Hook Patterns - What Are The Best Hook Paterns ?

I’m a sea fishing beginner and I started by using ready-made rigs, which I did well with, but now I want to make some of my own. What are the best hook patterns to use ? Most of my ready rigs had Aberdeen hooks on them, but are these always the best ?

The basic long-shanked Aberdeen pattern is many sea anglers’ go-to hook. This round-bend pattern offers good hooking potential, it’s long enough in the shank to enable good sized baits to be used, and that long shank also makes it one of the easier hook patterns to remove from fish.

This basic pattern is available in a decent variety of wire strengths too, from ultra-light match hooks on very fine wire, to very heavy wire versions for bigger fish.

However, looking at the Aberdeen pattern closely, you can see that it’s not perfect for all baits or angling scenarios.

The gape – which is the gap between the hook point and the shank – is usually fairly narrow on the Aberdeen pattern, which means that very bulky baits like peeler crab can be a problem, although with
worm baits it is fine. For bulkier baits good choices are Viking or uptide-pattern hooks. These are slightly shorter in the shank than typical Aberdeen hooks, ut they have a much wider gape and are normally construted on thicker, stronger wire.

These are popular choices for constructing Pennel rigs and for targeting bigger species like cod, huss, smoothhounds and rays.The slightly shorter shank on these hooks actually increases the strength too, because it reduces the leverage that can be applied on the hook, which could cause it to straighten out.

Going up even more in strength, O’Shaughnessy pattern hooks have a slightly straightened bend and usually an out-turned point. These are made in even thicker wire, often forged for even greater strength, and are used for big baits for big fish like conger.

As well as these traditionally named patterns, some manufacturers have their own names for hooks in similar shapes with subtle differences, perhaps in the length of the shank for example, which will do the same job.

These basic patterns will serve you well on the majority of rigs, and it’s as well to become familiar with these before venturing into the area of very short-shank, semi-circle and circle hooks, to name but three types.