Thread: Fishing frustrations- recommend a non-chicom treble hook?

I need some good treble hooks and am after recommendations for a brand that does not originate in the far east.
Bit of a story behind this....
I used to go trout fishing quite a lot- nothing better than wading up a beautiful mountain stream stalking the trout, usually put them back for another time but occasionally one might make it into the frypan...my go-to lure, before a flirtation with fly-fishing, has always been the Celta. They used to be made in France. My stocks are mostly well over 10 years old and have been bent / straightened / sharpened a few times. My favourite spots ended up being fished out by others or made unpleasant with the usual rubbish, toilet paper etc so have not been trout fishing much for several years, I still have a few good spots but they are too far away for a day trip.
Last year I went into a tackle shop to get a few new celtas before a high country trip and was told they are no longer made
About a month ago I googled the brand and found a supplier with what appeared to be the genuine article, I ordered 6 lures in my tried-and-true pattern.
This week I went up to my favourite high country spot, put in the work to get into some good trout, then proceeded to lose fish after fish despite what seemed to be firm hook-ups. The only fish that I was able to keep on the line were the tiny ones that typically get the whole treble jammed in their gob. I had a close look at the treble hook and the barbs were almost non-existent, like some vestigial limb, absolutely useless. I sorted through the remaining 5 lures and found one with a slightly better barb, proceeded to land fish after fish, it was one of my best spinning sessions in decades; then after a little while I started to get strikes without hooking up- something I long ago learned to associate with blunt hooks, usually on old lures. The rest of the session as I worked my way upstream to my camp was pretty much lots of strikes, very few hookups.
My conclusion obviously is that the hooks are yet another example of chinese quality, they can copy the look of something but can't produce decent steel to make it work.
I figure if I swap the treble hooks out for some quality ones with a proper barb and that can hold a point, I might be able to bring these lures to something approaching the quality I got from Europe in 1988.
Pictures show a comparison of the hooks, bottom one with a proper shape (years old, sharpened several times) vs the 'new'; and a comparison of the two lures- they can 'kinda' make something look like what they're copying but can't close the deal.

barbs.jpgnew vs old.jpg

I searched the shelf in a different tackle shop on my way back to my favourite high-country spot a couple of weeks ago, found one Japanese manufactured brand of hook although they were missing the size 6, so I decided to try a size 8. Swapped the hooks out at camp before my first session. As expected, they made all the difference in the world; I had a brilliant session wading up the river for a couple of hours. I had a mate with me who has not experienced this kind of trout fishing before, he wanted to follow me and observe. I gave him strict instructions on how not to spook the fish whilst approaching a likely lie. He could not believe the number of trout landed in a couple of hours- all except two of which were returned to the stream, including perhaps the largest brown trout I have ever pulled out of a mountain stream. Not a trophy by Tassie or NZ standards but a ripper by VHC standards and a memorable moment. had to bail out of the river at the first point where it re-joined the track as my mate was shivering in his shorts and sandals, no cosy neoprene waders like me!
The new treble hook was starting to lose it's edge late in the session- getting the odd hit without hooking up- but that is to be expected after a couple of hours of casting over a rocky stream bed and landing maybe 20 fish. Far better results than the crap from the CCP.