Since I’ve been mainly kayak fishing, I have been using small hooks to tie onto sabiki/damashi rigs, hooks for my live bait rigs, and jig assist hooks. I’ve used Owner, Gamakatsu and VMC hooks for a variety of purposes, BKK and Shout mainly as jig assist hooks, and Maruto as gold damashi hooks. Here’s my review of the hooks I have used based on my limited experience with them.

Owner and Gamakatsu

Owner and Gamakatsu are the two best known and respected hook brands in the world. They are made in Japan and are the most expensive brands you can buy domestically. Both are chemically sharpened, and are extremely sharp out of the bag, but if the hook tip gets dinged, it loses it’s sharpness and corrodes.

Owner

Owner hooks tend to be thicker and stronger than Gamakatsu, yet are made to be as thin as possible for the desired strength. If you want a hook that will penetrate the fish’s mouth and won’t bend out, this is the brand for you. I use the Gorilla Live Bait hooks as the front hook of my opelu, and the Flyliner Live Bait hook on my larger sabiki/damashi sets. They haven’t failed yet.

Gamakatsu

In general, Gamakatsu hooks are thinner and sometimes have a shorter shank than Owner hooks. They are more of a finesse hook but are still extremely sharp and strong for their thickness. I primarily use the thin wire Live Bait hooks for my medium sabiki/damashi rigs and they hook fish very effectively and unhook nicely despite being offset.

Like the Owner Flyliner hooks, I’ve never had a hook break or bend while landing a strong fish.

VMC

VMC hooks, made in France, are significantly cheaper than Owner and Gamakatsu. They are also chemically sharpened but aren’t quite as sharp as Owner and Gamakatsu, possibly due to the fact that the hook point isn’t as fine. You can resharpen VMC hooks and they don’t seem to corrode as quickly as Owner and Gamakatsu. VMC hooks often have a heavy duty version and are very strong. I use the Heavy Duty Live Bait hook as the front hook on my bait, and the Inline Single 4X as the trailing hook. I’ve never had either open up but I do need to replace the hooks after a few uses because they eventually get dull.

BKK

BKK hooks are made in China using Japanese materials. They are known to be very sharp, strong and resist corrosion well. I mainly use their assist hooks and they’ve worked so well that we sell them in our Store. I like that the assist cord is pliable enough to allow the hook to fall nicely, yet strong enough to not get cutoff. I have used the assist hooks for many trips and the hooks have not dulled or corroded. I haven’t had as good experiences with Owner and Gamakatsu assist hooks and don’t use those brands anymore.

Shout

Shout assist hooks are made in Japan to exacting standards. I really like how pliable the assist cords are, and the hooks themselves are thin and very sharp, allowing for maximum penetration.

The thin, light hooks are not made for very strong fish, however. This ulua stretched open the Shout assist hook I was using although it didn’t snap.

Maruto

Maruto hooks are made in Japan and the shops here import them. I use the gold MZ style hooks for my light sabiki/damashi rig because it is believed that opelu like the gold flash. The hooks are sharp but break under pressure and rust after one use.

My Recommendations

If you have the budget for Owner and Gamakatsu hooks, use them and you will have peace of mind that they won’t fail you. If you want to save some money and still have sharp, strong hooks, go with VMC. In my opinion you can’t go wrong with BKK. They also make very strong jig head hooks and treble hooks. Shout assists are the best assists I’ve used for catching fish but you have to make sure you have a hook strong enough for the fish you may hook. Maruto gold hooks are inexpensive, disposable hooks that work well when used appropriately.