THE ANGLAR - PRAWN HOOK 4206 PRAWN FISHING

The Anglar Prawn Hook 4206

Two different jobs get called prawn fishing. One is catching prawns — giant freshwater prawn (udang galah) and stocked pond prawns, on a short rod with a float and a scrap of natural bait. The other is mounting a prawn as bait for fish. The 4206 is built for the first and stretches into the second: a high-carbon prawn pattern with a chemically sharpened point, a retaining barb, an offset point and a ringed eye, in black nickel. It shares the widest size span in the range with the 4204 and 4205 — nine sizes, #7 up to #2/0, twenty per pack — and of those three it is the only one with a ringed eye.

Key Features

• Chemically sharpened point for fast penetration on a light take
• Sharp retaining barb — holds a struggling prawn that a barbless hook would drop
• Ringed (closed) eye: knot direct to mono, fluorocarbon or leader
• High-carbon steel, black-nickel finish — rigid, discreet, corrosion-resistant
• The broadest size span in the range, shared with the 4204 and 4205 — and the only ringed-eye prawn model here that reaches the /0 sizes
• Twenty pieces in every size, so the count holds up in the big hooks

How To Rig It

• Float rig for prawns — Small float, one micro split shot, short fluorocarbon trace. Set the bait just off bottom and lift smoothly when the float dips; do not strike hard.
• Baiting for prawns — Keep the bait small and thread it so the point stays clear. A prawn mouths a bait before committing, so a loaded shank costs hook-ups.
• Live prawn as bait — In #1 and the /0 sizes, pin a live prawn through the horn on top of the head, in front of the dark spot behind the eyes, so it stays lively; or side to side through the second segment from the tail.
• Dead or peeled prawn — Thread the hook up from the tail so the bait lies straight along the shank, and bind it with bait elastic where small fish strip baits.

Target Species By Region

• Southeast Asia — Giant freshwater prawn (udang galah) in Malaysian and Indonesian rivers, tiger prawn (udang harimau) in brackish stretches, and the prawning ponds of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand (bo kung). Larger sizes take live prawn for barramundi (siakap), mangrove jack and grouper (kerapu) at jetties.
• North America — No comparable prawn fishery; a bait hook for shrimp under a popping cork for redfish, speckled trout and flounder, and small sizes for panfish.
• Japan & East Asia — Tenaga-ebi (long-arm prawn) fishing on Japanese rivers and canals, and Taiwan's prawning ponds; live-shrimp rigs for seabass and rockfish.
• Australia, Middle East & Europe — Prawn baits for bream, whiting, flathead and mulloway in Australian estuaries; shrimp for hamour and sheri in the Gulf; fine-wire bait work in Europe.

Specifications

Listed largest to smallest. This range uses the Western convention: the number falls as the hook grows, and /0 sizes are larger again — #7 is the smallest here, #2/0 the largest.

Recommended Pairing

• Prawning: short 1.2–1.8 m prawn rod, small float, 4–8 lb mono straight through
• Light bait fishing: 1000–2500 spinning reel, 6–12 lb line, 10–20 lb fluorocarbon trace
• Larger sizes on live prawn: 15–30 lb leader around pilings and mangrove roots
• Smallest sizes for pond prawns; #1 and /0 for large udang galah