Panfish hook of choice
Seems like I've used nearly every hook on the market, but I've been trying to narrow down my hooks to a few choices instead of carrying half of Cabela's with me. We fish almost exclusively with bait, and mostly small minnows, so these are regular hooks, not jigheads.
To generalize when choosing hooks: super sharp hooks aren't necessary to catch fish... but they will catch you a few extra fish you might have otherwise missed. They also take less force to get a good hookup and they seem to be easier to remove. If I had to pick one size for most of my fishing I'd go with #4, but I seem to get better hookups/less misses with #2 for crappies. If we're catching mostly perch I tie on a #4 for the same reason.
My hook choices:
Laser trokar re-volve #2 -
http://lazertrokar.com/products/tk220 These are wickedly sharp, super strong, and they don't seem to rust or dull. They are expensive and they don't come snelled, but other than that they are probably my favorite hook. Wish they made red ones.
Tru-turn aberdeen #2, #4, #8 red - Snelled or just the hooks, I've always liked tru-turns. Also packaged as mr crappie and other names. Light wire red hooks, plenty sharp. They are much cheaper than the trokars but they are much more fragile. Using pliers to unhook fish tends to bend them up. They will also bend and pull out of brush a lot of the time, which can be a good thing. I keep the #8s around for bored wives and kids to catch bluegills.
Are you particular about your hooks or are you just re-using your dad's eagle claw assortment pack? Curious how much effort people put into the hook for their panfishing.