Get the Point: Hooks, Sharpening and Hooking Fish

October 18, 2026

Adapted from Capt. John King's article "Get the Point? Or Making Sure the Fish Do!" (2000–2005) on MichiganSportsman.com. Read the original.

"Making your bites count is what this page is about. Missing strikes is not an option in the charter business, or sport fishing too!"

Penetration vs. wire diameter

It's easier to push a thin needle through tough hide than a thick one. Lighter wire makes a smaller hole, so the barb holds better and penetrates deeper.
Stock hooks on many trolling spoons are extra-strong (3X). Fine for a 30 lb harbor King, but poor on acrobatic June Steelhead or April Browns.
The trade-off: wire that's too fine can straighten out, especially with a heavy drag or thumb on the spool.
The proof: John supplied #4 VMC 9649 round-bend trebles, which he learned to use on the Big Manistee River, to a Lake Huron tournament team in the 1980s. In a 10 lb-test light line tournament, they boated 15 Kings on 17 strikes.

Plating on chrome and vanadium hooks dulls and rounds the point. File it off.
John used a three-sided "bayonet" point with a steep angle: about three strokes from the shank toward the eye on each side.
Steel files rust fast once wet. Diamond files last much longer.
Fine 220–320 grit wet/dry sandpaper adds a finishing edge.
The test: a sharp hook sticks to your thumbnail instead of sliding off.
Sharpened steel rusts. Touch up points at least weekly, and after every big fish. John's deckhands kept a file in their shirt pocket.

Grab the bend of a buried hook with good needle-nose pliers and pull straight back.
Most hook damage happens in the net. Check for bent points, crushed barbs, broken trebles and hooks slid up the split ring.
Before every set, check hooks, swivels and split rings, and feel the last 2–3' of line for frays.

Keep plenty of spare hooks and split rings: "there ain't no tackle stores out on the big drink."
A firm downrigger release helps drive the hook home.
A fish running straight away can roll the hook back out from the direct pull.
If a fish gets the line under the barb, it can cut it. That's not a bad knot.
Bronze hooks on dark or gold baits; chrome hooks on chrome baits.
Lake Erie walleye tip: bend the front hooks of Wiggle Wart-style lures toward the lip so they don't groove the lure.

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