SANTEC - O'SHAUGHNESSY HOOK 45704 FISHING HOOK

Santec O’Shaughnessy Hook 45704 Fishing Hook

The O’Shaughnessy is the plain, heavy bait hook the rest of the tackle world measures itself against: a long straight shank, a deep forged bend and a point sitting in line with the eye. Nothing about it is clever, and that is the point — the pull runs straight from the knot down the shank and out through the tip, so the hookset is direct and predictable, and a threaded strip bait hangs dead straight instead of helicoptering on the drop.

The 45704 is Santec’s mid-range take on it, and it sits deliberately below the big /0 patterns. High-carbon steel, forged through the body, with a chemically sharpened Eagle Cutting point and a strong retaining barb. The point alignment is straight, not kirbed, which is the reason to reach for this one over an offset hook: on a still bottom rig or a snelled dropper the fish loads the line in one direction and a straight point rewards that. The finish is bright nickel — the traditional choice where a little flash beside a pale strip bait or a live prawn does no harm, and easier to find on a dark deck than a black hook. Seven sizes run #10 up to #1/0, which puts this squarely in the panfish-to-jetty band rather than the reef-wreck end of the family, and packs run generous at the small end: fifteen hooks at #8 and #10 down to eight at #1/0.

Key Features

• Classic O’Shaughnessy profile — long straight shank with a deep curved bend
• Inline point alignment for a direct, controlled hookset
• Chemically sharpened Eagle Cutting point with angled cutting faces
• Sharp retaining barb to keep the hook seated once it has gone in
• Forged, compressed wire that resists bending under load
• Ringed eye for mono, fluorocarbon or leader material
• High-carbon steel with a bright nickel finish for surface protection
• Seven sizes, #10 through #1/0, at up to fifteen hooks per pack

How To Rig It

• Threaded strip bait — Lay a fillet or squid strip along the shank and pass the point through it twice so it sits flat. A straight bait on a straight-point hook keeps the leader from twisting on a drift.
• Snelled paternoster — One or two short droppers above a sinker for jetty, breakwater and boat bottom work. Snelling the ringed eye holds the hook square to the trace.
• Running sinker — Sinker sliding to a swivel, then 50–100 cm of leader, so a cautious fish can move off with the bait before it feels lead. Let the rod tip load, then lift.
• Trolled or drifted small bait — The small sizes take a whole sprat, prawn or garfish strip behind a swivel and a light sinker for a slow troll along drop-offs and channel edges.

Target Species By Region

• Southeast Asia — A general-purpose jetty and estuary hook: croaker (gelama), catfish (duri), whiting and small trevally on bottom rigs; snapper (merah), golden snapper (jenahak), mangrove jack and grouper (kerapu) in the #1 and #1/0 sizes; barramundi (siakap) on live prawn at river mouths.
• North America — Sea bass, porgy, croaker, spot and flounder on party-boat and pier rigs; catfish and striped bass on cut bait in the larger sizes.
• Japan & East Asia — Dozuki (胴突き) boat dropper rigs for kasago, ainame and small madai, and general breakwater bait fishing where a bright hook is preferred.
• Australia, Middle East & Europe — Bream, flathead, whiting and tailor in Australian estuaries; safi and small sheri in the Gulf; whiting, dab, pollack and mackerel from European piers and boats.

Specifications

Material: high-carbon steel. Finish: nickel. Sizing runs Western style here — #10 is the smallest, stepping up through #1, after which #1/0 is the largest in this pack.

Choosing between the Santec O’Shaughnessy hooks. The 45704 is the nickel, inline-point, small-to-medium model, #10 to #1/0. The 45709 “254” is the heavy-bait model: bronze finish, kirbed point, an enlarged eye and a size ladder that starts where this one stops, #1/0 to #5/0. Pick the 45704 for everyday jetty and bottom rigs on light to medium line, and the 45709 when the bait is a whole fish, a squid or a crab and the leader is thick.

Recommended Pairing

• #10–#6: light bait and feeder rods, 6–12 lb line, worm, prawn tail and small strip baits
• #4–#2: general estuary and jetty rigs, 15–25 lb braid with a 20–40 lb fluorocarbon leader
• #1–#1/0: whole prawn, live bait and bigger strips, 25–40 lb braid with a 40–60 lb leader
• Add a short wire trace where mackerel, barracuda or cutlassfish are feeding; step up leader diameter rather than hook size around oysters and rock