Tackle Review: Mustad Open Eye Siwash Hooks 2

I’d like to say Mustad’s open eye siwash hooks are new, but they’ve actually been on the market for a few years now. I’ve tested them extensively the last two years on my salmon fishing trips and I can vouch for the sharpness and holding power of these hooks. They are float out wicked!

Mustad’s 10848 open eye siwash hook is in fact a true straight-shanked siwash hook that is manufactured with the bend of an octopus hook. There’s no need to put an offset in these hooks to increase your hook up ratio…the lethal bend is built right in.

I use 2/0 Mustad open eye siwash’s for my Vibrax spinners and 5/0’s on my Kwikfish and I’ve been very happy with the performance of these hooks.

When river flows are right I run a lot of K-15’s for king and silver salmon in the fall and most of the rivers in Washington have single hook regulations in place nowadays. That used to mean a lot of take downs and very few fish to the boat. A standard siwash hook with a plug pushing against it pushes out of a salmons jaw far too easily and no matter how well a big king salmon seemed to be hooked up, well, they’d almost always find a way to shake loose. You had to bend and tweak your hooks to make them work and half the time you’d break or weaken them in the process. Not any more!

Once you get a solid hookup with one of these hooks you’re going to end up with a salmon in the net. They are sharp as heck and the octopus style offset attached to the split ring with a heavy rolling swivel makes them hold very, very well in a thrashing salmon’s jaw.

Another advantage to these hooks is that they are manufactured with an eye that’s quite a bit larger than any other hook I’ve seen on the market. You can see the over sized eye in the first photo…it’s huge.

The big eye is perfect for making hoochie spinners because it helps to hold the mini-hoochie over the top of the hook so it doesn’t slide down. It makes rigging up hoochie spinners quick and easy.

I’m not sure if Mustad intended this, but the eye is also a lot easier to crimp.

Several saltwater charter captain friends in the Puget Sound also use these hooks exclusively on their trolling spoons and they swear by them.

I said it earlier and I’ll say it again…these are wicked hooks that have already been tested on the proving grounds by savvy fisherman.

If you need another weapon in your fall salmon arsenal this fall I suggest you give these hooks a try. Mustad’s open eye siwash hooks are a proven winner!

Rob Endsley
The Outdoor Line
710 ESPN Seattle
www.theoutdoorline.com