Catch More Fish With Sharper Hooks

When I started carp fishing I lost a lot of hooks and line to snags. Based on my inexperience I made a lot of beginner mistakes that caused many of the snags. After awhile I became sensitive to the money being spent on hooks and braided line.

Hooks for bigger carp cost more and likewise the braided line is about 3 or 4 times the cost of monofilament line. So I starting cutting corners to save money. Instead of using new hooks I re-used old ones. You don't have to use new hooks every time you fish, but the chances of catching fish increase when the hooks are sharp.

I was given a hook sharpener by a friend. At first I didn't use it. I figured sharp is sharp, right? Wrong. Real sharp is real sharp.

I run my hooks over the sharpening stone about every 3rd or 4th cast now; and I am catching more fish. It could be coincidental, but probably not.

Courtesy Rapala.com

The hook sharpener in the picture sells for $7.99. If you don't misplace or lose it, the sharpener will last for years and years. And if it improves your catch rate by 10%, that's a significant number of fish per year.

For example, I am approaching 100 carp for the year. A 10% increase accounts for 10 fish and over 5 years that's a potential 50 additional fish than I may have caught without the hook sharpener.