Stainless hooks

[Greenheart]

What are the views of other forum members on using stainless steel hooks? I know that current thinking appears to be that ordinary ferrous metal hooks are better because they rust away in the fishes mouth if you lose one. But I recently came across a university report on an American fishing website that suggest that rusting hooks become toxic & kill the fish. I still favour stainless hooks on made up rigs because they don't rust up in the rig wallet.

[MRG2000]

Hmmmm,dont personally like stainless,good quality hooks (Mustad ,Kamasan)tend not to rust if you give them a wipe off before storing them,or even a little squirt of wd 40 to protect them in the wallet is a good idea.some of my anglers drench their bait in wd 40.I`ve seen a lot of good cod come to a wd 40,lug and squid coctail..

[John Marshall]

Food for thought.......
Don't use stainless hooks myself tend to stick fine wire abeerdeens

[Drew]

Hi Folks,

I prefer Varivas from Veals.

Cheers

Drew

[aku94]

I use the "bronze" tone non-stainless hooks for everything. The stainless hooks will not rust away if ingested by a fish. They do have the anti-rust advantage that ferrous hooks don't. I had a hook rust away in a couple days aft6er I forgot to clean it off after going saltwater fishing. I don't think that I would condemn using stainless hooks, and I don't have a fit over their use. Maybe I will use them for saltwate since I tend to forget about cleaningsometimes.

[tjnorton]

I dont use stainless, i use kezmans and keep them clean.

tj

[Greenheart]

I found this article on an American website that was discussing the subject.

Tests done in the early 90's at the Univ. Of Maryland show, contrary to popular belief, hooks that corrode, like cadmium style hooks, actually do more harm to a fish than good. These tests have
shown that as the hook corrodes it releases toxins into the fish that will eventually kill most of the tested fish. In the same tests, stainless steel hooks that were intentionally in a fish did not hurt the fish as long as the hook was not restricting the fish's ability to feed. If a fish could make
this choice for you, I think he would prefer to take his chances with the stainless hooks. Environmentally speaking stainless is also the better choice.

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[aku94]

I wasn't familiar with that study, however I wish that was better publicized. Everybody is told not to use stainless hooks, especially for catch and release, since they won't rust away. Even the Boy Scouts teach this. I think it would be a good idea for fishing books ad instructors to mention that stainless hooks are good.