MUSTAD - Slow Death Hooks

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<img align="left" src="http://www.fish-hawk.net/partners/musta ... review.gif">
Manufacturer: Mustad
Website: http://www.mustad.no
Contact:
E-mail: custserv@mustad-usa.com
Phone: (315) 253-2793






To most people the most important thing about a fish hook is its ability to catch fish, and this is of course also the most important thing for Mustad when designing and developing a hook pattern.

In order to make a high-quality fish hook for a specific type of fishing, there are many parametres that have to be decided upon: should the the point be straight or bent in -- the throat be deep or shallow -- the shank be long or short -- the eye be straight, bent up or bent down -- the wire be thin or heavy ... such elements decide the particular properties of an individual hook pattern and how suitable it is for a specific type of fishing.

<a href="http://mustad.no/slowdeath/index.html" target="_blank" title="Mustad"><b>CHECK OUT THEIR VIDEO ON SLOW DEATH RIGGING AND TECHNIQUES</b></A>


Fish-Hawk will be reviewing Mustad's Slow Death Hooks in 2010 to see just how well they work to accomplish the primary goals of Walleye Fishing.

Overall score based on experience with the product and other comments received for those we send out to be tried out. Examples, where applicable, of areas we are looking at include, but are not limited to...
> Look & Feel
> Versatility
> Portability
> Strength & Durability
> Material Components
> Colors
> Sizes
> Effectivness (End Result)


FishinBuddy Ratings:
> 1 - Not a good product at all
> 2 - Disappointing
> 3 - Not Bad, but requires a few tweaks
> 4 - Fish-Hawk Proven Product
> 5 - Exceeds Expectation

The Review:
When the name "Slow Death Hooks" was first mentioned to me, I thought to myself...."what the?????" being primarily a catch and release angler. Slow Death....now that doesn't sound too nice now does it!

After some education on what they were and more importantly, how they worked, it all of a sudden made sense to me and I was hooked....slowly....but not to the death point.

If you haven't yet tried them, you should really give them a whirl (no pun intended), but be sure you read up on the best way to rig them.

The hooks themselves I find to be great. They are relatively strong for their size, and keep their sharp points fish after fish. Like any other hook though, sharpening is a must at some point in time, so with these hooks you still won't get away from that.

Slow Death hooks are designed to "spin" around and around, giving your bait the illusion that it's injured, un-coordinated, and slowly heading to that great swimming pool in the sky. To a fish, this is like Sunday morning cold pizza, popcorn at the movies, or a hotdog at a ball game......they just can't resist it. Of course, you still need to be in a place where the fish are in order to catch them. A unique design with a very unique action that will be sure to drive fish crazy.

What we found though is that it was not only the fish that they drove crazy, it was often the fisherman as well who went crazy.......

Baiting the hook was considered awkward at times, with the odd shape of the hook and the need to "pinch off" the end in order to get the best rotating action. If you're a seasoned angler however who does this all the time, it's really not a big deal, but some novice anglers who tried them out found it a little time consuming. Not a big one in my opinion.

The other thing that drove some crazy, was that it not only catches the walleye that you're looking for....it also catches sunfish, perch, rockbass, bass, and pike.....which of course if you're fishing for walleye, can be a pain in the butt as you you need to real in, replace the bait, and get back out there. Hmmmmmmmmmm....catching fish though.....what's wrong with that? I was perfectly happy catching all sorts of fish...while on the way to find where the walleye were schooled up.

The only thing I can really say that was a bit annoying...and perhaps this was how I had them rigged, was that the spinning motion of the bait caused tangles in the line if it was not properly attached with a good free spinning swivel. Others who tried these hooks out also found the same problem and reported that as something which eventually resulted in them switching to a spinner or work harness....just to avoid the tangles.

We tried out both regular brass and slow death red hooks....both seemed to perform the same with no difference of one color being better than another.

> Overall Rating:
<img src="http://www.fish-hawk.net/hawk-pic/produ ... /4hawk.gif">

With a rating of 4 Stars, Mustad Slow Death Hooks are now considered a Fish-Hawk "Proven Product".

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Review Completed.