?