We now use almost exclusively beak hooks either in single or tandem configuration with our flyfishing setus un Guatemala. We have of course always used circle hooks for our conventional fishing in Guatemala – as is required by law in Guatemala.
The hooks with the “upturned beaks” – but you have to be careful not to bury the hook eye too far into the tube for this hook design, in essence shortening the distance between the clumsy popper head and the point of the hook thus interfering with hook point to flesh contact. That’s not a good thing, and, further to that, the hook point then tends to ride a little bit more upwards, effectively creating an even shorter gap length furthering the potential for “slipping” and missing upon using the more traditional hook setting methods.
Something learned the hard way about a sailfish and how it eats a fly – advice from another famous billfishing captain : never, ever keep a fly in front of a sailfish, this is the fastest way to lose the attention of the fish and all of the effort teasing and reteasing will have been for nought. If you do succeed in hooking up – the prognosis is still not good, and believe me, can be extremely frustrating !
When the cast is mis-placed into the oncoming path of the fish, always take it away and recast the fly rather than go through the inevitable frustration of another unbuttoned sailfish . . . sometimes 5 seconds into the fight, sometime 30 minutes into it, but almost always, the fish that eats that fly straight on comes undone or is bill-hooked. This advice mind you, came after many years fly fishing for sails. If you think back to how many of your straight-on shots came undone, and the honest answer was likely, most of them.
When the fly is eaten head on or quartering to, the best approach is to lift it up and throw it beyond the fish. All you have to remember is to keep your line from landing on top of them or being too close to them when they turn on the fly.
More detail, information yips – and an extensive article on this and other topics can be found at :
http://www.greatsailfishing.com/en/Sailfishing%20flyfishing%20technique.html
