I use either a Tiemco 5263 (3xl hook) and bend it, or a Daiichi 1870 ( think that's the correct model #)- it's already curved so you don't have to worry about bending & breaking it. I seem to break about 1 out of every 3 straight shank hooks I bend. Once I went eleven straight without breakage, and then I broke the next 5 in a row. If you want to tweak the Daiichi 1870, you can accentuate the bend by bending the front up a little more, and open the hook gap slightly by bending the hook point down a little. Hope this helps.