Another thing I've been doing this week is testing hook strength. Basically I've taken a selection of hook styles and subjected them to stress, in this case a force of 15 pounds (anchor) hung from the hook. This wouldn't be that dissimilar from a big bass that was securely hooked that you were fighting. I really wanted to see what happens to these hooks under pressure more than anything, and whether they would even take such pressure.
In this first pic you'll see the 5 different styles of hooks used. From left to right we have a Gammi EWG Superline hook, then an old Weapon sproat worm hook, an Owner round bend, a regular wire Gammi EWG, and finally a Shaw Grigsby tube hook which is actually the Kahle style. Click on all pictures to enlarge, and pay close attention to hook shape and where the point is as some of the pictures are of poor quality.
The weakest hook of the bunch by far was the regular EWG. Check out the deformity of the hook under pressure. If this equivalent pressure was placed on either a hookset or a fight with a big bass the fish would have most likely escaped. The point has been so bent out that there is almost no chance of retaining a bass. I'd like to retest this hook with lighter pressures, say 5# and 10# to see the degree of deformity. Even the kink that helps hold plastics on is getting straightened.
Next weakest hook was the Kahle. In reality, this hook probably would have held onto a fish due to its sharp angle of cutback. But the curve in the shank of the hook which is supposed to help clear the plastic has been nearly straightened. This would be another good one to retest with lighter pressures.
The next 3 hooks all held up relatively well, though you'll see a decent bit of bending on all of them. Up first is the round bend. The neat thing about this and the sproat hook is how the shank flexes back under pressure to accomodate, almost like you or I bending backward to stretch. The hook stays relatively in shape though and would probably hold a fish without much problem.
If you didn't know any different you'd think this next picture was the same hook. However, this is a slightly smaller sproat style hook. For years this was the standard "worm" hook that everybody made and most all anglers threw. Sproats actually have a slight bend of the point back in toward the shank which, all things being equal, should make for the strongest hook, slightly better than a round bend. Additionally, it should also hold the fish better than a round bend due to the slightly sharper angle of the bend back.
Finally the EWG Superline hook. This one holds up much better than the standard EWG, but the cost for that is a very thick wire that would probably make hook setting a bit more difficult due to needing to apply more force to penetrate fully. However, the fact that it doesn't flex as much should help even out some of that equation.
So that is what I've got so far. I haven't tested stress at the point (versus the bend as in these pics) due to setup difficulty. Hooks should perform worse when all the pressure is applied to the point as that changes the angle of pressure making it easier to bend the hook out. You can get a feel for this by taking a pair of pliers and first trying to bend a hook out of shape by just grabbing right in the bend of a hook. Next repeat by grabbing the point and try bending. The latter should be much eaiser. Also keep in mind that this is a big reason for considering anything that might help the point of your hooks to penetrate faster (smaller hooks, thinner wire, barbless, forged, sharpening, etc.). The faster you can get that pressure transferred from the point to the bend, the greater the liklihood that the outcome will be favorable.
One other interesting part of this test was the connectors used. In this case, I used both a crosslock snap and a split ring. I believe the snaps are supposed to be able to handle much greater pressure, but both seemed to hold up fine to this amount of pressure without failure. These are just another link in the chain between you and a bass that can potentially go bad, so having none of these items fail was a little peace of mind.
Jig Hook Strength Experiment: For a similarly interesting test on jig heads and why it is important that the shank of a hook be able to flex, check out this link.
Mustad Bending Test (MB-Test): One more. Stats for a series of different hook styles and sizes, though most not used by bass anglers. MBT is in kilograms, so you'll have to multiply all numbers by 2.2 to get pounds. Regardless, you'll see many hooks just testing out around the same range that I tested at. You'll also see the relationship between hook size and strength as well as how strength matches up with certain hook styles.