Another awesome catch report that highlights what a fantastic multi species hook design the Gripz truly are!

Another awesome catch report that highlights what a fantastic multi species hook design the Gripz truly are! Thanks to Dan and John for sending through from Thailand.

“Dan and myself, of the YouTube channel Fishing in Thailand with the Overrated Anglers, were on a 10 day fishing road trip around Thailand and visited Richard Gibsons lake: The John Wilson’s fishery in Chompon. With the evenings of entertainment and distance needed to travel we could only manage an afternoon at the lake but it was one we will never forget. Richard is a great host and we chatted fishing all day long. When we arrived Richard asked us if we would be happy to try some size 2 Pallatrax hooks which are the Gripz pattern. After living in Thailand for almost 18 years I was out of touch with a lot of the UK tackle and I had not used anything from Pallatrax so it was awesome to give them a go.

First impression when I held the hook which really surprised me was the fact that they have a lovely thick gauge but felt so light weight in my hand. In Thailand many fish have quite soft mouths and the fish can bolt of at such a speed and fight hard, often for long periods that hooks can pull very easily. On the flip side we have noticed that using heavy hooks can often reduce the catch rates, especially on the fish with the under slung mouths which are picking up bottom baits, carp species like Juliens Price Golden carp, Black shark minnow, Rohu and Mrigal carp are especially fussy at times and the bait needs to be easily sucked in which a lighter weighted hook allows. The last question to answer is the strength of the hook. Some of the lakes we fish have species that run to over 400lbs so the hook strength is imperative to landing these, especially during a fight lasting 1-2 hours or more.

The session started as we fished two rods under an over hanging tree to our right and we were off and running very quickly landing some hard fighting 20-30lb Amazon red tail catfish and a PB Leopard catfish which took some getting back after running under the tree and along the bank. The hooks came out of the bony mouths in perfect condition and still razor sharp, first test completed!!

Later in the day we managed a couple of nice Siamese carp in the 50-55lb range, these have very soft mouths and when using 80lb braid and the clutch set tight enough to tire them out in a reasonable time its easy for the hooks to move causing a small tear, this was not the case with the Gripz hooks they held firm and the design seems to help the hook set in the same way a barbed would, this is a massive advantage.

The next surprise was a lovey lake record 24lb 12oz Juliens Price golden carp, these fish can be very tricky to hook and the fact the hook has less weight than others with the same gauge could well have helped allow the fish to suck the wafter into its mouth and the hook set firm.

Near the end of the day at around 8pm all hell broke loose when a very fast swimming, hard fighting fish picked up the bait. The fish was changing direction and swimming at high speed which made us think it was either a Chao Phraya catfish or a Mekong catfish which can fight very erratically when rarely or in this case never caught before. The fight was around 30 minutes and I had to put a lot of pressure on during several hairy moments. This was the case especially around the cage at the end of the fight before she slipped in and after weighing the fish at 144lbs and a few photos I had a chance to check the tackle. The hook was still in perfect condition, after all that performance the hook was sharp and not altered shape at all. I was amazed as normally a hook of that size which equivalent to a Thai size 12 would be in a right mess and would need to be changed.

All in all with the Hook not moving in the Siamese carp’s soft mouth, catching the Juliens golden carp which are notoriously tricky feeders and landing a fish approaching 150lbs on the Pallatrax Gripz hook I couldn’t be more impressed. I will certainly be looking to stock up and be using them on all my rods!!

Great vibes!!”