Fish hook

[1] The fish hook or similar angling device has been made by humans for many thousands of years.

The earliest prehistoric tackle is known as a gorge, which consisted of a double-pointed stick with a thin rope tied to the middle.

When angling, the gorge is laid parallel to the line and buried inside a bait ball, which can be swallowed easily by the fish.

[3] They performed similar anchoring functions to hooks, but needed both ends to claw firmly into the fish's gullet to work properly.

The world's oldest fish hooks (made from sea snail shells) were discovered in Sakitari Cave in Okinawa Island dated between 22,380 and 22,770 years old.

[4] The earliest fish hooks in the Americas, dating from about 11,000 B.P., have been reported from Cedros Island on the west coast of Mexico.

[7] Shells provided a common material for fish hooks found in several parts of the world, with the shapes of prehistoric shell fish hook specimens occasionally being compared to determine if they provide information about the migration of people into the Americas.

For example, a delicate dry fly hook is made of thin wire with a tapered eye because weight is the overriding factor.

For example: The shape of the hook shank can vary widely from merely straight to all sorts of curves, kinks, bends and offsets.

These different shapes contribute in some cases to better hook penetration, fly imitations or bait holding ability.

Fly hook shapes include Sproat, Sneck, Limerick, Kendal, Viking, Captain Hamilton, Barleet, Swimming Nymph, Bend Back, Model Perfect, Keel, and Kink-shank.

Because the barb increases the practical cross-sectional area of the hook point, it also negatively affect how far the point penetrates under the same force (especially when piercing harder tissue), although the tissue-grabbing ability of the barb alone is usually sufficient for maintaining the hook anchorage without needing a deep penetration.

There are however also some arguments that a barbless hook point will penetrate more smoothly into the fish tissue and thus allow a deeper hookset, compensating for the absence of barbs.

Having a deeper hookset also means the stress tends to be concentrated nearer towards the hook's bend rather than the point, allowing it to better withstand a heavier pulling load.

Eyeless hooks instead have a widened "spade end" to help snelling the line onto the shank without slipping.