by Robbie Alexander •
Last year I received an email from Fishing Monthly asking me if I would like to try out a new range of bait hooks – Black Magic DX Point hooks.
Bait fishing is something that I really enjoy, yet I never seem to make a lot of time these days to actually do it. Every year during the cold months I say that I will do a lot more bait fishing when the weather warms up, and then I usually only do it a couple of times.
So I accepted the offer to try these new hooks, more as a motivator to force me to do more bait fishing than anything else!
The first thing that jumped out at me was the feel of the hook; they feel different from other hooks. They also sound different when they rattled around in the packet. The high pitched sound that you usually hear when hooks rattle was somewhat of a deeper sound than usual, and they felt super smooth.
Little did I realise at the time that the DX range of hooks are actually coated in a super non-stick coating called PTFE, which is commonly used in non-stick frying pans. This coating serves a dual purpose. It is designed to help increase hook penetration into the fish’s mouth, and also provides excellent rust resistance, extending the life of the hook. And I discovered a third benefit the second time I went back out bait fishing.
Most bait anglers know what it is like when you finish untangling your rods and lines, unhook the hook from one of the guides on the rod, and then have to break off the remnants of the last bait you were using. Usually it is some crusty dried out piece of worm, bardi grub or something similar. With the PTFE coating on the hooks, this old bait just slides straight off, leaving the hook looking like new, and ready to bait up again.
The other thing that jumped out at me was the sharpness of the hook. This is usually immediately evident when the hook penetrates the skin of a fingertip, which is exactly what happened.
The Black Magic DX hooks have a razor sharp tip on them. This is achieved by creating four very sharp edges which taper in until they all meet, creating a very sharp point. This enhances the hook-up rate when you lift your rod tip and set the hook into the fish’s mouth.
Unfortunately, the DX line-up of hooks do not come in really small sizes suitable for trout, however they do still cover quite a wide size range from 1/0 to 6/0, making them more than suitable for most freshwater species, including carp, golden perch, redfin, and Murray cod. I used them extensively while bait fishing for Murray cod last summer with great results. My friends and I managed to catch quite a few Murray cod, and also trout cod, on the DX hooks using either cheese (mozzarella works best), bardi grubs or worms for bait.
In one sitting, my friend Andrew Wolstenholme, his son Liam and I went bait fishing in the Ovens River in Wangaratta where we managed to catch 11 cod in one afternoon over the period of around three hours, all using the Black Magic DX hooks. While most of the fish were very small, the fact that the hooks were able to penetrate their small mouths on a regular basis and lead to a high hook-up rate speaks a lot about the performance of these hooks.
Black Magic DX hooks are manufactured in Japan, a country known for its very high quality standards, and they are made using high carbon steel to ensure that they are super strong.
In lure fishing we constantly see changes in lure designs as the world of lure fishing evolves more and more into a high profile sport. With hooks, however, we see few changes, most likely due to the fact that they are much smaller and changes are less visible and obvious.
Don’t be fooled though – changes do happen in the world of fishing, as is evident by the Black Magic DX Point hooks. A lot of research and development has gone into the DX hooks to ensure that it is a true game changer in the world of bait fishing.
I personally would like to thank Fishing Monthly magazine and Black Magic tackle for coming together, sending me a couple of packets of hooks and reigniting my passion for bait fishing.
